Does Sleeping in Total Darkness Aid in Detoxification?

[noblerare]

I remember hearing somewhere that the body undergoes a series of detoxification phases as you sleep. The body can only perform this process when you are asleep so getting 7-9 hours of sleep is not enough; it's when you get the sleep that's also important.

However, I tried using Google to find this information but all I get are advertisements about detox pads and medicines. Is what I claim above true and if so, can you provide me with some sources? Preferably one that contains the hours that each organ detoxifies?

Thanks.

 

[CRGreathouse]

This should be in the Debunking forum.

 

[hypatia]

You would need to explain what kind of detoxification your making reference to.

 

[Ivan Seeking]

You might check for information related to Oswald's Repair and Restoration Theory of Sleep.
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC2496224/

 

[noblerare]

I can't really find info about it but what I am talking about is alluded to here:
(Scroll to about halfway down the page)

http://www.serenity2go.com/

"Now, if for example, you regularly go to bed about 10pm, then your body gets in its first 3 sleep cycles between the hours of 10pm and about 2am.

Most of your body's healing and rejuvenation take place during this period.

If you take one night and stay up until 1am before going to sleep your body doesn't simply rotate its internal clock forward 3 hours and begin your first sleep cycle at 1am.

It skips the cycles it would have had during those first 3 hours and picks up with the shorter Delta cycles just as if you had been asleep during the first 3 hours.

So in a nutshell, you simply miss those earlier cycles and the restorative sleep they bring. You can get away with this for a couple of days but try it for much longer than that and you begin to function less and less well during the day."

Again, my question is: Does the body really "heal" or "restore" itself during those periods of the night?

I think it makes sense because human beings are meant to be awake when it is day and sleep when it is night. Staying awake when it is night can hurt the body in the long run which is why graveyard shifts pay so much since it is slowly damaging your body.

What are your thoughts on this and can you provide me with any other sources that better explain what I am trying to say?

 

[purplz]

I can't really find info about it but what I am talking about is alluded to here:
(Scroll to about halfway down the page)

http://www.serenity2go.com/

"Now, if for example, you regularly go to bed about 10pm, then your body gets in its first 3 sleep cycles between the hours of 10pm and about 2am.

Most of your body's healing and rejuvenation take place during this period.

If you take one night and stay up until 1am before going to sleep your body doesn't simply rotate its internal clock forward 3 hours and begin your first sleep cycle at 1am.

It skips the cycles it would have had during those first 3 hours and picks up with the shorter Delta cycles just as if you had been asleep during the first 3 hours.

So in a nutshell, you simply miss those earlier cycles and the restorative sleep they bring. You can get away with this for a couple of days but try it for much longer than that and you begin to function less and less well during the day."

Again, my question is: Does the body really "heal" or "restore" itself during those periods of the night?

I think it makes sense because human beings are meant to be awake when it is day and sleep when it is night. Staying awake when it is night can hurt the body in the long run which is why graveyard shifts pay so much since it is slowly damaging your body.

What are your thoughts on this and can you provide me with any other sources that better explain what I am trying to say?

Alright, this looks fine when applied to modern humans but let's start thinking for a second and bring our prehistoric ancestors to the table. Do you really think they had a steady sleep pattern? Being in the wild, trying to survive and all ..And how bad would they feel during winter times when the days are shorter, etc.

This theory has many loopholes..

 

[noblerare]

Alright, this looks fine when applied to modern humans but let's start thinking for a second and bring our prehistoric ancestors to the table. Do you really think they had a steady sleep pattern? Being in the wild, trying to survive and all ..And how bad would they feel during winter times when the days are shorter, etc.

This theory has many loopholes..

I don't see how bringing prehistoric humans into the picture really answers anything.

As a human, there must be things that we do that are healthy and things that we do that are unhealthy.

For example, you must agree that having a diet of the right amount of fruits, vegetables and meat everyday is healthy while having a diet of sweets, fats and oils is unhealthy. There is scientific proof of this. There may not be noticeable consequences in the short-term but in the long-run the differences in health is noticeable.

Similarly, can when and how long you sleep affect ones' health in the long run? Everyone knows that 7-8 hours of sleep for adults is optimal but does the time of the day in which you get those hours make a difference?

Here are three scenarios:
1) An adult goes to sleep at 11 pm and wakes up at 7 am, getting his 8 hours of sleep.
2) An adult goes to sleep at 4 am wakes up at 8 am, goes through his daily activities, comes back home and sleeps again from 4 pm to 8 pm. He also gets his 8 hours of sleep.
3) An adult works the night shift and sleeps from 7 am to 3 pm every day. He also gets his 8 hours of sleep.

In the long run, which of these three people will be more rested, rejuvenated and healthier? Will there even be a difference? Can you provide scientific proof? (i.e. research, articles, documents?)

 

[digitalsurg]

I remember hearing somewhere that the body undergoes a series of detoxification phases as you sleep. The body can only perform this process when you are asleep so getting 7-9 hours of sleep is not enough; it's when you get the sleep that's also important.

However, I tried using Google to find this information but all I get are advertisements about detox pads and medicines. Is what I claim above true and if so, can you provide me with some sources? Preferably one that contains the hours that each organ detoxifies?

Thanks.

Read the book "Lights Out" by TS Wiley and Bent Formby. It will answer this and many more questions about how melatonin works in sleep. Melatonin used to be to the master switch for humans but now Leptin is because of ambient light. The more you know the better informed you will be to improve your former self.

This book has over 50 pages of references and is a great resource even for a skeptic. It is science based.

 

[LondonW]

So is it more healthy to sleep in total darkness versus ambient light from a night light or a street light shining through the window? I know I've read that it's important to sleep in the dark but exactly how dark? I know most people who work the night shift, have black out curtains for sleeping during the day.