Dr Mercola suggests that ideally a person should sleep between 6-8 hours before 12 Am in pitch dark room ( for optimal
melatonin secretion - another universal anti-oxidant ).
YouTube - Why Is It Important to Go to Bed Early Quote:
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Normally, the production of melatonin by the pineal gland is inhibited by light and permitted by darkness. For this reason melatonin has been called "the hormone of darkness". The secretion of melatonin peaks in the middle of the night, and gradually falls during the second half of the night. Until recent history, humans in temperate climates were exposed to up to eighteen hours of darkness in the winter. In this modern world, artificial lighting typically reduces this to eight hours or less per day all year round. Even low light levels inhibit melatonin production to some extent, but over-illumination can create significant reduction in melatonin production. Reduced melatonin production has been proposed as a likely factor in the significantly higher cancer rates in night workers,[9] and the effect of modern lighting practice on endogenous melatonin has been proposed as a contributory factor to the larger overall incidence of some cancers in the developed world.[10
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This is why going to bed at night and wake up when the sun rises is so important. With that being say, I always wonder about the long term health risk of doing polyphasic sleep without
eyeshades.
