You're Too Good to Feel This Bad: An Orthodox Approach to Living an Unorthodox Life

by Nate Dallas

But here’s where it gets tricky. Any light source, whether natural or manmade, will delay and reduce melatonin release. The problem in modern-day society is that we have lights everywhere. They shine at all hours of the day and night. This includes the numbers on the alarm clock, buttons on the wireless router, streetlights, and screens that stay in front of us for way too many hours of the day. When exposed to too many lights for too long, we miss out on the sleepy benefits of melatonin—and some lights are bigger offenders than others. All lights affect our sleepiness by blocking melatonin, but certain wavelengths of lighting, like the blue spectrum lights found in many LED fixtures, are worse. Those energy-efficient, LED lights can block 50% more melatonin than other sources.