Research – Old Content – Healthy Senior Lighting

Can Circadian/Sleep/Wake Cycles Radically Impact health and Vitality?

“Circadian Rhythmicity is a feature of nearly every physiological, metabolic, and behavioral system, bringing a wide variety of biological systems under direct retinal control”. http://www.cell.com/trends/neurosciences/pdf/S0166-2236%2813%2900197-5.pdf
The AMA – Light Pollution: Adverse Health Effects of Nighttime Lighting states that potential carcinogenic effects related to melatonin suppression, especially breast cancer. Other diseases that may be exacerbated by circadian disruption include obesity, diabetes, depression and mood disorders, and reproductive problems.
http://lowbluelights.com/doc/ama.pdf
Numerous studies link suppressed melatonin production to an increased risk of cancer.
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC2627884/
Exposure to light at 6500K induced greater melatonin suppression, together with enhanced subjective alertness, well-being, and visual comfort. With respect to cognitive performance, the light at 6500K led to significantly faster reaction times in tasks associated with sustained attention.
http://www.plosone.org/article/info%3Adoi%2F10.1371%2Fjournal.pone.0016429

Cardiovascular Risk?

The circadian (sleep/wake) system modulates numerous cardiovascular risk markers at rest as well as their reactivity to exercise, with resultant profiles that could potentially contribute to the day/night pattern of adverse cardiovascular events.”:
https://drive.google.com/file/d/1nJvzqFxBlPinLUwXt8CdOfEH-WFLyaer/view?usp=sharing
Older patients need more sunshine (higher kelvin light) to reduce the risk of heart disease and diabetes.
https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2009/05/090511090940.htm

Memory and the Aging Brain?

Light stimulates thinking and alertness: https://drive.google.com/file/d/1Q6y4elEZJlgYl1wI86DbQuk1AHgJmKfQ/view?usp=sharing
Sleep requires total darkness or memory is negatively affected.
http://www.nature.com/articles/srep36731
Light Therapy may slow the progression of neurodegenerative diseases like Parkinsons, Alzheimers, and Dementia:
https://drive.google.com/file/d/1PenfR_IIICRw9lGi6IpRV3nwvaAv7Cz-/view?usp=sharing
Sleep wake regulation affects memory
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/26861410
Better sleep improves memory
http://www.sfgate.com/bayarea/article/Brain-deterioration-sleep-woes-linked-4253515.php
Time-of-day modulations [through light] affect performance on a wide range of cognitive tasks measuring attentional capacities, executive functioning, and memory.
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/18066734
Light impacts health outcomes, reducing depression, reducing agitation with dementia patients, and easing pain
http://www.healthdesign.org/sites/default/files/CHD_Issue_Paper2.pdf
High Kelvin Lighting reduces fatigue in brain injury patients
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/24213962

Weight Loss?

Better Sleep improves weight loss
http://www.sciencefriday.com/segment/10/08/2010/to-sleep-perchance-to-slim.html
Increased obesity fuels lower quality sleep
http://jpepsy.oxfordjournals.org/content/32/1/69.short

Long Term Care/Alzheimers/Dementia?

“Tailoring intensity, spectrum, timing, duration and distribution of light has great potential to serve as a non-pharmacological tool to help AD [Alzheimers Disease] patients consolidate their rest/activity patterns and sleep better at night, which will also promote health and well-being of their caregivers. A typical 3000k fluorescent lamp has no significant ability to suppress melatonin and CBT despite intensity. Low levels of 500 nm, or blue light, have significant impact.
http://www.lrc.rpi.edu/programs/lightHealth/pdf/spectralSensitivity.pdf
Light impacts health outcomes, reducing depression, reducing agitation with dementia patients, and easing pain
http://www.healthdesign.org/sites/default/files/CHD_Issue_Paper2.pdf
Alzheimers patients need light Therapy, not medication to sleep. Problems caused by circadian rhythm disruption, or “sundowning”, include increased risk of fall related injuries and the difficulty in caring for patients during the night due to increased nocturnal activity. The latest research in lighting gives hope for a non-medical solution.
http://www.best-alzheimers-products.com/light-therapy-for-alzheimers.html
Can bad lighting cause bad sleep that raises the risk of Alzheimers?
http://www.reuters.com/article/2014/06/03/us-alzheimers-sleep-idUSKBN0EE26E20140603
Light Therapy may slow the progression of neurodegenerative diseases like Parkinsons, Alzheimers, and Dementia:
https://drive.google.com/file/d/1PenfR_IIICRw9lGi6IpRV3nwvaAv7Cz-/view?usp=sharing

Sexual Differences?

Women need more sleep than men. A study of 210 middle-aged men and women found that women officially need more sleep than men and that a lack of sleep leads to greater health issues in women than in men. Professor Jim Horne, director of the Sleep Research Center at Loughborough University, said: “We found that for women, poor sleep is strongly associated with high levels of psychological distress and greater feelings of hostility, depression, and anger.

Light Exposure before bedtime suppresses melatonin, resulting in a later melatonin onset in 99.0% of individuals, shortening melatonin duration by about 90 min. Light exerts a profound suppressive effect on melatonin levels and shortens the body’s internal representation of night duration. Hence, chronically exposing oneself to electrical lighting in the late evening disrupts melatonin signaling and could therefore potentially impact sleep, thermoregulation, blood pressure, and glucose homeostasis.
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3047226/
High Kelvin Lighting suppresses the nocturnal fall of body temperatures
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/8979406