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Really MSNBC? Please proofread your articles!
No kidding.
". . . afraid of the DARK" works better and makes more sense, for sure . . .
For sure! :-o
However don't put that red light on the outside of your house or you will never get any sleep...
Alrighty then, time to shut down the computer I guess. Nighty-night! Yawwwwwn :o
Do you MSNBC writers ever, ever proofread or edit your articles?!?! Shouldn't that be "UNintended consequences"? Jeez! It's a good thing that you aren't brain surgeons. Of course, that would take some actual intelligence.
I so agree... first line of a story and a word is wrong... sorry editors. Really?
Ah, doesn't that sound familiar? Wonder where that money will be coming from since there's no profit to be made here.
As far as light causing cancer, if that were true there should be a plague of cancer in Vegas. Just saying that it's never dark there and if they want to study that would be a good place to start to see if the rate is much higher there than the rural areas of the Midwest.
Now as far as blaming MSNBC for the poor writing of the article, don't any of you see that the article is written by Rachael Rettner of the My Health News Daily?
If you follow this link you'll find the same story with all the errors you talk about from My Health News Daily with no MSNBC logo. It's a copy and paste of their article giving credit to Rachael Rettner. Another thing is MSNBC may not have the right to edit the story since it's copyrighted material.
http://www.myhealthnewsdaily.com/2750-light-night-health.html
"Lighting up the night is essential to a 24/7 society, but it may have intended consequences for human health, doctors say."
I wonder what those "intended" consequences are.
I'm so proud of the American Education system!
Every writer makes mistakes. But with internet news sites it just seems nobody has the time to proof read their righting befor hitting there "enter" key. I cee this all over on many differnt sights. See?
If they don't have the time to even proofread their stories it makes you wonder if they also don't have the time to check their sources. Journalism in the 21st Century.
Their sources are usually just other sources, Reuters, AP, BBC etc. I would almost guaranty that they don't verify the "facts" in these stories. I will say that this apples mainly to the 24/7, get it out quick, on line news sites. There is still a "print" media and in these newspapers, magazines and independent reporting you still see some fine, intelligent and meaningful journalism. You just have to track it down...Plus they proof read their stuff.
"Motta advised that parents keep their children on regular sleep schedules (i.e., have children go to bed at the same time every night). Ideally, there should be no lights in the room, but if the child is afraid of the doctor, a dim red light would be best to use, he said"... As others have posted here, MSN proof reading is sadly lacking. But this typo is kinda funny so... I never knew that a dim red light could help alleviate a child's fear of going to see a doctor.
I think my night light is better for me than tripping and falling, thereby breaking some part of me. I think my kids' night light is better for them and me since I will fall in there as well, and they will trip over something on the way to the bathroom in the dark. The room isn't bright, but you can make your way around.
One of the best things about living way out in the country is the ability to see the stars at night, all of them. And when I turn out the lights, my bedroom is dark, truly dark, no street lights, and I sleep like a log.
Who cares? The article isn't about where you live or street lights. BTW, since you seem to be totally unaware of it, it's possible to live in the suburbs and have a totally dark room at night by using light-blocking shades.
I live way out in the country too(and LOVE it!). "Out in the boonies" I call it, but I have PTSD really bad, and don't sleep at night, so I'm exposed to artificial light until sunrise when I finally go to sleep, blinds closed and the curtains pulled. If somebody hit a power pole at 12noon and knocked the power out, it'd be pitch black in here but at least I can stumble my way to a door and open it lol Then more artificial light after the power comes back on, or after I get stirrin' enough to make my way outside . I guess all this artificial light is gonna make me grow a third eye now. It's about the only thing NOT listed in the story hahaha I do have to agree with ya though about goin' out and seein' just how full the sky is of stars, that most city ppl never take the time to slow down for a few minutes once in a while, see and appreciate the simple, but greatest light show ever, every night(provided no clouds)....and it's free for the looking.
I concurr that spending late hours in front a computer screen or modern plasma/led/lcd TV screens can have an adverse effect on your sleep cycles.
"Electronic screens emit a lot of blue light." So do CFL lights. Unintended consequences, anyone? Get more efficient lights that just happen to be bad for our health. With one exception - halogen bulbs - all the new higher-efficiency lights emit far more blue and ultra-violet light than do the older, less efficient, and healthier, Tungsten bulbs. Does anybody have any ideas? Are there any politician geniuses out there? Probably not. But I'd like to hear if anybody has any ideas.
