Two of the main causes of diabetes, PCOS and immune failure in the modern world are our computers and TV’s.

The exposure to the light at night destroys our melatonin which is made in the pineal gland to help sleep, light at night therefore wrecks sleep and raises cortisol which is a stress hormone needed for running away or fighting.

The melatonin and proper sleep is needed to repair the body and renew cells and cortisol acts like a chemical that puts a stop work notice on a building site.
The cortisol also seems to throw sugar into the body at night in response to stress (being kept awake artificially by lights) thus causing so called insulin resistance, increased weight gain with possible psychological and immune problems to add to the phenomena.

The warnings are out there.

“With the wide-spread adoption of electrical lighting during the 20th century, humans became exposed to bright and unnatural light at night for the first time in their evolutionary history. Electrical lighting has led to the wide-scale practice of 24-hour shift-work and has meant that what were once just “daytime” activities now run throughout the night; in many ways Western society now functions on a 24-hour schedule.”

“Today, 99% of the population in the United States and Europe, and 62% of the world’s remaining population, are exposed to this “light pollution”. There is no denying that the invention of electrical lighting was a boon for developing industry and technology, allowing the extension of the workday into the night and boosting economic development. However, the use of light at night continues to rapidly increase (by 6% per year) without thorough (or any) consideration of its biological implications.”

“With the invention of electric lights, daylight hours have gradually been extended 4–7 hours depending on the season. As a result, overall melatonin production is suppressed in most people, not just shift workers. This marked decrease likely reduces the oncostatic effects of melatonin, which has led researchers to hypothesize that light at night may contribute to the increased incidence of tumors in the general population.”

“A common risk factor in many of the pathologies associated with exposure to light at night is a change in immune function, notably inflammatory responses, and recent research has demonstrated that light at night may detrimentally affect the immune system.”

“One important population that is often neglected when considering light at night is patients in hospitals. While multiple epidemiological studies have been conducted on nurses, there are no studies on the impact of light at night on the patients with whom they work. Many in-patients are already at high risk of increased inflammation and disrupted physiology, which may be exacerbated by light at night.

Preventing the general population from excessive exposure to light at night can be achieved with relatively low-cost manipulations, such as using curtains to block out street lights, turning off hallway lights, and removing all light sources, including televisions and computers, from bedrooms.”

Illuminating the deleterious effects of light at night

https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3169904/

Studies like this have gone as far as measuring clock molecules in each cell so at the cellular level light becomes a cell regulator but in between the nerd talk the results to health are described simply.

“Night-shift workers often exhibit dyslipidemia (e.g., high triglycerides and/or low HDL cholesterol), increased postprandial serum glucose and insulin and increased circulating levels of several biomarkers of inflammation, associated with increased incidence of obesity and diabetes.”

‘The results showed that circadian misalignment (defined as eating and sleeping 12 hour out of phase from their habitual times) increased circulating glucose and insulin, decreased leptin, and increased blood pressure. Indeed, some subjects in this study exhibited pre-diabetic symptoms in response to circadian misalignment”

“dim-light-at-night (dLAN) has been shown in increase weight gain and disrupt circadian rhythms in both the SCN and peripheral tissues as well as increase peripheral inflammation when combined with a high fat diet, Interestingly, re-exposure to a dark night can reverse metabolic disturbances following exposure to dLAN”

CIRCADIAN REGULATION OF METABOLISM

https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4109003/

For women the lack of melatonin flicks a woman’s circadian or sleep clock around so they get tired at the start of the day with a melatonin lag after a night of increased cortisol.

Also for years there have been links with low melatonin in night shift women workers and increased breast cancer rates, so if you miss your sleep take note.

“Melatonin (N-acetyl-5-methoxytryptamine) is an indoleamine and is known as a hormone that regulates the sleep–wake cycle. It is mainly secreted by the pineal gland in the brain, and its release is activated by darkness and suppressed by light. Elevated circulating night-time levels of melatonin have been reported to be associated with increased propensity for sleep. Women with PCOS, on the other hand, have increased sleep disturbances and abnormal sleep architecture. PCOS women have also been found to have a higher prevalence of obstructive sleep apnea, which is independent of their body mass index (BMI).”

This is what I mean by a ‘melatonin lag’ at the wrong time of the day.

“Daytime concentrations of the urinary melatonin metabolite 6-sulfatoxymelatonin (aMT6s) in women with PCOS have been shown to be elevated compared with that in women with normal fertility…”

Poor sleep in PCOS; is melatonin the culprit? 2013

https://academic.oup.com/humrep/article/28/5/1348/939318/Poor-sleep-in-PCOS-is-melatonin-the-culprit

This is a description of the cortisol chaos, the other part of the picture is that the increased use of cortisol under stress leads to cortisol depletion, so melatonin is being used up at night by light exposure while cortisol in effect is running out and the person ‘loses steam’.

