Page 53 - Biblical Counseling II-Textbook

Bright light at night helps delay sleep, thus resetting our biological clock when we stay up late and sleep
in on weekends. Sleep often eludes those who sleep till noon on Sunday and then go to bed just 11
hours later in preparation for a new workweek. Studies find that bright light – spending the next day
outdoors – helps reset the biological clock.

Many of today’s young adults adopt something closer to a 25-hour day, by staying up too late to get 8
hours of sleep. For this, we can thank (or blame) Thomas Edison, inventor of the light bulb. Being bathed
in light disrupts our 24-hour biological clock. This helps explain why, until our later years, we must
discipline ourselves to go to bed and force ourselves to get up. Most animals, too, when placed under
unnatural constant illumination will exceed a 24-hour day. Artificial light delays sleep (Myers, 2009).
This includes lights from cell phones!

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