To avoid sleep disorders, you have to expose yourself to light, but the good hours of the day.
- Exposure to light can help reduce sleep disorders.
- For this, you have to expose yourself especially at the start of the day.
- Two hours before bedtime, it is important to gradually reduce the brightness around you.
One in five people sleep badly in France. This figure of Inserm reveals the extent of chronic sleep disorders. To relieve them, there are suitable treatments, but certain changes of habit may be enough. This is explained by Jacques Taillard, neurobiologist, in Sciences and future : This professional points out that exposure to light can help us sleep better.
How to expose themselves to light to improve your sleep?
“”The rule is to capture a maximum – natural or artificial – upon rising, then, in the evening, to gradually decrease the light intensity, from two hours before bedtime“, estimates the specialist. This means that it is better to favor dim lights in the evening. As for the use of phones before sleeping, he stresses that”Most devices now offer blue light filters “. On the other hand, the content looked at can keep us in a form of cognitive excitement, harmful for sleep.
Elderly people: sleep disorders linked to poor perception of light
In January 2024, researchers from the Lyon neuroscience research center (Inserm/CNRS/Claude-Bernard Lyon 1 University) have already demonstrated the links between sleep and light disorders. Their works Show that the appearance of sleep disorders in the elderly is linked to a desynchronization of the biological clock due to a drop in perception of light. “”While the youngest (…) can be satisfied with an exposure to blue light To synchronize their Circadian clock over a 24 -hour day, older people need to be exposed to a light richer in wavelengths (colors), a light whose characteristics are those of sunlight “conclude the authors.
How to limit the risk of sleep disorders?
Whatever age, it is essential to have an environment conducive to sleep at bedtime. L’Health insurance Recalls that it is better to limit light in the room thanks to closed shutters and/or curtains. The noise must also be prohibited. The room must be regularly and properly ventilated, and the temperature limited to 18 or 19 ° C. When you wake up, you have to open your shutters to expose yourself as soon as possible in natural light in order to preserve your circadian rhythm.
