This week’s topic is going to be tough for many given that most of us spend an inordinate amount of time on the computer each day—and many must do this for their job.
But difficult or not, limiting screen time will give you big benefits in the long run. On the flip side, there are many detrimental effects of blue light on your body and your sleep.
According to research conducted at Harvard, blue light not only negatively affects your sleep, but can also cause disease.
Our ancestors utilized the sun for illumination, and when the sun went down, we lived in relative darkness. Obviously, there are benefits to extending our illuminated hours, but we must do this judiciously.
What we’re toying with is our circadian rhythms. When our circadian rhythms are thrown off, we are out of alignment with earth’s energy. Which obviously is not nearly as healthy as being in alignment with earth's energy...
(upbeat music) We are continuing with our series. It's getting quite lengthy now, first of all. - Yes. - On transmuting your body into a powerhouse. But it's lengthy because it's really, really important. And I gotta tell you, this week's topic is gonna be a tough one for many of us, including the two of us, given that most of us spend an inordinate amount of time on a computer every day. Except for Perce, but she doesn't do that. - Ah, thank you. - And many of us, including us, do this for their job. But difficult or not, what we're gonna talk about is limiting your screen time. And how does this turn your body into a powerhouse? Well, we're gonna talk about how screen time literally affects your body in a derogatory way. So limiting your screen time will give you big benefits in the long run. On the flip side, there are many detrimental effects of blue light on your body and also on your sleep. So let's talk a little bit about research, Harvard, conducted research on blue light, which is what comes off the computer off your phone. And it not only negatively affects your sleep, but it also can cause disease. - The blue light? - The blue light, okay. Our ancestors didn't have blue light. - They didn't even have light. - They're on fire. - They utilize the sun for illumination. And when the sun went down, what did they do? - Fire. - They went down or they had a fire. Obviously, there are benefits to extending our illuminated hours, but we need to do this judiciously. What we're toying with with artificial lighting is our circadian rhythms. And when our circadian rhythms are thrown off, we're out of alignment with Earth's energy. - Sure. - Which is obviously not nearly as healthy as being in alignment with Earth's energy. Now, some studies suggest a link between exposure to light at night, such as working the night shift. Have you ever known anyone that worked the night shift? - I did it for a while. - You did it for a while, and how did it affect you? - It was not good. - It was not good. We had a client once that worked the night shift. And yes, it throws your circadian rhythms all off. And being exposed to light at night, not just night shift, but lots of light at night can cause diabetes. It can cause heart disease and obesity. - Wow. - Yeah, interesting. Now, Stephen Lockley, a Harvard sleep researcher, said light at night is part of the reason so many people don't get enough sleep. And researchers have linked short sleep to increased risk for depression. As well as those already stated diabetes and cardiovascular problems. That's poor sleep, not getting enough sleep. And that goes back to exposure to light at night. While light of any kind can suppress the secretion of melatonin, blue light is much more powerful in a negative way. And I mean, let's face it. Very sweet and I, we spend quite a bit of time at our computer. - Yes. - And on our phone. - Sure. - For business. And so we'll talk about some ways to get around that and how to deal with that in a couple of moments. Excessive use of screens can also lead to eye strain. It can reduce physical activity. And so one of the things, the first of all I decided to do some time ago is that we would only watch TV two times per week, minimizing screen time. Now, screen time was not the only reason for this decision. We also realized why did we stop watching TV? - Oh, because TV's full of crap. (laughs) - How do you really feel about it? - Yeah, I mean, what are you spending your time watching, wasting your time watching? - Right. - Unless if it's something, I don't know, educational or informing and that's what, an hour or two, that's it. - Right. I mean, we also realized we were crutching out on television and not being very judicious about what we watched. We got into the mode of let's watch anything just to watch something. And that's, it just was not empowering. - Now, making this decision, what were some of the benefits we got from making that decision better so far? - I was stopping it with the TV or the programs we watch. - And the TV in general. - Yeah, I mean, I tend to think that it's because of the programs that we stop watching. The benefits that I see from that is we're able to see things a lot more clearly. You can think a lot more clearly. You kind of break out of that programming that you've been conditioning. - Interesting choice of work. - Sure. I mean, you keep watching things. It kind of tells you're unconscious how to behave and be. Once you stop doing