The brilliant new strategy for losing weight, sleeping better, and fighting disease:
Just get the right dose of light at the right time. By Nancy Kalish, Prevention
Many ancient cultures, including the Egyptians and Greeks, worshipped the sun. Turns out, they were onto something.
Every morning, light absorbed by your retinas helps set a master clock in your brain that cues other biological timepieces that regulate blood pressure, temperature, and hormone production.
Ongoing light stimulation and the lack of it at the end of the day keeps this complex system, known as circadian rhythms, cycling in an orderly fashion. With a keen understanding of these light-regulated patterns, you can boost energy, alertness, and your defenses against disease.
Here are ways to maximize light's benefits that are so new even your doctor might not know about them.
Morning: Start the Day Off Light
Rise and truly shine
First thing upon waking, head for the brightest light available. It's the fastest way to shake off sleepiness. "Without that light boost, your alarm clock might say 7 am, but your body will still feel in the dark," says Mariana G. Figueiro, PhD, an assistant professor at the Lighting Research Center at Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute. For extra alertness, don't wear sunglasses during your morning commute.
Have to rise while it's still dark? Try a bedside lamp with a bluish white compact fluorescent bulb, which is similar to morning light and twice as effective at activating the circadian system as warmer incandescent lights. Buy bulbs labeled daylight or 6500 K.
Boost your concentration
Sunlight directly activates the parts of the brain responsible for maintaining alertness. At work, place your desk by a window if possible, taking care to avoid glare.
A 2003 work performance study by the California Energy Commission linked working by a window with better concentration and short-term memory recall. In another study of 21,000 students, those in the sunniest classrooms solved math problems 20% faster.
Get an energy jolt
The first rays of early morning suppress the production of melatonin (a hormone that makes you feel sleepy) and keep your circadian cycle on track so you feel more alert during the day.
To fend off an afternoon energy slump, it's best to take an early morning walk. "This synchronizes your body clock to your watch and will make you feel more energetic all day, as well as sleep better at night," says Figueiro.
Improve your mood
Light encourages production of serotonin, the mood-regulating neurotransmitter. Insufficient exposure to light, particularly on the short days of the winter months, can lead to mild depression. Consider using a light box made especially for combating seasonal affective disorder (SAD), a condition that affects some people during the darkest days of winter.
Look for one featuring blue light-emitting diodes (LEDs) with a peak wavelength of 470 nm, which are more effective for the circadian system and produce less glare than white-light boxes.
Rein in your appetite
Eons of evolution have programmed our appetite to respond to light in the early morning, when our ancestors needed energy for hard work, and to diminish after dark, when they needed rest.
Electric lighting, however, has made it possible to stay awake and snack when we used to be sleeping. Even worse, research shows that we also find food less satisfying in the evening, which keeps us noshing.
To put the brakes on nighttime nibbling, eat a substantial, healthy breakfast soon after rising. According to one study, women who ate larger morning meals consumed fewer total daily calories without even trying than when they ate less at breakfast or skipped it entirely.
Fight disease
Vitamin D, the so-called sunshine vitamin (because it's produced by your skin in response to sunlight), is essential for healthy bones -- and it also protects against cardiovascular disease, multiple sclerosis, diabetes, rheumatoid arthritis, and many cancers.
Researchers at Johns Hopkins found that colon cancer deaths were high in New York, New Hampshire, and Vermont, the northern states that get the least amount of daily solar radiation in the continental United States, and low in New Mexico and Arizona, the southern states that get the most.
A recent large study found that postmenopausal women who took 1,100 IU of vitamin D along with calcium substantially reduced their risk of all cancers.
Although vitamin D supplements provide some protection against disease, Michael F. Holick, MD, PhD, a professor at the Boston University School of Medicine and author of The UV Advantage, believes that short intervals of unprotected sun exposure three times each week confer even more.
"I always put sunscreen on my face, which is where most skin cancers occur," says Holick. "But I leave my arms and legs bare for 15 to 30 minutes before applying it there." In that time, your body can produce 4,000 IU of D -- the equivalent of 40 glasses of fortified milk.
You can't overdose on vitamin D from sunshine, but too much sun poses a greater cancer risk to people with fair complexions.
To safely ensure you're getting enough daily D, strive for 1,000 IU in food and supplements combined. That's particularly true if you live anywhere north of Atlanta (33 degrees latitude) in the winter, when the sun is at too low of an angle for you to produce the vitamin. Otherwise, max out your protection against disease by letting the sun shine now and then -- on you!
Evening: Sleep Deep In the Dark
Nightfall prompts the release of melatonin, a hormone that not only helps bring on drowsiness and sleep but also keeps estrogen levels in check. Without enough melatonin, estrogen rises, which scientists believe might be one of the reasons that female night-shift workers have an increased risk of breast cancer.
(In December 2007, the World Health Organization classified shift work as a "probable" carcinogen.) Research has also linked the night shift to increases in colorectal and prostate cancers. Follow these habits to ensure proper melatonin levels and reduce your risk of disease:
Forgo bright overhead lights in the evening
Even 30 minutes of exposure to a light slightly brighter than the ones you find in your office can suppress melatonin production.
Instead, use task lamps with 40- to 60-watt incandescent bulbs for washing dishes, reading, or television or computer use. When sleeping, keep the room as dark as possible
If you use a night-light in your bedroom, equip it with a 7-watt incandescent bulb. It's okay to briefly turn on a low-wattage light bulb for a bathroom run.
Prevent Jet Lag -- Naturally
"While traveling east over several time zones, I wear dark or orange glasses that filter out blue light until midafternoon," says Mariana G. Figueiro, PhD, an assistant professor at the Lighting Research Center at Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute.
"When I travel back west, I make sure I stay out in the sunlight until the early evening. That always resets my body clock."
Time Your Meds So They Work Better
Taking some medications to coincide with the peaks and troughs of your light-regulated body clock can increase their effectiveness. For instance, French researchers found that timed doses of chemo on people with late-stage colorectal cancer outperformed nearly all other treatments.
Everyday prescription drugs also work best when synched up with the body rhythms influenced by light. Always check with your doctor before altering your meds in any way. Here's a breakdown of what works better when.
For Allergies
Medication: Antihistamines
Take at: Bedtime. The active ingredient will be in your bloodstream before symptoms are at their worst in the morning.
Take at: In the morning for osteoarthritis, with an additional dose at night for rheumatoid arthritis.
For Asthma
Medication: Oral prednisone
Take at: 3 pm. Research shows it's more effective at controlling nighttime symptoms (which tend to be more severe) than an 8 am dose. The same study found an 8 pm dose was only slightly more effective than a placebo.
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