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Sleep is not just a comfort—it’s an absolute necessity. No matter what work you do or where you live, you need a good night’s sleep. Otherwise, you won’t be able to function properly the next day.

A lot of people, though, forget that sleeping is a process. There’s both a right way and a wrong way to do it. Do you keep the lights on in your room before going to bed? Then you should stop because lights are not conducive to a good night’s sleep. Here is how a bright light can negatively impact your sleep.

• It ruins your circadian rhythm.

Your circadian rhythm is responsible for various bodily functions and tells your body things like when to eat and when to wake up. However, the most important function regulated by your circulated rhythm is sleep. Through your body’s circadian rhythm, you are able better in the dark, or during night time.

When you keep the light on, your brain automatically thinks it’s still daytime, thereby making it harder for you to fall asleep. Even if you do manage to fall asleep, you’d either wake up with bad headache or wake up in the middle of the night and no longer be able to sleep.

• It causes hormonal changes.

To help you sleep, the pineal gland in your brain produces a hormone called melatonin. The production of this hormone is only effective at night, when it’s dark.

Blue light, which is the light from electronic devices like TVs and smartphones, hampers your brain’s melatonin production. Having low melatonin levels don’t just prevent you from sleeping comfortably; it also leads to  health risks such as diabetes and heart disease. This makes blue light the worst type of light you can expose yourself to prior to sleeping.

• It increases your risk of cancer.

One of the most significant health issues caused by exposing yourself to lights while you sleep is cancer. Decreased levels of melatonin weakens your immune system, which makes you more susceptible to diseases such as cancer.

Research has found that exposure to bright artificial lights during the night increased the risk of breast cancer in women and prostate cancer in men, both linked to the suppression of melatonin.

Light that is beneficial to sleep

When it comes to helping you sleep, all lights are not created equal. While blue light has been proven to disrupt sleep, red, orange, or yellow-coloured lights actually promote a more relaxed sleep. This is because unlike blue light, lights with reddish hues reportedly aid in melatonin production.

Another reason why red light is better for sleep is because your eyes are most sensitive to blue light frequencies and least sensitive to red-coloured ones. When the cells in your eyes perceive red light, that light goes from your eyes to your brain and processes that information to perform certain functions. Your brain thinks it’s night because red light emits significantly less daytime signals than blue light does.

Research shows that blue light has the worst effect for your mood and red light is the best. According to Randy Nelson, co-author of the study and professor of neuroscience and psychology at The Ohio State University, he says "Our findings suggest that if we could use red light when appropriate for night-shift workers, it may not have some of the negative effects on their health that white light does,"

So, if you don’t think you can sleep in total darkness, then the solution would be buy a night light for your bedroom, but not just any night light. Get yourself one with a dim red light. Sleeping in pitch black darkness is still your best option, but at least red lights are not nearly as harmful as blue light.

Wellcare is here for you

From heating cushions to electric underblankets, Wellcare has a wide variety of products that can help keep you warm comfortable as you sleep. We only use high-quality materials for our products, because we care not only about your comfort, but your safety as well.

We are also proud to say that our products are equipped with our very own 4D Dynamic Warmth Flow (4D DWF) technology. An innovation in electric heating, the 4D DWF ensures that heat is distributed evenly throughout the surface of the product for maximum warmth and comfort.

So, what are you waiting for? Get yourself a Wellcare heating pad, heating cushion, or electric blanket today.