68
you are viewing a single comment's thread
view the rest of the comments
view the rest of the comments
this post was submitted on 02 Jun 2024
68 points (93.6% liked)
Ask Science
8612 readers
1 users here now
Ask a science question, get a science answer.
Community Rules
Rule 1: Be respectful and inclusive.
Treat others with respect, and maintain a positive atmosphere.
Rule 2: No harassment, hate speech, bigotry, or trolling.
Avoid any form of harassment, hate speech, bigotry, or offensive behavior.
Rule 3: Engage in constructive discussions.
Contribute to meaningful and constructive discussions that enhance scientific understanding.
Rule 4: No AI-generated answers.
Strictly prohibit the use of AI-generated answers. Providing answers generated by AI systems is not allowed and may result in a ban.
Rule 5: Follow guidelines and moderators' instructions.
Adhere to community guidelines and comply with instructions given by moderators.
Rule 6: Use appropriate language and tone.
Communicate using suitable language and maintain a professional and respectful tone.
Rule 7: Report violations.
Report any violations of the community rules to the moderators for appropriate action.
Rule 8: Foster a continuous learning environment.
Encourage a continuous learning environment where members can share knowledge and engage in scientific discussions.
Rule 9: Source required for answers.
Provide credible sources for answers. Failure to include a source may result in the removal of the answer to ensure information reliability.
By adhering to these rules, we create a welcoming and informative environment where science-related questions receive accurate and credible answers. Thank you for your cooperation in making the Ask Science community a valuable resource for scientific knowledge.
We retain the discretion to modify the rules as we deem necessary.
founded 1 year ago
MODERATORS
This is untrue - we have explicitly evolved to sleep in the dark. Sleeping in the light is a learned behavior that's more or less an exploitation of a loophole in the circadian clock
Are you saying that sleeping under full moon levels of illumination is not something animals would have dealt with since time immemorial?
...
A specific wavelength may effect you..
That wavelength is not present in moonlight/starlight, which is not "full darkness".
For the vast majority of human evolution, "full darkness" wasn't safe, and wasn't even really possible.
I understand what you and OP are trying to say. And you both kind of have the general idea but none of the details.
Like how you got taught basic things in 6th grade, but by 12 grade you're learning what you thought was the whole truth, was just a general overview.
Which wouldn't be bad if you recognized it, but loads of people want to insist the short summary the learned as a child is as deep as it gets
Oh trust me, I know way more than you think. It is literally my job to study circadian rhythms. I can very comfortably say that you're wrong
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Light_effects_on_circadian_rhythm
For anyone else, I won't try to change your mind.
Yes, but your wikipedia link doesn't prove that animals are only sensitive to blue light, only that they are more sensitive to blue light. That is a very well-documented phenomenon. But there is plenty of evidence that red light can entrain circadian rhythms as well, dating well back to the 80's. There has even been a study that identified different mechanisms of entrainment to low-wavelength and high-wavelength light in bacteria, which you can find below. My point is that it is very scientifically irresponsible, and in fact, blatantly wrong, to claim that humans are sensitive only to particular wavelengths of light, when in fact humans and other animals are sensitive to all wavelengths of visible light.
Beyond that, I don't necessarily know why you seem to be claiming that the intensity of the ambient light does not matter for photic entrainment, when this is a highly documented and, in fact, highly studied phenomenon in the circadian field. Yes, the moon reflects light, but this is dim enough that mammalian SCN's can interpret the difference between that and the full daylight. See below for some papers that look into light intensity and their effects on entrainment.
Here is some reading if you are interested: