Do different lights

effect the human

body?
By:Lexy Wentze!

Alexandra Wentzell Wednesday, April 28, 2010 11:58:08 AM MT

 Table of contents
Sleep/wake cycle

Colour therapy

SAD

Light therapy

Different bulbs

Seizures

Alexandra Wentzell Wednesday, April 28, 2010 11:58:08 AM MT

 Sleep/wake cycle
Light determines our sleep and wake cycle. In most animals and humans, the desire to sleep is brought
on by the production of a hormone called melatonin.

Melatonin is made in a tiny gland known as the pineal gland.

In the evening the pineal gland reacts to the low amounts of daylight reaching our eyes and starts to
produce melatonin, which is then released into the blood and flows through the body making us tired.
Its production peaks in the middle of the night during our heaviest hours of sleep. In the morning,
light shining through the eye reaches the pineal gland which switches off the production of melatonin,
removing the desire to sleep.

for people who have sleep problems you can buy melatonin pills

Fun fact! melatonin has a minty flavour

Alexandra Wentzell Wednesday, April 28, 2010 11:58:08 AM MT

 Colour therapy
Colors are visible gentle vitality of sure wavelengths. Photoreceptors within the retina, referred to as cones,
translate this energy into colors. The retina accommodates three kinds of cones: one for blue, one for green,
and one for red. We perceive different colors by combining these colors.

When the colour enters our bodies, it stimulates the pituitary and pineal glands. This in flip impacts the
manufacturing of certain hormones, which in turn affect a wide range of physiological processes. This explains
why color has been discovered to have such a direct affect on our thoughts, moods, and conduct-an influence
that many specialists imagine is distinctly separate from psychological and cultural factors

Specific colours can also impact particular diseases. Signs of acute eruptive illnesses equivalent to smallpox and
measles were relieved when sufferers have been put in a room with purple windows. Melancholiacs additionally
recovered after a number of hours in such rooms. Ache and melancholy was found to respond properly to
therapy using flashing vibrant lights and colored lights. These therapies have been shown to alter
neurochemical manufacturing in the brain and this may increasingly account for their optimistic effects.

Photostimulation with flashing opaque white or violet lights was found to induce rest, decreasing stress and
power pain. Use of photostimulation, or mind wave synchronization, to assist relaxation and the induction of
hypnosis had been round since 1948. It has been used with the EEG (electroencephalogram) as an adjunct to
the analysis of epilepsy.

The use of Colour as a Therapy is a truly holistic, non-invasive and powerful therapy which dates back
thousands of years; evidence of this can be found in ancient texts from India, China and Egypt.

Alexandra Wentzell Wednesday, April 28, 2010 11:58:08 AM MT

 Red colour therapy

Alexandra Wentzell Wednesday, April 28, 2010 11:58:08 AM MT

 SAD
Seasonal Affective Disorder is also known as winter depression

It is a mood disorder, where people who have normal mental health throughout most of the year experience depressive
symptoms in the winter or, rarely in the summer, spring or autumn, repeatedly.

Difficulty waking up in the morning, morning sickness, oversleeping as well as over eating, and especially a craving for
carbohydrates, are some symptoms that occur when having SAD. Other symptoms include a lack of energy, difficulty
concentrating on completing tasks, and withdrawal from friends, family, and social activities. all of this leads to the depression
and pessimism, which characterize a person suffering from SAD.

Seasonal mood variations are believed to be related to light. An argument for this view is the effectiveness of bright-light
therapy. SAD is measurably present at latitudes in the Arctic region, such as Finland (64º 00´N) where the rate of SAD is 9.5%
Cloud cover may contribute to the negative effects of SAD.

During the winter, there are lower levels of light, which disrupts the sleep/wake cycle. The sun comes up later in the day during
the winter, which causes your melatonin levels to diminish at a later time, so during the morning you still you still get up at the
same time. When you wake up in the early hours of the morning, your melatonin levels stay high, which causes you to remain
weary until the sun comes out.

In many species, activity is diminished during the winter months in response to the reduction in available food and the
difficulties of surviving in cold weather. Hibernation is an extreme example, but even species that do not hibernate often exhibit
changes in behaviour during the winter. It has been argued that SAD is an evolved adaption in humans that is a variant or
remnant of a hibernation response in some remote ancestor.

There are many different treatments for classic (winter-based) seasonal affective disorder, including light therapy, medication,
ionized-air administration, cognitive-behavioural therapy and carefully timed supplementation of the hormone melatonin.

Alexandra Wentzell Wednesday, April 28, 2010 11:58:08 AM MT

 Light Therapy
Light therapy or phototherapy includes exposure to daylight or to specific wavelengths of light using lasers, florescent lamps,
or very bright, full-spectrum light, called a light box. The light is administered for a prescribed amount of time and, in some
cases, at a specific time of day.

Sunlight is known to improve acne. Ultraviolet spectrum cannot be used to as a treatment due to the likely hood of skin
damage in the long run.

Light therapy has been suggested for use in healing of wounds. Some believe that low level laser therapy does not appear to be
effective, however others think that it can be effective. Low level light therapy is used clinically in many areas outside the
United States including Canada, Europe and Asia.

