This Red Spectrum Light May Help You Sleep Better

Lawndale News Chicago's Bilingual Newspaper - Health

Hue got it! You’ve heard that late-night exposure to blue light, like the glow from your tech devices, can wreck your sleep. (Shed a tear for all those hours spent scrolling through Instagram under the covers.) But on the flip side, red light may help you catch your z’s more easily, according to sleep psychologist Michael Breus, PhD, author of the new book The Power of When ($28, amazon.com). “The theory is that red light aids melatonin production,” he explains—the hormone that naturally makes you feel drowsier. Even better news: A bordello vibe isn’t necessary to reap the health benefits. You can buy red spectrum bulbs, which minimize blue light wavelengths and maximize red ones without reading as rosy-colored (it’s the spectrum of the light that makes a difference, not the physical color). Dr. Berus’s pick: Lighting Science’s Good Night Biological LED Lamp ($35; lsgc.com), which was originally developed for NASA astronauts on the International Space Station. “It looks like a regular light,” he says. But while you’re adding red spectrum lights to your lamps, there’s one place in the bedroom where you probably don’t want to redecorate in shades of red: your sheets. Bedbugs gravitate toward the color, per a recent study in the Journal of Medical Entomology.

Lawndale News Chicago's Bilingual Newspaper - Health

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