Turn them off and go to bed. Should work pretty well.
Beth: I'm refering (spelling?) to the after-effects of the stupid lights: what you have to go through even whith your eyes shut while your eyes recover from the effects of the blue from the lights. Try walking into a darkened room from any light, and you can't see very well. Do the same thing from a CFL-lit room, and the effect is like blindness. It is, in fact, called "night blindness." I'm not trying to be a smart-a$$; I'm askng a serious question. Is there anyboody out there with a working knowledge of aviation physiology who might be able to help?
I can't help with the exact medical definition of what's happening to your eyes except to point you to the the Wikipedia article on "Night Vision" which has a section on biological night vision. The answer is to just use low-level white or red lights. Your eyes aren't as sensitive to red wavelengths of light and there isn't as much recovery needed so these are supposedly better. The military has been doing this for years. The interior lighting of many aircraft and some buildings on the front line can be switched from white to red lighting. They also use red filters on handheld lights for reading maps. Of course the military also has to think about their lights being seen by the enemy (aka "light discipline"), and in that case they can use infrared (IR) lighting wich is only visible in their NVD's. Like the article says, try using red night lights instead of the usual white. Or just use dimmer bulbs at later hours. The military also uses blue (easier to see blood with) and green (better detail perception, often used on gauges) but I don't think either of those are what you're looking for.
Astro: Thanks for your post. What I'm looking for, and what I failed to articulate clearly, is relative to Motta's coments in the article about blue light (and blue wavelengths in light) suppressing melatonin production, and his statement that more research is needed on the effects of blue light exposure to sleep. Your post speaks beautifully to my above questions regarding the effect of blue light and blue wavelengths on night vision, and I agree completely. I think that a lot of work needs to be done in this area beforfe we get into a lot of trouble with our newer, higher-efficiency lights. As MikeHu says below, for ... years we slept and sat around camprfires to keep warm. The fires also provided light. That light was relatively weak in the blue wavelengths, and thus caused little - if any - night blindness.
Fred - there is a quick fix for when you aren't certain whether you have spelled a word correctly. It's called spell-check, and it's that little icon that looks like a check with ABC written across it. It only takes a second and prevents one from looking so much like a fool.
And yes, you misspelled "referring" as well as "with".
UMGator.....are you generally an arse, or do ya just do it as a hobby?
He's an arse. Read his other posts.
Yes ... use red. They don't affect night blindness. Ask anyone who was in the army and had all those little red light lenses on their flashlights.
But again .. the simple answer is to turn them off. Most appliances allow you to do that ... for example, my iHome clock (for the iPod). It's terribly annoyingly blue. But if you hit the button three times, the light goes off. Simple.
I agree with at least part of this. I know that lights in the bedroom at night are very bothersome to us. Now, all we have is a clock that projects red numbers on the ceiling and ONLY if we hit the button to see it. We have nightlights in the hall, bathroom and stairs, but not in the bedrooms. It really helped when we did that.
For millions of years of evolution, humans slept around campfires and fireplaces to keep warm -- which improved their chances of survival over those who didn't know how.
The same bogus scientists will tell us that humans (animals) and plants evolved in darkness, and therefore we should avoid the sun (light) at every opportunity.
It makes sense. And I sleep better when it's pitch black.
"Studies in animals suggest that exposure to light for 24 hours a day dramatically increases the risk of certain types of cancer."
This statement is somewhat misleading. It is not the light that is causing cancer, but the lack of sleep that compromises the imune system and the body's ability to fight disease.
Bogus research. Just another attempt by to get funding for crap science.
But, but, but this proves that EVERYTHING causes cancer!
"The AMA said it supports the need for further research into the health effects of light at night. . . "
WHAT doesn't cause cancer??????? Every day there is new medical news saying that 'something' causes cancer. Maybe these findings would be better withheld until they are proven facts rather than saying more research is needed. Stop scaring the world!
Yet , one more thing that causes Cancer and is bad for us ! What Isn't ?
I used to think that people that used sleep masks were weird but after trying one I found out it really works. I sleep deeper, longer and wake up feeling rested.
I remember reading a study summary a long time ago that drew the conclusion that when there was too much light in the room of a child during sleep time up to adolescence then there was a a statistically significant probability they would be shorter in height on average. I don't know how they came to that conclusion because it seems like there are way too many variable to draw a conclusion like that but it seemed interesting and if it was true what implications that there might be on cognitive growth.
