How light affect every stage of a mother's life

Mother’s day is just another day, with mother’s day coming up, we all want to show our love and appreciation to our mom. 

Every mom gives unconditionally. She provides love from her body, from the moment we enter her sacred womb until the moment she takes her last breath on earth.

Every day is an opportunity for you and me to re-give love for the love given to us.

How are you choosing to give back?

While flowers and chocolate are cute gifts, their effects and impact on your mom’s life won’t be long-lasting.

Most of us are looking to give something more impactful, meaningful, and enduring. Something that TRULY stands out. Something that will have a positive and lasting impact on her life... 

Because your mom is my mom, the pain of your mom is my mom’s pain. The pain of every mom on earth is the pain of my mom because we are all ONE.

This is why I want to share the best delightful gift I have ever given my mother and inspire you to provide love and inspiration to your mom and every mom on earth.

I gave my mom the gift of optimal sleep through the proper knowledge and the right tools that helped her optimize her circadian rhythm and light environment.

5 years ago, my mother was still suffering badly from insomnia and felt weak, sick, and hopeless. Fast-forward to this day, she sleeps for 8 hours every night and feels vibrant and radiant.

This gift that I offered her 5 years ago is a long-lasting, satisfying gift. Its effects on her are felt, appreciated, and celebrated every day for the rest of her life. 

Every morning, for the rest of her life, as she wakes up feeling rested, energized, and vibrant, she feels gratitude for this meaningful gift she received.

Every morning, as I look at her face, which has transformed from a blank sick expression to one that is filled with vibrant colors and life, I feel deep gratitude and enchantment!

5 years ago, I gifted my mother a pair of Vivarays glasses, and I sat down with her and taught her everything I know about light and circadian rhythm. 

Ever since that day, her life has transformed on every level. Gaining back the gift of sleep felt like a miracle after all the years of suffering from insomnia.

But wait, how did that help her, and how will it help your mom and every mom on earth?

Let’s take a look.

By the way, whether you are going to be a mom (congrats!), are a mom (thank you :)) or have a mom (lucky you!), you’ll learn something useful if you keep reading. 

1. Circadian Rhythm 

Every living thing is impacted by a mechanism called the circadian rhythm. This process is tied to the light and dark cycle and creates biological and behavioral changes over 24 hours.

The solar spectrum includes visible colors as well as UV and infrared light.

All these different frequencies of light impact our bodies and are either present or absent at other times of the day. This is how our body knows what time it is and what cellular function to switch on or off.

Our circadian rhythm functions optimally when we are in nature and exposed to natural sunlight.

Problems arrive when we are exposed to only fractions of the spectrum (think blue light from artificial light sources) or to the wrong frequencies at the wrong time (like watching TV or being exposed to LED bulbs after sunset).

An optimal circadian rhythm equals optimal health.

This article will look at its impact on every important period of a mother’s life. 

2. Preconception 

Most people don’t know that a child’s health is predetermined not just by what happens during and after pregnancy but also during the years leading to conception.

You want to have a good libido (which, according to anecdotal evidence, increases your chances of getting pregnant) and be fertile.

Still, you also want to have an optimized womb to welcome your future child.  

Like almost all diseases, we used to think that infertility was a genetic issue.

But thanks to new research, we know that our genes don’t have the final words on who we are or who our children will be. Genes can be turned on or off depending on our environment.

Among all the things that impact gene expression, three of the most important are nutrition, stress levels, and our light environment (thus the importance of an optimal circadian rhythm). 

Infertility is usually a symptom of leptin resistance and leptin resistance is tied to melanopsin dysfunction.

Melanopsin is a photosensitive pigment present in the retina, the skin, and subcutaneous fat. It is susceptible to blue light.

Being exposed to technology and artificial light, especially at the wrong time of day, creates melanopsin dysfunction, leading to leptin resistance. Once leptin resistance occurs due to circadian rhythm dysfunction, the hypothalamus in your brain can’t sense the energy balance in your body, thus losing its tight control of metabolism and growth. 

Healthy levels of hormones are primordial to prepare the body for the arrival of a growing new person. Right behind your eyes are two crucial endocrine structures: the pituitary gland and the hypothalamus.

They are susceptible to the amount and type of light entering your eyes.

