![]() ![]() University of Connecticut cancer epidemiologist Richard Stevens, Ph.D., was one of the pioneer researchers in this area. Growing evidence also points to a possible connection between light at night, melatonin levels and an increased risk for breast cancer. And mental health issues such as bipolar disorder and Seasonal Affective Disorder are related to an inconsistent sleep/wake cycle. Poor sleep has an impact on obesity, high blood pressure and other health conditions. ![]() So, what’s at stake? Scientists explain that at the most basic level, if you don’t get enough quality sleep, your odds of being in an accident go up-and your productivity goes down. ![]() But here’s the other key: You have to sleep in darkness, a difficult feat in the era of blinking electronics. And the best way to build up melatonin levels, it turns out, is to get enough sleep. If levels dip too low, our sleep/wake cycle gets out of wack. Sleep researchers learned years ago that the hormone melatonin has a lot of power over how we sleep. As it turns out, the perpetual lightbulb is not so great for human health, either. Ecologists have documented many negative impacts of too much light at night on wildlife-birds forget to migrate Florida turtles mistake streetlights for the moon. Groups like the International Dark Sky Association have done an excellent job of raising awareness about the need to preserve our starry skies. Flip the light switch in your bedroom and a mini-constellation of twinkling lights appears, from the digital alarm clock to the DVD player to the sparkling blue Internet router.
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