“Bright light exposure significantly reduced plasma cortisol levels at both circadian phases studied, whereas dim light exposure had little effect on cortisol levels. The finding of an acute suppressive effect of bright light exposure on cortisol levels supports the existence of a mechanism by which photic information can acutely influence the human adrenal glands.”

Acute Effects of Bright Light Exposure on Cortisol Levels

https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3686562/

“In women with the polycystic ovary syndrome (PCOS), cortisol production rate is probably normal, although adrenal androgens can be overproduced in a subset of affected women. Cortisol metabolism and regeneration from inactive glucocorticoids can also be disrupted in PCOS, thereby contributing to determining an adrenal hyperandrogenic state. Finally, overactivity of the HPA axis may be related to the high prevalence of psychopathological and eating disorders in women with PCOS

Cortisol and the Polycystic Ovary Syndrome

http://www.medscape.com/viewarticle/77377

Studies on PCOS and diabetes in women with links to cortisol release/depletion and lowered melatonin paint a picture that light exposure is one of the culprits.

While the rat studies in trying to make PCOS happen from light exposure proved it.

“In the present study, we found that body weights decreased in female rats in a continuous light environment with both ovarian and uterine augmentation; the estrous cycle in rats under continuous light environment was disordered, and polycystic ovary-like changes occurred, accompanied with fur loss and lethargy; and serum testosterone levels in rats in a continuous light environment significantly increased.”

Manifestation of Hyperandrogenism in the Continuous Light Exposure-Induced PCOS Rat Model

https://www.hindawi.com/journals/bmri/2015/943694/

Chronic fatigue is one of the end results or put simply adrenal fatigue with no effective treatment.

All this may seem hopeless to cope with in the modern world as people tuck the kids into bed and then get social time on the internet but these things are new and reading a book or just plain sleeping can actually be alternatives.

I write this groaning at the amount of computer time that’s taken up my life, welcome to the 21st Century.

So part of protecting your adrenal glands and pineal gland from overuse in the modern world is getting a good sleep and resetting it the next day by getting outside sun exposure.

This resets the ‘melatonin lag’ and flicks on neurotransmitters like serotonin for the day.

This study tucked away in the recesses of the internet gives a first response guide to addressing adrenal gland issues and let’s be real, all sick people are stressed and likely low in the nutrients needed for adrenal health.

The ‘hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenal axis’ is a big linkage between the brain and the adrenal glands which are above the kidneys and HPA affects sleep, emotions, eating and energy use.

“When the mind and body are challenged by stressors, the hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenal axis is stimulated, culminating in the secretion of glucocorticoid hormones, principally cortisol, by the adrenal cortex.”

Here they are saying stress uses up cortisol and then it runs out.

“When an individual experiences chronic stress that strains his adaptive mechanisms, it is possible that this individual might manifest clinical signs and symptoms reflective of mild adrenocortical deficiency (MAD); a condition or syndrome characterized by a chronic deficiency of cortisol, but not severe enough to result in Addison’s disease.”

These are the health effect of prolonged stress, cortisol release and inability to make new cortisol.

“MAD is characterized by a diverse amount of clinical signs and symptoms, such as fatigue, nervousness and irritability, mental depression, postural hypotension, and hypoglycaemia. Given the sheer number of clinical features associated with MAD, it is likely that compromised adrenocortical function plays a role in the chronic course of many medical conditions. MAD is postulated to play a more dominant etiopathologic role in chronic fatigue syndrome, hyperemesis gravidarum, nausea and vomiting of pregnancy, and systemic lupus erythematosus.”

It’s quite a list of health problems but people can use some key vitamins which hardly anyone seems to emphasise enough except in ‘studies tucked away in the recesses of the internet’.

“Several specific orthomolecular treatments, i.e., low-dose Cortisol, vitamin C, and pantothenic acid, are discussed in relation to their ability to normalize adrenocortical function and possibly to improve outcomes in these respective medical conditions. More formal studies are needed, but given the safety of these substances, when used in orthomolecular doses, a therapeutic trial should be undertaken before resorting to more aggressive treatment.”
Academic paper: Mild AdrenocorticalDeficiency and its Relationship to: (1) Chronic Fatigue Syndrome; (2) Nauseaand Vomiting of Pregnancy and Hyperemesis Gravidarum; and (3) Systemic LupusErythematosus. 