The pituitary gland is responsible for producing and secretion of most hormones in your body, including growth hormones and thyroid and sex hormones.

At the same time, the hypothalamus is responsible for the energy balance in your body. To prepare the womb, you need healthy levels of estrogen and progesterone.

Not only does light impacts their production via its effect on the pituitary gland, but since artificial blue light increases cortisol, it can also lead to pregnenolone steal syndrome, which is a condition where the hormonal cascade favors cortisol instead of sex hormones.

This, in turn, causes low sex hormones. 

 

3. Pregnancy 

We know that infrared light penetrates 20-30 cm of the body.

Have you ever wondered why the skin of a mom’s belly becomes thinner each month during pregnancy?

Yes, the mechanical stretch of the skin due to the baby's size is one reason. But it’s also to allow more light to penetrate the baby!

The thinner the skin, the more light gets through.

Why does this happen?

Because the more significant the baby grows, the more energy it needs! 2/3 of the energy our mitochondria produces is supposed to come from sunlight. 

We know that blue light, unopposed by the rest of the solar spectrum, is enough to raise blood glucose and insulin levels. The higher these markers are, the more at risk you are of developing gestational diabetes.

This then puts your baby at risk of developing obesity and type II diabetes later in life while increasing the risk of stillbirth. 

 

4. Breastfeeding 

As explained earlier, the pituitary gland is regulated by our circadian rhythm. This gland is responsible for the production and release of prolactin and oxytocin.

Prolactin is responsible for milk production, while oxytocin causes the milk to leave the breast tissue to feed the child. The suction of the nipple stimulates both the child.

An important spike of prolactin release is supposed to happen during the night when we are in a dark environment.

Artificial light diminishes this spike at night, thus significantly lowering your milk production. 

The sleep cycle of new mothers is often erratic since they have to wake up multiple times a day to care for their newborns.

Being exposed to artificial blue light each time they wake up when they open the light will also make it harder for them to go back to sleep.

5. Raising toddlers, children, or teens. 

Moms need energy. Not only to take care of their kids but also to take care of themselves (which they should do first).

They need good hormone levels, proper mitochondrial function, and optimal sleep to do so.

All three are tied to circadian biology.  

Avoiding artificial light after sunset is crucial for sleep. The light spectrum of your TV, computer and phone mimics the solar spectrum at noon.

So every time you look at one of those after sunset, you tell your brain that it’s noon, a period where we should be active and move around.

This destroys your melatonin (an essential hormone for sleep and repair) and increases your cortisol level, waking you up! 

 

6. Menopause

When menopause begins, levels of female hormones drop.

Your ovaries no longer produce like they used to.

Your adrenal glands are supposed to kick in simultaneously and produce sex hormones in smaller quantities to ease this transition, but when your circadian rhythm is out of whack, this can’t happen.

That’s one of the reasons why so many women suffer symptoms when menopause starts, like fatigue, hot flashes, night sweat, etc.  

How to Take Control and Fix Everything

1. Getting outside first thing in the morning to set your circadian rhythm is the first step. It tells your brain that the day has started and to start producing melatonin, which will be released later at night when light is no longer present.
2. Research shows that vitamin D (from the sun) impacts fertility, endometriosis, and polycystic ovary syndrome and boosts progesterone and estrogen levels. These hormones give you energy, keep you young and vibrant, regulate your menstrual cycle and improve the likelihood of getting pregnant. Depending on where you are, vitamin D production isn’t possible at certain times of the day due to the absence of UVB light. You can check the D Minder app or the Circadian app to see when you should go outside to optimize your vitamin D production based on your location.
3. After sunset, limit the amount of light you are exposed to by closing the lights that aren’t necessary and by wearing a pair of blue-light-blocking glasses. Our blue-light-blocking glasses stop the spectrum of light usually absent after sunset from reaching your retina, allowing your circadian rhythm to work optimally. This, in turn, will optimize your hormone levels and your cortisol/melatonin cycle to give you energy during the day and deep and restorative sleep at night.  

No matter at which stage of life you are now, everybody wants a healthy, thriving mother.

Circadian rhythm optimization is part of that.

So, what better way to show your mom how much you love her than to give her the gift of an optimal circadian rhythm!