Comments on: Shortness of Dark

By: Beautiful Confusion

Beautiful Confusion — Tue, 21 Aug 2007 15:20:54 +0000

So I guess it’s a bad idea to let your kids sleep with a night light? I wonder how those people that can’t sleep without the TV on do with their health? I had a friend that could not sleep without the light of the TV on and the TV was right next to her head by her bed. She was riddled with health problems, I wonder if it’s connected.

By: nomentanus

nomentanus — Sun, 10 Dec 2006 03:17:26 +0000

PhotoperiodEffect.com gathers various research to suggest that perhaps most of the "diseases of Industrialization" such as diabetes and MS, that have skyrocketed in the last two hundred years, are light exposure diseases. (Gas lighting came in two hundred years ago, and was more revolutionary than the transition from gas lighting to electric light.)

The importance of sleep (and presumably darkness) hygiene to depression and manic depression is now widely accepted as well.

PhotoperiodEffect.com traces much of this to the negative effects on mitochondria, our energy engines, of doing too much with too little time for them to repair and reproduce.

By: Hayley

Hayley — Mon, 05 Jun 2006 01:48:53 +0000

I’ve read that sleeping an average of 7-8 hours a night increases longevity of life by some significant amount, while more and less decrease it. I guess my mum was right when she suggested a set bedtime every night to keep my sleep regular. Unfortunately, I haven’t stuck to that….

By: Bianca

Bianca — Sun, 02 Apr 2006 00:40:03 +0000

In response to leaving a night light on during days 14 – 17 to improve fertility, this will not give your eyes total rest. I’ve read it can cause vision problems, but perhaps not if short term.

By: comforteagle

comforteagle — Mon, 27 Mar 2006 23:15:34 +0000

According to my homebrew sleep research (http://fooworks.com) a person should go to bed around 9:30 – 1opm in order to hit maximum sleep, maximum restorative health, and maximum cognitive ability for the next day. All oddly in line with circadian rhythms to this day.

By: orc_jr

orc_jr — Mon, 20 Mar 2006 20:53:47 +0000

Armani said: "your scientific journal proof is Momma said sleep on time. People that take long night shifts die faster and get paid more: what a deal? Not sleeping on a schedule is definitely unhealthy and i would agree with Cosmos that the new diseases that spawn are reaching epidemic proportions. The new "advances" do make you sicker then what you gain. For example, women that recieve annual breast check ups never think that they have to get x-rayed to see the results. X-rays = bad and is probably why women get breast cancer. "wow docter, thank god i got my annual breast exam so i know i have cancer ahead of time""

liar! x-rays are good for you! also, you're ugly.

By: Armani

Armani — Sat, 18 Mar 2006 07:36:16 +0000

your scientific journal proof is Momma said sleep on time. People that take long night shifts die faster and get paid more: what a deal? Not sleeping on a schedule is definitely unhealthy and i would agree with Cosmos that the new diseases that spawn are reaching epidemic proportions. The new “advances” do make you sicker then what you gain. For example, women that recieve annual breast check ups never think that they have to get x-rayed to see the results. X-rays = bad and is probably why women get breast cancer. “wow docter, thank god i got my annual breast exam so i know i have cancer ahead of time”

By: Chilehead

Chilehead — Fri, 17 Mar 2006 01:38:00 +0000

It would be interesting to see some studies relating health and varying periods of light and dark because the length of days and nights on earth is never really a constant: The tidal effect of the moon and sun dragging the tide around the Earth from west to east have constantly been slowing the Earth’s rotation. Days on Earth used to be much shorter than they are now, and in the far future (probably the order of a billion or so years) the length of our days will reach the 47 hour mark. (source: Cosmos author: Carl Sagan)

By: davida

davida — Wed, 15 Mar 2006 16:07:09 +0000

I’m a good friend of Alan…he stays awake until 2am everynight…and I’m pretty sure he can’t see in the dark. no doubt he is an expert on this subject…damn interesting….. damnironic….etc

By: another viewpoint

another viewpoint — Wed, 15 Mar 2006 03:57:09 +0000

…well then, somebody better NOT tell all them chickens that we’ve been foolin’ them into increasing egg production by keeping the windows closed and drapes pulled shut in the coops so the artificial sunlight can be on longer. Then again, what do you want for an animal that’s got a brain the size of pea.

…if you want to live to be a ripe old age, then you better get used to waking up every morning. If you want to be sure you wake up each morning, then you better drink plenty of water before you got to bed at night.

…and with that, it’s getting late and time to go look for pinholes in my eyelids.