When I was a kid the city put up the brightest halogen light in the world on the street outside my window. I didn't get curtains until family stayed in town and tried to sleep in my room then complained to my mom about how bright it was. I noticed that I wasn't sleeping as well when those lights went up.
If they really are concerned about lights affecting driving, perhaps they should take a stand against those ultra bright halogen headlights. Those things can easily blind a driver, especially when they are on an SUV or pickup and are aimed directly at your head or reflecting in the sideview mirrors...
Rusty: First, I think drivers/maintainers/manufacturers (especially) should be required to keep those damned lights aimed properly. These newer headlights can be devastatingly bright, especially when some doofus is behind you with his high beams on, or approaching you and refuses to lower his beams. ARGHH! Next, my problem isn't so much the halogen bulbs; they're intensly white, but they're still tungsten bulbs. My problem is the new Xenon arc bulbs. Those bad boys are blue-white, and can really blind you if you get hit by the beam. Using LEDs for parking/tail/signal lights isn't a bad idea, but I'd like to see them not emit any blue or UV light at all. Fat chance that!
Around here, a lot of pickup owners adjust their headlights upward to the legal aiming points with the rear of the pickup empty. Then when they load something into the rear of the truck, it raises the headlights' aim to be right in your eyes, of course illegally.
I could not agree with you more on that one. Those super bright headlights, especially on the oversize SUV and Pickup trucks create a huge hazard. Many times I just close my eyes as they pass by. If the output of headlights were reduced instead of increased, and allowed the driver's eyes to adapt to the environment, it would be a lot safer. Why hasn't the NTSB or Federal Highway Safety people looked into this? Yes maybe the bright lights are better for the person that has them, but what about the other people that get blinded by them?
Everything I like is either immoral, illegal, fattening, or causes cancer in laboratory rats. Guess I'll just go jump off the bridge.
Darkness can be bad also. I got out of bed at this motel. Smash my big toe against a desk and broke it.
LOL.. useless article to read before sleeping :)
"Light at night can harm your health, docs say" Wotalota keyrap! The very most offensive factor, besides the awfully silly comments and poor use of proof reading, is the fact that tax dollars world wide provide counter-productive street lights at exorbitant costs with little or no effectiveness. Never being able to see the stars due to city glare is certainly worthy of contempt, if not the cause of cancer. Perhaps cancer is caused by this contempt. If so, I would be riddled with it & died more than 10 years ago!
Everyone already knows everything this article speaks of. How much money was wasted to discover these facts?
Would it be possible for medical science to concentrate upon useful studies, perhaps to discover why far too many doctors are nitwits?
Well sure a light at night may lead to weight gain. If I wake up and there are no lights on... no worries, I go right back to sleep. BUT... If there is a light on, someone could very well be raiding my ice cream and we can't have that. So, naturally I feel obligated to check... and... as long as I'm there... why not. :) I've been lucky... there hasn't been a raid on the ice cream yet... but there is always a first time.
Ooh, a spooky red light!
The "Blue" light statement interested me. I have long believed that blue light inhibits your night vision severely and red doesn't affect it, hence the reason that most European cars use red/orange colored dashboard lights. And I read somewhere that many of them don't use headlights when traveling at night, just turning them on when they need them.....
But American manufacturers have used white dash lights and these new intense blue headlights...... seems counterprocuctive or downright stupid doesn't it?
When I was 4 years old my mom put a tee candle in my room at night, after an hour I went downstairs and asked can we blow it out now? Why don`t you like it ? no it is keeping me awake, I like the dark I felt comfortable wrapped in the inky blackness and being able to see the stars through my window.
Now age 67 I have a security light outside my house it casts a dim glow through my room that's OK.too.
This had an exciting title and promising thesis - for me. I have long believed it is better to sleep in the dark than in the light. Reading all these comments, however, makes me think I must be wrong...but, then again, most comments were uninterested in the thesis - only editing. It is a joy (in my opinion) to sleep in the cozy comfort of the dark night. Night sounds are restful - even thrilling (a coyote howling in the distance) - scary, too - creates great snuggles. Oh, all you light addicts are sure missing out on something special. Oh, and another thing....cancer isn't something to make light of. (no pun intended) Any leads to causes are important.