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What Is Your Circadian Rhythm and How Do Blinds Affect It?

If you’ve never heard of your circadian rhythm, you might think it has to do with musical talent. It, however, has nothing to do with how well you can keep a beat. Your circadian rhythm is what most people call your ‘internal clock’.

A human’s circadian rhythm typically aligns fairly well with the natural day/night cycle. Before electricity, people would sleep when it was dark and wake when it was light. Now that we have electric lights, the day tends to revolve around work and school schedules. It’s perfectly possible to sustain a comfortable and healthy schedule outside the rise and fall of the sun. However, it’s important to keep in mind how light affects our sleeping patterns. And yes, even electric light will have an effect. Let’s see how.

Light Entrainment

Our bodies naturally adapted over time to wake and sleep with the light of the sun and darkness of night. Because of this, our circadian rhythm is attuned to the lights around us, even now. When a person surrounds themselves with bright, electric light, they are telling their body it’s time to be awake. The opposite goes for darkness. If all of the lights are out, our body’s instinct is to go to sleep.

Unfortunately, our bodies can get confused if we tend to mix up the light levels of our environments quite a bit. If you tend to stay up doing things late into the night with the lights out, when it’s time to go to sleep, your body will think it’s time to be awake. After all, you usually spend the dark ours working or playing video games.

This is called entrainment. You’ve trained your body to react to certain light levels by staying awake or going to sleep. Fortunately, with this in mind, you’re now equipped to take control of the entrainment going on with your body.

What Do Blinds Have to Do with It?

If you wake up early in the morning for work or school, it might still be dark outside. Maybe your work hours are early or you have a long commute ahead of you. Either way, you’re telling your body that it’s okay to be awake when it’s dark. If you’re moving around your house, what is your first inclination? To turn a light on, of course! By doing this, you’re ensuring your body knows it’s daytime and time to be awake.

Where most of the trouble comes in is during the evening. If you get up early, you probably go to bed a little early too. Trying to get to sleep with the sun shining in your windows can be really tricky. Even regular, slatted blinds don’t block out all the light. This is where blinds become really important. Having blackout shades with side channels is really great for your circadian rhythm. It will lead to less bodily confusion about what time it is and what it should be doing. Then you can finally get that solid night of rest that’s been evading you.

And if you don’t go to bed early but, rather, stay up into the dark on your computer, you’re likely to have trouble sleeping. Do yourself a favor and turn on a light when it gets dark outside. Not only is it better for your eyes, it will signal time for you to sleep when you finally flip the switch.

How Having Blinds Protects Your Belongings from Damage

Having blinds is pretty standard for most households, but why is it important to get blinds that are quality? Well, for one, they can protect your belongings from getting damaged by the sun. There are a number of ways this can happen, so let’s jump in and take a deeper look.

UV Rays

The general culprit of sun damage is UV. UV rays are actually a type of radiation that can cause sunburns or, if you go out in the sun too excessively, skin cancer. UV Rays don’t just damage skin though; they also do a number on your belongings. Letting in sunlight is great for lighting up a room but, rather than letting the sun in all day, try to keep the windows covered part of the day. This is especially good to do if the sun is hitting the window directly, as direct sunlight will do more damage.

Sun Fading

One of the ways UV will damage your belongings is by fading the colors on them. This includes clothing lying around on the floor or dresser, the blanket on your bed, and many other things. Anything with fabric can fall victim to fading. Even the sliver of sunlight coming in from the slats or sides of cheap blinds can do the trick. More than once, I’ve found a blanket ruined from errant rays making their way inside to a guest room bedspread.

Faded colors isn’t the end of the world, of course, but it can be really disheartening and costly. Expensive blankets can lose their appeal when faded and will be a lot of money to replace. Handmade blankets or clothing are unique and irreplaceable. Letting those fade from sun damage can undo hours upon hours of hard work.

Having blinds will alleviate some of the stress on your fabrics and other fadable materials. The cover from direct sunlight can also make the fabric itself last longer, since UV can cause more damage than just faded colors.

Plant Damage

If you enjoy keeping plants around your house, you probably also have sun filtering in constantly. After all, they need it to live! Unfortunately, UV can do damage to plants. If they can get their light without a dose of UV, it’s all the better for them.

Having motorized blinds that only open for a certain period during the day will do well to protect your plants. You can also get fabric shades that let in some light while filtering some of the UV. Otherwise, it’s advisable to get them a plant light – a lamp with a special bulb that will allow your plants to photosynthesize to their heart’s content.

Buy Yours Today!

Ensuring your windows are properly covered is well worth the investment to save your belongings from damage. Not to mention all of the other amazing benefits to having the blinds that are right for you. Contact us with any questions or concerns and we’ll be happy to help!