Summit Trend in the News:
Focus Shifts from Sleep to True Circadian Health
The invention of the light bulb fundamentally changed our biology – Elemental-Medium
This article explains how the way we sleep today is actually a very young construct, born with Edison’s invention of the light bulb. The invention has led to a world where we take in light in increasingly damaging, crazy ways, which has thrown off the brain and circadian rhythms—leading to all kinds of health problems, from metabolic to stress disorders.
Even dim light disrupts your body clock – Forbes
How does artificial light affect biology? According to a 2019 study, humans are far more sensitive than previously thought: Even a little light in the evening can have a large effect on your body clock—though just how much seems to vary by individuals.
Is the marvel of LED lighting also a blight on global health? – Fast Company
Argues that light pollution is not some “soft” environmental issue; it’s a massive assault on the ecology of the planet and human health—and how the destruction of night is as important an issue as the poisoning of water and air. Looks at how, since the 1950s, we arrived at this “lightmare,” including a massive increase in the brightness of metro areas in just the last few years, with the aggressive marketing of bright, white LED street lighting to cities/towns.
Are we sleep-deprived or just darkness-deprived? – Considerable
A 2019 study from UCLA challenges the idea that we, in the industrialized world, are indeed sleep-deprived. Analyzing three current pre-industrial societies (living without electricity, etc.), the study suggests that pre-industrial people don’t sleep any more than we do—but they may be getting better sleep because they experience more time in actual darkness.