1:08 PM
suwandi
When you hear the name Thomas Edison you most likely think of the inventor of the light bulb and phonograph. Some may think of the “Genius of Menlo Park” who has over 1,000 patents in his name.
Others imagine a brilliant mind that laid the ground work for the telegraph services that eventually led to the convenience and speed of communicating by the telephone. Few people, however, would associate Edison with inventing something that could increase your physical stress levels and, as a result, have a negative effect on your health.
The human body has an internal clock which regulates its activities throughout a roughly 24 hour cycle. These 24 hours cycles are called “circadian rhythms.” These rhythms are found in all animals but can differ greatly from one species to another. For example, some animals are nocturnal, meaning they are active at night whereas others are active in the daylight hours. Wild animals are able to awaken without the benefit (or curse) of an alarm clock because their circadian rhythms arouse them from their sleep. These internal clocks control everything within your body to include your body temperature, your appetite and your energy level.
Before the artificial lights became common, our human circadian rhythms were closely synchronized with the 24 hour cycle we find in nature. We were active when the Sun was up and slept when the Sun went down. We shared a common cycle with beasts and plants alike.
The human body developed a close relationship with the 24 hour days over its extensive evolutionary history. When we were in caves, we had only sunlight to illuminate our world. We eventually developed torches and candles which enabled us to move at night but with a relatively dim light source.
Edison’s light bulb introduced a light source that was controlled by man instead of nature. We were suddenly able to make a room almost as bright at the day whenever we wanted to. Instead of squinting behind torches and candles we were now able to see greater distances and read with a brighter light. The problem here is that our bodies depend on light levels to determine when to release some of the many chemicals that drive our behavior and our health. These release times are driven by our circadian rhythms which developed with the sunlight cycles.
Consider the number of times you stayed up late to watch a movie on TV or to surf the Internet. These seem to be harmless pursuits but they are not. The exposure to the light sources at hours when your body thinks it should be sleeping can disrupt your circadian rhythms.
These disruptions can reduce the efficiency of your immune system and disrupt your metabolism as well as the regulation of your body temperature. If this happened on a rare occasion then your body could recover from the stress. However, if these late night activities are consistently repeated then your body is not able to recover from the stress and your health can suffer accordingly.
Modern living finds us surrounded by light at most hours of the night. We have street lights throwing up light pollution, glowing alarm clocks, late night computer use and all night access to entertainment on cable TV. The impact on our circadian rhythms by all of this light is still being researched by numerous organizations but the results so far have not been positive.
To be fair, Edison cannot be blamed for the stressor which may be linked to his creating the light bulb. He could not have foreseen the extent to which his invention would spread across the globe and surely had no idea of the possible negative impacts it would have on our lives.
It would be irresponsible and absurd to try to remove the light bulb from our modern lives. The light bulb was a life changing invention for the world that came from the mind of a single man. It is up to today’s minds to develop a way in which we can continue to benefit from Edison’s brilliance while minimizing the stress it has introduced to our lives.
Others imagine a brilliant mind that laid the ground work for the telegraph services that eventually led to the convenience and speed of communicating by the telephone. Few people, however, would associate Edison with inventing something that could increase your physical stress levels and, as a result, have a negative effect on your health.
The human body has an internal clock which regulates its activities throughout a roughly 24 hour cycle. These 24 hours cycles are called “circadian rhythms.” These rhythms are found in all animals but can differ greatly from one species to another. For example, some animals are nocturnal, meaning they are active at night whereas others are active in the daylight hours. Wild animals are able to awaken without the benefit (or curse) of an alarm clock because their circadian rhythms arouse them from their sleep. These internal clocks control everything within your body to include your body temperature, your appetite and your energy level.
Before the artificial lights became common, our human circadian rhythms were closely synchronized with the 24 hour cycle we find in nature. We were active when the Sun was up and slept when the Sun went down. We shared a common cycle with beasts and plants alike.
The human body developed a close relationship with the 24 hour days over its extensive evolutionary history. When we were in caves, we had only sunlight to illuminate our world. We eventually developed torches and candles which enabled us to move at night but with a relatively dim light source.
Edison’s light bulb introduced a light source that was controlled by man instead of nature. We were suddenly able to make a room almost as bright at the day whenever we wanted to. Instead of squinting behind torches and candles we were now able to see greater distances and read with a brighter light. The problem here is that our bodies depend on light levels to determine when to release some of the many chemicals that drive our behavior and our health. These release times are driven by our circadian rhythms which developed with the sunlight cycles.
Consider the number of times you stayed up late to watch a movie on TV or to surf the Internet. These seem to be harmless pursuits but they are not. The exposure to the light sources at hours when your body thinks it should be sleeping can disrupt your circadian rhythms.
These disruptions can reduce the efficiency of your immune system and disrupt your metabolism as well as the regulation of your body temperature. If this happened on a rare occasion then your body could recover from the stress. However, if these late night activities are consistently repeated then your body is not able to recover from the stress and your health can suffer accordingly.
Modern living finds us surrounded by light at most hours of the night. We have street lights throwing up light pollution, glowing alarm clocks, late night computer use and all night access to entertainment on cable TV. The impact on our circadian rhythms by all of this light is still being researched by numerous organizations but the results so far have not been positive.
To be fair, Edison cannot be blamed for the stressor which may be linked to his creating the light bulb. He could not have foreseen the extent to which his invention would spread across the globe and surely had no idea of the possible negative impacts it would have on our lives.
It would be irresponsible and absurd to try to remove the light bulb from our modern lives. The light bulb was a life changing invention for the world that came from the mind of a single man. It is up to today’s minds to develop a way in which we can continue to benefit from Edison’s brilliance while minimizing the stress it has introduced to our lives.
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