by John Clinton
In a recent essay published in Harper’s magazine (In Pursuit of a Good Night’s Sleep) the journalist/writer Rowan Jacobsen describes his struggles with insomnia and how this interruption in his internal biological clock, his circadian twenty-four-hour rhythm, has prompted his search in an attempt to better his sleep cycle.
Sleep, and the lack of it, he says, is linked to many human disorders, but he focuses on Artificial Light At Night (ALAN), which is the reason for writing this message.
Jacobsen joined a University of Arizona research project that was studying the effects of sleep deprivation and how sleep patterns are influenced by different intensities and spectrums of light.
The natural hormone which is most important for our ability to sleep, to control our circadian rhythm, is melatonin, and our bodies produce and reduce melatonin by our brain detecting light via the eyes. Through the night, melatonin levels rise and the body’s cells quiesce, and these levels fall when the morning light develops and we prepare for a busy day ahead.
Green light causes the release of opioids, promoting serenity (a walk in the woods), red light frequencies support sleep quality in that they do not suppress melatonin, blue light disrupts sleep quality (it is time to awake). The value of sleep; it is when the bodies of all mammals repair.
The popularity of Artificial Light At Night emitted by modern devices this century has confused our sleep rhythms, particularly Light Emitting Diode (LED) nonanalogue lights which emit excessive amounts of blue light frequencies.
According to the Canada Health Alliance, LED lighting can exacerbate chronic disease, increase cellular damage including the increased risk of macular degeneration when used after sunset, to mention some dangers.
I have always lived in a rural environment and have recently become an aged Almonte town suburbanite. When I walk the streets before sleep I yearn for the rural Mississippi Mills night sky, to no avail. Surely I am not alone in this longing.
People here have told me that perhaps eight years ago the town replaced its analogue street lighting with LED units and many noticed an increase in intensity, which was due to the increase in the blue light frequencies emitted, not due to an increase in power (wattage).
What’s to be done? Can anything be done? Can the LED street lights be refitted with ones that eliminate or at least reduce blue light frequencies? Can deflectors be mounted on these lamps to direct more light downwards and not directly in the windows of our home? Can home owners be coerced to reduce or even extinguish the many lights illuminating their yards after dark? Should the town establish a referendum to gauge the general feeling of residents with respect to this issue? Could the ‘friendly town’ inspire other communities in the crusade against light pollution? Or am I just swimming against the current, in the dark – sorry, in the light?
