New Light Hygiene Science & Tips for Better Sleep, Fat Loss, Memory and More

You want to minimize exposure in the 3-hour window before your desired sleep time to just 10 lux measured at the eye. This is like having 10 candles on; a candle releases about 1 lux.

When you get near that 100 lux range in the evening, that's when you get a very significant amount of melatonin suppression. So, you might say, 'Well, 100 lux, that's so much. That's like looking at the sun.' No, that's like watching your television with the compact fluorescents above you on.

Lux is a way to quantify the intensity of light. For example, if you stare right at the sun, that quantifies getting over 1000 lux ... If you're in an office, it might be, say, 500 lux. If you're watching TV, it's in the 400 range, when it really should be in the 30 range in the 3-hour window before bed. If you're staring at your phone, it's about 60 lux, which is double what the expert consensus panel recommends.

It turns out that when you're exposed to artificial light at night, it can impair your attention the next day. It can impact melatonin release, growth hormone release. We know there's this epidemic of low testosterone, of adrenal fatigue, early menopause, perimenopause—well, what if we're just having excessive amounts of artificial light that is augmenting our circadian clock system?

Substantial evidence indicates that such altered light exposure patterns contribute to negative impacts on health, sleep, and productivity—ranging from acute increases in accident risk to increase incidences of cardiometabolic diseases (obesity, heart disease, diabetes) and certain forms of cancer.