For the purpose of manipulating melatonin levels or timing, light boxes providing intense artificial illumination are effective.
These lamps, at a prescribed distance and within peripheral vision, provide up to 10,000 lux to the user's eyes, without harmful
ultraviolet radiation.The production of the hormone melatonin, a sleep regulator, is caused by light and permitted by darkness
to some degree.

Light boxes may be effective for the treatment of SAD, however full sunlight is preferred. The United States food and drug
administration doesn’t approve of using light boxes to treat SAD, because there have been unclear results in clinical trails,
however, light therapy is still the main form of treatment for SAD. Direct sunlight, reflected into the windows of a home or
office by a computer-controlled mirror device called a heliostat, has also been used as a type of light therapy for the treating
SAD.

Alexandra Wentzell Wednesday, April 28, 2010 11:58:08 AM MT

Alexandra Wentzell Wednesday, April 28, 2010 11:58:08 AM MT
 Different Bulbs
John Ott, a pioneer analyzed the effects of artificial light on the human body. He found that fluorescent lights which were heavily
skewed to the blue side of the spectrum caused virtually all male offspring in test animals red caused females. He also showed that six
major types of fluorescent lights being used at that time caused a significantly higher mutation rate in offspring (mutated genes and
birth defects.)

Yellow predominance in indoor lighting Both an incandescent and a fluorescent light produce a yellow frequency. The incandescent
light (ordinary light bulb) is high in the yellow, orange and red frequencies, and this makes your eyes squint because the yellow
frequency of the light bulb is the single worst frequency for the eye. It was developed because it was the brightest of all the colours, and
it reaches the cones first, but it also causes the eye to contract. In addition, the yellow that hits exposed skin causes a contraction in the
muscles and the nerves. The yellow that comes from fluorescent and incandescent lights causes a low-grade stress condition in your
body all the time. The cool white fluorescent is even higher in yellow. You will notice these lights have a yellow tinge in comparison with
a full spectrum light. You will feel better if you actually keep a full spectrum light on in the general vicinity of your regular lighting.

Glare and eyestrain When you read under an incandescent or fluorescent light, the yellow does not absorb into the paper, and it
becomes glare. This glare from regular incandescent lights actually is what puts you into reading glasses earlier. The full spectrum is
white. It has no glare, and the letters stand out. Basically you can read for hours on end under a full spectrum without even squinting or
eyestrain.

Halogen lights also produce a yellow frequency. Halogen lights were initially created without glass to protect them, and they produced
more ultraviolet than any other device. But as long as the glass is over it, you are o.k, because the ultraviolet does not come through the
glass.

Alexandra Wentzell Wednesday, April 28, 2010 11:58:08 AM MT

 Continued
Fluorescent light tubes: radiation in the form of soft X-rays escapes out the ends of the tube. This causes a slow clustering of blood cells
and restriction in oxygen flow which makes you tired. another problem with fluorescent lights is pulsation or flicker. The fixture
pulsates 60 times a second.

Full spectrum light. John Ott showed in many school studies that when you can change the school lighting from incandescent or
fluorescent to full spectrum, students' grade point averages will go up half a grade point, they will stay out of glasses longer, they will be
less hyperactive, and strangely their dental cavities drop. The reason for this is because it stimulated vitamin D. Full spectrum light
helps depression and the immune system during the winter, and it is the only natural colour to use for viewing artwork and other colour
products.

Full spectrum equivalence to sunlight. If you get six hours of full spectrum light in either fluorescent bulb, fluorescent tube form or
light box form, you are probably close to your 30-minute equivalent of sunlight. If you can get full spectrum lights in your working
environment, you can increase that. You don't have to have direct light.

Incandescent bulbs can not be full spectrum

Alexandra Wentzell Wednesday, April 28, 2010 11:58:08 AM MT

 Photosensitive epilepsy

Usually effects children between 8 and 20 years old

Not all flashing lights and patterns trigger seizures. A flash between 15-20 flashes per seconds will
most likely cause a seizure.

The mechanism by which flashing light’s can cause a seizure is not well understood. people think it is
because the light’s can cause nerve cells in those parts of the brain that process visual stimuli to all fire
at once in a synchronized fashion, and this causes a seizure.

Alexandra Wentzell Wednesday, April 28, 2010 11:58:08 AM MT

 Conclusion

Yes. Different lights do effect the human body. In fact

there are so many ways that lights effect the human body
that we don't rea!y know or understand them a!.

Alexandra Wentzell Wednesday, April 28, 2010 11:58:08 AM MT

 Bibliography
http://www.dhyansanjivani.org/how_light_afect.asp

http://en.wikipedia.org/wikiSeasonal_affective_disorder

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Light_therapy

http://consumerhealth.org/articles/display.cfm?ID=20000102232127

http://www.epilepsymatters.com/english/faqphotosensitive.html

http://www.beautyhealthsupply.com.au/biopt_0007b.jpg

http://www.phi!ipsmobility.co.uk/ekmps/shops/phi!ipsmob/images/sad-light-therapy-pad-556-p.jpg

http://www.sad-light-boxes.co.uk/products/resources/image/Rondo_sad_light2.jpg

Alexandra Wentzell Wednesday, April 28, 2010 11:58:08 AM MT