Posted on 12/20/2022 2:42:41 PM PST by ConservativeMind
Can't sleep when your partner is on his or her smartphone? This may not be oversensitivity on your part; your eyelids probably deserve some of the blame. A scientist from shows that eyelids transmit much more light than previously thought.
Sleep deprivation and sleep disorders are detrimental to health and interfere with daily life. Studies have been conducted to elucidate the mechanisms underlying various factors that affect sleep. One major factor is the lighting environment. Changes in light exposure during the daytime and nighttime or during sleep have been reported to influence circadian rhythms and sleep quality.
Although several studies have been carried out to measure eyelid transmittance, experimental conditions differed significantly from lighting environments in daily life.
Professor Hideki Sakai applied a new method to measure the light transmittance of the eyelids when the eyes are shut. His results indicate that closed-eye perception of brightness is remarkably stronger than previously reported.
Professor Sakai conducted experiments on a total of 33 participants under relatively bright conditions (illuminance of 100 lux) in which each participant's entire face was illuminated. A lighting device was used to increase or decrease facial illuminance, and closed-eye light transmittance was measured by having the participants make adjustments to match the levels of brightness they perceived with their eyes closed and with their eyes open. Monochromatic red, yellow, green, and blue LEDs and a white LED were used as light sources.
The experiment results show that eyelid transmittance values were up to 10 times higher than those (i.e., 0.3%–14.5%) reported in the past. The color of light also made a difference, with red light perceived as brighter and blue light perceived as darker. Additionally, Professor Sakai noted significant differences between individual participants; for some, their perception of brightness remained almost unchanged between the open- and closed-eye conditions.
(Excerpt) Read more at medicalxpress.com ...
If you have sleeping problems, this is an easy fix, with a comfortable eye mask and reducing other lights in the room. Also, reduce all lighting sources at least an hour before sleeping.
I seem to get more sensitive to this the older I get. Never bothered me as a kid, but now, with a bedroom with an eastern exposure, I cannot sleep past sunup unless I can block the light out with a sleeping mask or pillow over my head.
I accept the findings of this study but, OTOH, I have no trouble sleeping deeply with max intensity solar irradiance directly on my eyelids (as long as the infrared component is not too strong).
I have black-out curtains, and No night light in my bedroom. The only light is the alarm clock, and it’s usually facing slightly away from me.
“this is an easy fix, with a comfortable eye mask and reducing other lights in the room.”
That one is ok, but don’t suggest spray-painting eyes black, or it will become a Tic-Tok Challenge.
Don’t need a study to tell me that. Need pitch black or as close as I can get to sleep well.
I can sleep outside in direct sunlight or even with a lit laptop screen facing me no problem. If I have videos playing, I will incorporate everything said into my dreams.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.