A number of studies have shown that various aspects of our biology are changed depending on whether we are exposed to sunlight, and at different points in the day 5/
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In particular, it seems that a specific set of wavelengths - blue light - can impact our sleep regulatory hormones and potentially change how we sleep 6/pic.twitter.com/62SMjcD5cs
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And furthermore, these wavelengths are emitted quite a bit by smartphones and other devices, partly because they are pretty bright and allow us to see better in the dark 7/
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So, blue light at night sounds like the enemy! It's unnatural, and might impact our hormones. This sounds scary 8/pic.twitter.com/etj7BR6yi5
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BUT There are some issues here 9/
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Firstly, the relationship between blue light and poor health isn't as solid as it's often made out to be If you look at this systematic review, many of the studies have been conducted on 10 people or fewer!https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/07420528.2018.1527773 …
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And while most of the research shows some STATISTICALLY significant changes to things like melatonin and brainwaves, the evidence is much less solid for CLINICALLY significant changes 11/
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The problem is that there just isn't a lot of research, outside of large epidemiological trials, that have managed to get enough people to say definitively whether there are actually health problems associated with blue light 12/
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It's also not obvious how long these changes to melatonin last. The systematic review I mentioned earlier found that they may be very transient, lasting only 15 mins How much does that impact your health? We just don't really know
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Replying to @GidMK
New smaller RCT showing sleep starting 20 min earlier https://www.eurekalert.org/pub_releases/2019-05/esoe-spi051519.php …
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I cover that in my just-released podcast 
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