Aquarium night light (Blue) really effects your Melatonin?

Just wanted to write something about my routines and living this time and choose this channel.

So I have a saltwater aquarium in my bedroom and it is ultra quiet (took some time to achieve). Like -50 -70db lets say. Everything is perfect except the blue light I have to give to the corals and fish when it is night. Its kind of like a moonlight but just a little more harsh as it is very hard to achieve. It is nice to sleep while watching them but sometimes I put a big office chair from my work desk between me and the aquarium sight to block the blue light while I am sleeping. They say even the blue signal light from your cellphone resting at the side of your bed is very bad for the sleep quality.

They say melatonin is a needed hormone for growth and regeneration during sleep but when the eyes catch the blue light; I think I remember reading the body cuts the hormone as it thinks its the early lights of the day (blue).

Secondly, I don't have a fixed sleeping pattern as I am an artist/work time schedule and I never had since my baby times. So this does not really be a control group from the experiment effecting my quality of sleep but; what do you guys think?

Have you ever had blue light sleeping disorders or waking up tired because of a blue light source in your room? Or what should I do? I can not move the aquarium to somewhere else as when I work it is like a life source for me watching next to my desk. I tried lowering the intensity but it seems like any little blue light is effective cutting that hormone from being released. Or it is?

Anyways; its a good research topic I think and I need help. I even think the explanation and the choices I made are explained less then needed.

Best
B

I can't comment on blue lights, however I heard recently that research has been done that proves it is the lowering of temperatures at night that signals the body to sleep, not the lowering of lights.

Sal

a reply to: belkide

a reply to: SallieSunshine

The thing I meant was the blue light makes the body believe it is almost sunrise and cuts the needed sleeping hormones probably thru the whole night.

Cover the aquarium with a sheet overnight or with some black plastic, or maybe some cardboard, anything you have at hand.
I know I have problems sleeping with any kind of light, even the small led from the on and off button bothers me.
Silence and darkness are very important for the quality of your sleep.

a reply to: WhiteHat

thank you. you are right I will try to cover the whole thing. Luckly its not a very big aquarium.

Just turn off the lights when you go to bed. Moonlights are not required on a tank unless for some reason you want your corals to try to spawn. Otherwise there is really no use to have them on besides viewing purposes.

Yes it's true, studies show that blue light (and only blue light, or white light that contains blue in it) does in fact disrupt your sleep by affecting your melatonin. It's one of the things that helps your body regulate sleep with the cycles of the sun, and it's why people with certain types of blindness have difficulty maintaining a regular sleep schedule. Sallie is also correct, temperature changes also help the body determine when to fall asleep and when to wake up. Both of these natural systems are disrupted by our climate-controlled homes with light switches everywhere. But take heart! You can use a programmable thermostat to set the temperature inside your home to mimic the natural rise and fall of temperature outside. And you can use red lights instead of blue or white when you want a night light or, if you have difficulty falling asleep, you can switch to red lights for a half hour or so before you go to bed. I hope this helps