Shoshana Bennett: Staying A Happy And Healthy Parent By Controlling Light
By: Dr. Shoshana Bennett and Dr. Richard L. Hansler
Staying healthy and happy throughout this exciting process of having a baby is a goal of every mother. Some recent discoveries about how light affects the human body are of special relevance to this topic.
It has been known for many years that exposing the eyes to light at night suppresses the sleep hormone melatonin. What is new is that it is principally the blue rays in ordinary white light that cause the suppression.
When a mother gets up at night and turns on a light in order to take care of her baby, she suppresses her production of melatonin. When she goes back to bed she may find she can’t sleep. About the time she finally falls asleep again, her baby cries and she again turns on a light. Once more, this cuts off her supply of melatonin. This results in upsetting her internal clock.
When she goes to bed the following evening she may find she can’t sleep, even though very tired. Her melatonin flow did not start at the normal time because her internal clock has been reset by the light exposure during the previous night. If this goes on for a number of nights, her body doesn’t know what time of day or night it is.
Add A New CommentWe value and respect the experiences of all of our HerWriters, but everyone is different. Many of our writers are speaking from personal experience, and what's worked for them may not work for you. Their articles are not a substitute for medical advice although we hope you can gain knowledge from their insight.
Add A New CommentComments
There are no comments yet. Be the first to get the conversation started.