Why Red Light for Sleep?
In some ways, caring for a baby can seem really straightforward. As Matthew McConaughey said, “They eat, they crap, they sleep, and if they’re crying they need to do one of the three and they’re having trouble doing it. Real simple.”
I {partially} agree with him. The first part, yes. The real simple part? HECK NO. Each component of caring for a baby can be impacted by so many factors and even in combination with others! So figuring out a problem may be simple, but determining the cause may be much trickier.
And sleep can definitely feel like the trickiest part of raising a little one. Many of us enter parenthood thinking that when a baby is tired, they’ll fall asleep. But if you’re reading this, you’ve likely learned a great deal and know that sleep is actually very complex. There are many factors that contribute to your little one’s ability to sleep, and sleep well. Hormones, environment, physical discomfort, overtired or undertired, so many possibilities!
However, as a sleep consultant, I can tell you that one of the most prominent causes of broken sleep is light. Exposure to blue light has been shown to greatly impact sleep. Studies have shown that blue light can decrease the feeling of drowsiness, increase sleep latency, decrease the amount of deep sleep, AND affect the ability to stay asleep.
The amount of light we are exposed to has increased over time. Everything started changing way back when the lightbulb came into the picture, and it’s now morphed into televisions, smart phones, LEDs, and tablets on top of the artificial lights that fill our homes once the sun goes down.
But wait, what about candles and fire? Sure, people did not live in complete darkness prior to the lightbulb. However, there is a big difference between light from fire and light from electricity: wavelength.
Not to get overly nerdy here, but visible light comes in different wavelengths. Longer wavelengths appear red or yellow (like from fire and candles) while shorter wavelengths are more blue (like from electronics). So why does this matter? If we take it back to our ancestors, the light from the sun during the day is scattered in the atmosphere and we “see” blue light - and a big part of why our sky is blue!
And when the sun begins to set, the light goes through more of our atmosphere, making it appear red to us. So with this brief science lesson, we can understand how exactly our bodies and brains developed rhythms in response to these light cues and release appropriate hormones at certain times - cortisol when it’s light (wake) and melatonin when it’s dark (sleep).
As we have introduced more and more blue light, our brains have become confused. We now have “daytime” light well into the evening, telling our brain to continue producing cortisol vs melatonin, and now sleep is becoming more of an uphill battle for many, including our children.
So it’s clear that blue light can prevent quality sleep. But can red light improve it?
It’s debatable. Some studies suggest that red light can help stimulate melatonin production, while other studies show that red light can still result in less melatonin production than if a baby just slept in the dark.
So adding a red light isn’t something that will necessarily improve your little one’s sleep, especially if they are already sleeping in the dark. But if you need light for diaper changes, feedings, or a dim nightlight for your older child, red is 100% the way to go.
Some other ways you can help manage light and your baby’s sleep better include:
Dimming or turning off lights about 2 hours before bedtime.
Turn off all tablets, phones, TVs, or other electronic devices at least 2 hours before bedtime.
Don’t allow your child to use electronic devices in their bed at any time of the day.
Put a piece of electrical tape over glowing lights in their bedroom (monitors, sound machines, etc.)
Use red or yellow light during baby’s bedtime routine (bathtime, bedtime stories, etc.)
I truly love the convenience of technology! Truthfully, I couldn’t help nearly as many families with their sleep without it. So I’m not suggesting you throw all blue light devices in the trash and live your life by candlelight in the evenings (though that does sound a little romantic…). Just knowing these facts can help you make a few tweaks so they have less of an impact on sleep for your entire family.
Sleep well!
