Shoshana Bennett: Staying A Happy And Healthy Parent By Controlling Light
She produces less and less melatonin, she sleeps very little and may fall into a state of depression. Disruption of the internal clock is well known to psychiatrists as a cause for depression.
Because it is now known that only the blue rays in ordinary light cause the melatonin suppression, it is easy to avoid the problem. All that is required is to use lightbulbs in the nursery and bathroom that don’t produce blue light.
Alternatively, the new mother may simply slip on a pair of glasses that block blue light and she can then go anywhere in the house without fear of losing her supply of melatonin. Because a father also can develop postpartum depression, he needs to take the same precautions.
Many pregnant women find they are getting up during the night. For them, using blue blocking glasses and/or light bulbs makes sense for the same reasons. In fact, experience has shown that putting on glasses that block blue light well in advance of bedtime has a number of benefits. It allows melatonin to start flowing earlier than usual which makes it easier to fall and stay asleep. It makes it possible to maximize the duration of melatonin flow to the 10 or so hours we enjoyed before the invention of electric lights.
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