OH! Magazine - Australian Version January 2018 | Page 18

( HEALTH ) THREE WAYS YOUR COMPUTER SCREEN IS DISRUPTING YOUR SKIN Rebecca Mason reveals the impact computers may be having on your skin. e use our technology a lot more than we realise sometimes, which isn’t bad in and of itself, however there are ways to leverage technology intelligently. light spectrum. These are known as High Energy Visible wavelengths (HEV), which ‘flicker’ more often and more easily than longer, weaker wavelengths. We are fast-uncovering the little unknowns about our non-biological appendages and how you can work towards using them to your advantage, not detriment. For example, did you know that studies have suggested that 60 per cent of people spend more than six hours a day in front of a digital device? So is this constant access and exposure to our digital screens impacting our skin? Any overexposure is most damaging in the evening because this is when it can disrupt our circadian rhythm the most. The circadian rhythm is the 24-hour biological clock the human body has been attuned to for thousands of years. It is the timer to which your body's inner rhythm operates, based on universal elements. For example, when the sun rises, it’s an indication for the human body to awaken. The hormone that stimulates our awakening is called cortisol. We need this cortisol spike in the morning to get us up and going. W Introducing... blue light rays This was mentioned in a previous issue (see https://joom.ag/tauL/p24), but here's a refresher for you: Blue light is literally what makes the sky blue; it's part of our human biology to access the light to help us regulate our sleep patterns (i.e. when we wake and go to sleep – this is known as our circadian rhythm). However, we can become a little overexposed to blue light, because we access artificial blue light in our digital devices such as LED screens and lights, TVs, laptop, computer and phone screens. Blue light has been found to be a short, high-energy wavelengths on the visible 18 OH! MAGAZINE ( JANUARY 2018 ) When the sun sets and the moon appears, acts as a signal that it's time for slumber. At this stage, the cortisol should be at an all time low, enabling our sleep hormone to kick in, called melatonin. The circadian rhythm has been the MOST distorted in the past 30 years, according to research ,because of the many tools, technologies and gadgets we are now so distracted with, when it comes to preparing our bodies for sleep. If we expose ourselves to the blue light in the evening, it is spiking our levels of cortisol as our bodies interpret the light as ‘it must be morning time, secrete cortisol because we need to get up and do things’. But at night, our production should be at an all time low, giving melatonin a chance to do it’s job and make us sleepy, and ready for bed. The impact So how does blue light actually impact you? 1. Stress: Cortisol is known as the ‘stress hormone’ – which isn’t bad itself (it is literally the hormone that tells us to run from danger, it keeps us alive). But too much of a good thing can be bad. For those of us with bad skin or acne, we need to ameliorate our levels of stress because the cortisol hormone converts itself into testosterone which lives at the surface of our skin. When it hits the skin it converts into something called dihydrotestosterone (DHT). DHT sends a signal to our sebaceous (oil) glands that tell it to ‘create more oil’. This is why an overproduction of oil can occur when we’re stressed, it’s the body’s feedback loop letting us know we need to prepare for a potentially harmful situation.