How Bright Light During The Day Protects Your From Bright Light At Night

What?

How does bright daylight protect you from artificial light at night?

I'll tell you in a second but first realize that this also means.....

Dim light during the day makes artificial light do more damage to you at night.

WTF.

As you discover when you read this paper, when you expose yourself daily to a low light intensity, like most indoor artificial lighting, it significantly increases melatonin suppression at night when you are exposed to artificial light.



In the paper, we see that the test group who got outside and was exposed to bright sunlight many times during the day for a week did not have nearly as much melatonin suppression at night as when they spent a week in dimmer light during the day.

LUX is basically the measure of the brightness of a specific light.

Sunlight is way more bright and thus has way more lux than artificial indoor lighting.



So what you must realize is that artificial indoor lighting during the day is, among other things, usually too dim which makes your body and circadian system more sensitive to artificial light at night which results in more melatonin suppression. 

And remember, melatonin isn't just for sleep. It is the master antioxidant and cancer preventor and crucial for your mitochondria.

Ok.

Good.

So remember, you want bright light during the day so you will be better protected from bright light at night.

Make it a habit to take multiple sun breaks during the day. Put your office desk near a window, preferably opened. 

And if for some reason you absolutely can't get outside for that bright light during the day, you can use certain well balanced bright artificial lights like the Sky Portal and Sky Portal Mini (use code "bluelightdiet" for a discount).