Notes from “Lights Out” by T.S. Wiley – the biophysics of sleep, light and hormones.

 

The sun's energy is the catalyst for all life.  The amount of light that hits you informs your system controls (your endocrine system) about the rotation of the planet, when is day and when is night (circadian rhythms).  This cosmic communication has been telling us when to sleep and when to wake up; the seasons used to tell us when it was time to eat to store fat for winter and it was time to be lean.

 

Light, whether natural sunlight or artificial light, always sparks biochemical reactions.  Long working hours, too long exposure to light, alter our balance.  Insulin, estrogen, testosterone are affected by too much light.  Our endocrine system is like a software program that responds to the actions of the environment.  The computer is our brain.  The amount of light (brightness, temperature, and electricity) and gravity (magnetism) you are exposed to is the program that runs the software.

 

The hours of light you are exposed to control actual genetic 'on and off' switches, enzyme activity, and most important, the growth of 4 pounds of symbiotic bacteria that live in your gut -the key to life and death and dress size.

 

Sleeping is an immune response to an endotoxin in our bloodstream.  Our gut bacteria release a cytokine called interlukin-2 in response to this endotoxin.  Once you fall asleep, a surge of melatonin encourages white blood cell activity specifically designed to respond to pathogens like bacteria living in your middle.  Eighty percent of the immune system is located in the gut because the gut was your original brain (body-mind).   

 

Sleep is the biggest immunological defense mechanism we have, not only does it defend us against other organisms in our environment, it defends us against starvation by the insulin-melatonin system.  Insulin is produced only when your body senses sugar or stress.  Since stress is promoted by cortisol and cortisol is elevated as long as you are bathed in light, day-night cycles, along with carbohydrates, control your insulin production.

 

The hormone interactions during sleep are complex – here is my attempt to summarize it:

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• When you sleep in the dark you generate Melatonin (it is not generated when there is light out or electrical lights are on inside).  Melatonin is made out of serotonin.  Serotonin is produced by eating carbohydrates. When too much carbohydrates are eaten regularly, there is too much Serotonin being produced and the body develops resistance to it.   Something similar happens with Insulin.

 

• Melatonin increases the production of Prolactin which enhances the production of T cells and NK cells (natural killers) – our first line of cancer defense.

 

• When we have shorter nights for sleep because we don't sleep enough at night, there is appetite derangement, insulin levels stay high when they should be flat and cortisol levels fall so late that they won't come up normally in the morning to make you wake up. 

 

• With melatonin overflow you need an alarm to wake up, as you have a melatonin hangover, you are too sleepy to wake up even though morning light should suppress melatonin spontaneously. 

• Cortisol should rise in the morning to enhance dopamine. If that doesn't happen because you had few hours of sleep, the day seems to go too fast...   (there is a rushed and anxious feeling produced as if you were running out of time).

• Without dopamine and too much prolactin in the morning, your memory and ability to plan fail.  You are not motivated, have difficulty getting organized and taking action.  You can't make melatonin in the daytime or with the lights on.  It is a feedback loop.

• Melatonin enhances leptin and leptin keeps your brain in the 'fed' stage, so you stay asleep and make more melatonin. 

• Less sleep at night -and therefore, less melatonin and less leptin – make you eat more, day and night.  You crave carbohydrates and once you start eating them regularly, you start to retain water.

• When you overeat carbohydrates, not only does your body become insulin resistant, but your brain can too.  In the brain, too much serotonin and you are paralized, too much dopamine and you are stuck to the ceiling. 

• Depressed people don't have low serotonin levels, they have low dopamine. When lights jack up your dopamine, you become impulsive and hungry.  Dopamine controls protein craving.  People with genuinely low serotonin levels are happy people because low serotonin means high dopamine levels.  It is serotonin, in any great amount, that is a downer.

• If you don’t make melatonin out of your serotonin, you will have emotional problems in the form of depression.  A chronic excessive serotonin state from a diet high in carbohydrates and lack of sleep, creates a permanently hopeless state of mind.

• Sleep normalizes serotonin levels because the melatonin produced during sleep can only be made by using up the available serotonin.  That is why people who are depressed tend to self-medicate by either sleeping all the time or not sleeping at all. 

• When you don't sleep and you eat carbohydrates all day, week, month, year, decade, you swim in chronically high serotonin because it never gets to turn into melatonin.  That's where the depression comes in, and the actual heart disease. 

• When you eat too much carbohydrate for too many months of the year, never empty your storage of sugar, or burn fat to imitate famine, insulin, produced by your pancreas day and night in response to all of the sugar, causes rebound addiction and substance abuse through the production of serotonin and dopamine, bipolar behavior (ultimately), and maybe even schizophrenia in your tired brain.

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And that is just from the neck up.

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• Below the neck, results of excess insulin due to light toxicity include high blood pressure from the water retention caused by eating too many carbohydrates for too long, and the storage of the surplus carbohydrate in the form of body fat and cholesterol to keep you from starving and freezing.  But since neither starving nor freezing is on the horizon, you'll become diabetic.  In addition, heavy LDLs (type of cholesterol that should be low) will stick in your heart because you've killed the cells lining your heart three or four different ways by now.

• Melatonin (produced when the lights are off and you sleep) is the most potent antioxidant known.

 

Conclusion:

Sleep with the lights off, at night, and for enough hours, at least 8.

Stop eating sugar and processed carbohydrates.  

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Natural strategies to improve sleep quality and overall health. Try implementing one or more of these strategies each week and watch your sleep, energy, mood, and health improve! from Dr Peter Osborne

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• Sunshine exposure: it can have a major impact on Melatonin rhythms and can result in improvements in mood, energy, and sleep quality.

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• Stress management: there is no doubt that stress disrupts sleep, and managing stress can improve sleep quality. Try meditation, movement, and breathing techniques to manage stress.  

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• Adequate hydration: hydration is important for just about every system in the body, including sleep. Symptoms of dehydration, like headaches, dry mouth and nasal passages, and muscle cramps can cause discomfort that disrupts sleep.

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• Exercise: it can increase sleep quality by reducing the time it takes to fall asleep and the amount of time they lie awake in bed during the night. It can help relieve feelings of fatigue during the day, and it can also decrease the risk of being at an unhealthy weight, which reduces the risk of obstructive sleep-apnea.

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• Practice good sleep hygiene: set up your sleep environment for success by making your room cool and dark, and limiting blue light and electromagnetic fields (EMFs) in the evening. You may also wind down each night by practicing journaling or meditation to release thoughts that may interfere with sleep.

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• Be mindful of your diet composition: In addition to avoiding gluten, research has shown that diets higher in fiber, healthy fats and protein are associated with better sleep quality. Oftentimes sleep deprivation can cause cravings for simple carbohydrates and sugar, but these can be detrimental to improving sleep quality.

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• Reduce caffeine and other stimulants: caffeine and other stimulants can be tempting for those with sleep problems, as they can temporarily alleviate the feelings of fatigue caused by lack of sleep. But their effects can backfire as they can also interrupt sleep, making it harder to fall asleep and stay asleep.

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• Incorporating foods that contain Tryptophan and Melatonin: eggs, fish, and nuts are high in Melatonin, while poultry, salmon, nuts, and seeds are high in tryptophan. Both may improve sleep quality.  

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