As we have been discussing light and circadian rhythm a fair bit, we thought to break it down for you just a touch; bring you up to speed with why this is important and why we keep writing, and posting, and shouting about it.
Circadian rhythms are found in nearly every living thing on the earth. They help organisms time their daily and seasonal activities to maintain a synchronicity to the external world; effectively ‘knowing’ the time of day. The term Circadian rhythms comes from the Latin circa (about) and dies (day), as they are predominantly controlled by the patterns of light produced by the earth’s rotation, but also by rhythmic changes within the environment such as temperature, food availability, rainfall and even predation. These signals, or time-givers, are known as ‘zeit-gebers’.
Human psychology is organised around the daily cycle of activity and sleep. We fluctuate between what is called an active phase when energy expenditure is higher as food alongside water are consumed while the organs prepare for the intake, processing and uptake of nutrients, and the sleep phase.
Sleep may be the suspension of most physical activity, yet during sleep many essential activities take place. This includes cellular repair, the removal of toxins, memory consolidation, and information processing. When these patterns are disrupted, as happens with jet-lag or working during night hours, it leads to disruption of the circadian system and our ability to do the right thing at the right time becomes greatly impaired.
The LYS device focuses on four aspects of light that have equal importance to our circadian rhythm and body clock: colour, intensity, timing, and duration. In conjunction, LYS follows two main recommendations; to start our days right we ultimately should receive at least 30 minutes of blue light at 1500 Lux, which is high-intensity light.
Equally, to restore the imbalance caused by the sheer amount of artificial light we’re exposed to on a daily basis, we need to avoid blue light at 440-770 nm (nanometers, which is the light wavelength) for 2 to 3 hours before hitting the sack.
It’s all about how we can understand the evolution of our lifestyles without the equal evolution of our bodies. While our smart natural system does understand the importance of light cycles, it’s ability to communicate when the light is right or wrong hasn’t developed to match our artificially lit modern lives. It’s all about how the LYS wearable helps create healthier light habits.