that. - What are you being programmed into? - Right, so you have, you start seeing things differently more clearly and life becomes more enjoyable instead of just veg in on the couch. - Right, and it also, as an added benefit, cut us back on blue light. Now, here's something that's an interesting aside. Do you realize, and I wrote about this in Harmonic Wealth all the way back several years ago, and do you realize that even when your TV is turned off, it's still emanating frequencies from the television? And, very simple, I had me test this because if you start a streaming program and you turn the TV off, then you turn it back on, it's still running. Even after you've turned it off. And so, there was a lot of benefits to that. We also realized we were crutching out on television, not being very judicious as I was talking about. This was not empowering. And making the decision, besides the things that various of us already talked about, in fact, helped us do both. We not only cut way back on screen time, we became very selective about what we would allow ourselves to watch. Now, we no longer watch any movies. - Nope. - We used to love to watch movies. - Any more. - And unfortunately, there's just not a lot of valuable movies that are made these days. Now, we only watch podcasts with deep topics or documentaries so that we can learn some things. - And selective documentaries. - And selective ones, that's right. - Even documentaries, they persuade you to believe something that's not true. Is there a narrative? - That's correct. That's very correct. So, not only those things, but it also made a tremendous positive impact on us both personally, as well as our relationship, connectivity, let's face it. - We had to talk to each other. - We started talking to each other more. Watching, let's face it, watching the same TV program is not relationship time. - Or family time. - Or family time. It's just not. How many times are you having connected communicative conversations during a TV program? Probably not often because one, if not both of you are going to go be quiet so I can hear what's going on. I mean, you're sitting there staring at the same thing. It's not relationship time, it's not family time. So, here are a few recommendations as to what you can do. Again, according to Harvard research. Number one, use Dem red lights for nightlights. Now, we don't specifically do that, but that's one thing Harvard recommends. Red light is less likely to shift circadian rhythms. - Red lights like in the kitchen? - Yeah, or anywhere after hours. - Like literally red. - Yes. - Wow. - Dem red lights. - That would be creepy. - It would be, it would be very fascinating. - It would be interesting. We should try it. - We should do that. Avoid looking, and by the way, it doesn't, it's not as likely to shift circadian rhythms and suppress melatonin. Avoid looking at bright screens beginning two to three hours before bed. - Whoa. - So, you know, get off your phone. And I've, you know, this is, Harvard says two to three hours before bed. I've also heard research that says at least half an hour before bed. But get off your phone. And if you're addicted, that becomes a little difficult. At the very minimum, get a pair of blue blocker glasses. You know, I wear contacts, and I used to wear contacts almost all day long. And not so much anymore because these, these are not only prescription, but they also have blue blockers built into them. And Bursable has blue blocker glasses that are prescription, but she's more vain. And so when we shoot a podcast, she doesn't want to wear glasses. - Excuse me, excuse me. They're reading glasses. Thank you. - That's right. - If I put that on, we'd be in trouble right now. - Yeah. If you work the night shift, or use a lot of electronics at night, consider at minimum wearing blue blocker glasses. And you can buy, you can pick up a very inexpensive pair in a variety of places, or install in an app that filters out the blue-green wavelengths at night. Expose yourself to lots of bright light during the day, which is difficult for some of us, because if we, if we work from home or we have an office job, that means you got to get up and get out into sunlight throughout the day, which has a lot of benefits as well, including increasing vitamin D and lots of other things. But it helps with blue light getting bright light during the day, which boosts your ability to sleep at night, as well as boost your mood and your alertness during the day. Set boundaries for screen time, especially before bedtime. Yes. Now, while many of the, oh, and if you happen to get up and have a nature call in the middle of the night, don't get on your phone. Because one of the things that I believe as Dr. Hoverman has proven and talked about is that if you look at your phone after 11 p.m., it dramatically decreases your depth and quality of sleep. What you don't want to do, we've talked about the detrimental effects of that. Now, many of these things require a lifestyle adjustment and we promise you your life will thank you. And your partner will thank you. Your partner will thank you and your quality of experience will thank you. Hopefully, this is valuable and it's simple and yet simply just not used. Thank you for a couple of moments of your day. God bless you and we'll talk to you next week. Bye. - Bye. (upbeat music) (upbeat music)
