It’s amazing the effect that light, and different colours and spectrums have on human health. It’s probably worthy of a novel or at the very least a thesis. But Lumie, the world-leading experts in light and seasonal affective disorder, have cleverly come up with a new device that can help us through the dull winter months.
The Lumie Bodyclock Go 75 (pictured below) is a wake-up light – you set it to wake you up with the sunrise (or whenever you wish), naturally resetting your sleep/wake cycle to help you feel fresh and alert. And it comes with wake up sounds such as birds song. And also portable so you can take it with you on your travels.
What I didn’t know before was the range of health issues that sleep deprivation and/or not getting enough light can cause. This includes obesity and also changes in metabolism that can lead to diabetes and heart disease.
Dr Victoria Revell, an expert in studying the human circadian system (human sleep) at the Surrey Clinical Research Centre at the University of Surrey says that we are all getting less sleep than ever – typically we would get 9 hours but now its down to 7.5.
Added to which – the dreaded impact of ageing – which apparently means that the outer layer of our eyeballs gets thicker so light finds it harder to penetrate and the pupils shrinks – so goodness knows why everything else shrinks – like bones and lips!
Lumie has lots of data and has also worked with our Olympic athletes – who typically have to train at odd hours – because we don’t have facilities for them at normal times and they do ‘day’ jobs – and proven that performance is enhanced with the right light.
One other not so funny thing I discovered is that 17% of the UK workforce – works at night – that about 4.1 million people – who will all have disrupted sleep patterns. And – I am guilty of this one – spending the evenings at my computer – because that can make you stay awake all night. Hmm I wondered what it was – thought it was my vivid imagination!