Without even needing to use top up cortisol a person can safely use doses of vitamin C and pantothenic acid which is also called vitamin B5, the two vitamins are simply vital for adrenal function.

A slightly different form of B5 called pantothenate was used in cholesterol lowering studies quite safely and worked at a dose of 600mg to keep patients from going on statins.

Pantethine, a derivative of vitamin B5, favorably alters total, LDL and non-HDL cholesterol in low to moderate cardiovascular risk subjects eligible for statin therapy: a triple-blinded placebo and diet-controlled investigation

https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3942300/

So one tablet of B5 is 500mg and should have few side effects apart from increased energy and be part of any fatigue treatment as well as an aid to lowering cholesterol if needed.

Vitamin B5 is also a major building block of an enzyme called coenzyme-A and to sum it up coenzyme-A is needed to synthesise fats in the body and therefore has an effect on your steroids and hormones,

Without enough vitamin B5 in the diet the coenzyme-A levels drop, the body can’t use fats properly, hormone levels get lowered, mood can be affected, immune function and nerves lose signalling steroids, the cell wall lipids get depleted or bad fats build up and clog up immune cells so they don’t work.

So a low dose of vitamin B5 can go a long way.

Pantothenic acid or Vitamin B5

http://lpi.oregonstate.edu/mic/vitamins/pantothenic-acid

Vitamin C is gobbled up by both adrenal cells and immune cells, vitamin C is also used up in making collagen structure all over the body so poor wound healing and immune failure with low white blood cell counts are effects of vitamin C deficiency.

Vitamin C is also cheap, if you have to resort to chewable C tablets they still work, there are all sorts of powdered forms and formulas varying in cost but sick people need more.

A good variety of fruit and vegetables especially a lemon juice in other juice give the best doses but alarmingly fruit and vegetables are at times becoming luxuries due to cost.

You know you have taken too much vitamin C if bowels get loose and Vitamin C doses for anyone already suffering diarrhoea is to be avoided.

Collagen repair or skin repair also needs large amounts of vitamin C so if you are going in for surgery then you can prepare by upping your vitamin C weeks before but stop a few days before surgery as it can thin the blood and then start taking vitamin C again a few days later.

Vitamin C
http://lpi.oregonstate.edu/mic/vitamins/vitamin-C

The last vitamin is B6 and needs to be mentioned in relation to melatonin.

The body makes the neurotransmitter serotonin out of the amino acid tryptophan (dairy and protein) and vitamin B6 helps this process, by making serotonin the higher levels of serotonin then also get converted to melatonin so B6 is needed for sleep.

B6 also helps muscles, nerves and is involved in enzyme reactions all over the body, it lowers homocysteine in people with inflammation, it helps red blood cell production and utilizes iron, if you take iron supplements for example then B6 should also be taken with folate or B12.

B6 is also needed for adrenal function so 25mg to 50mg of B6 in the morning or during the day helps the adrenals and prevents insomnia by adding the building blocks for serotonin and melatonin.

Avoid taking B6 at night, it seems to flick on serotonin if taken after dark so you end up wide awake.

Vitamin B6

http://lpi.oregonstate.edu/mic/vitamins/vitamin-B6

Vitamins B5, B6 and C are useful to help the top up of hormones like cortisol, serotonin and melatonin so can be used by most people with access and money to buy a few supplements.

Knowing just how much external light sources at night and lack of sunlight during the day affects hormone function, weight gain, mood and immune function is important because people could be getting ill without realizing social media at midnight is doing them in.

This study from 2017 shows the ‘light at night’ precipice, so you know.

“Two-thirds of Europeans and nearly 80% of North Americans cannot see the Milky Way due to artificial night sky glow. Approximately 15–20% of the population is engaged in shift work and countless individuals are exposed to nightly light pollution from other sources. The light intensity on an average urban street is estimated at 5–15 lux and a typical living room at 100–300 lux. Electronic tablet computers emit ~40 lux, depending on the size of the screen. According to the National Sleep Foundation, 36% of parents and 34% of children leave an electronic device such as a television or computer on in their room while sleeping. In addition, 87% of women watch television in the hour before bedtime. This amount of nighttime light exposure is unprecedented in human history.”

Timing of light exposure affects mood and brain circuits

http://www.nature.com/tp/journal/v7/n1/full/tp2016262a.html

Walking for a moderate time in the sun also moves the lymph system which is a prime fixer of immune problems by moving the rubbish out of the body via lymph movement.

This was written in May 2017.

This goes a lot further into immune failure and the linkage with Vitamin B5 and Vitamin C as adrenal fixers as well as antivirals is one of those questions I am still asking.

Cal Crilly