As naturopaths, we are always trying to bring health back to its core components - your diet and your lifestyle. There is a lifestyle factor that I bring up in nearly all of my fertility consults, however unless someone is dealing with low vitamin D or insomnia, I think they struggle to see how important or relevant it is to them. That factor is light exposure. 

The amount of light you are exposed to each day, and the timing of that light exposure can have a profound impact on your hormonal health. It’s rarely the only factor, however its one that is relevant to everybody, even the men!

The how and why:

Inside your brain is the suprachiasmatic nucleus, your literal “body clock”. It receives direct signals from your eyes about the light in your environment and uses that information to orchestrate the timing of nearly every hormone in your body. This internal timing system is one you’ve heard of, your circadian rhythm. Most people equate circadian rhythm with light exposure and the effect it has on sleep/wake cycles when talking about jet lag and sleep routines, however it goes so much deeper than this. 

Along with the cyclic hormones that are released in the day (cortisol) and night (melatonin), your circadian rhythm also affects your oestrogen, progesterone, your FSH and your LH. If you are currently trying to conceive or tracking your cycle lengths I know I have your attention now. 

When you track ovulation using a test kit, you are measuring that all important LH surge. Your LH (luteinising hormone) surges in the early hours when cortisol is meant to be very low and melatonin has peaked. If sleep is disturbed, if stress is high, and importantly if melatonin release is thwarted, so too can your anticipated LH surge, both in the timing and the strength of that hormone release. The biggest impact on melatonin is light exposure after the sun goes down. This effect increases the later into the night it gets. Shift work, late night work on a tablet or computer, reading on a kindle before bed, sleeping in a light room or watching TV are all common interferences in this orchestral release of hormones. 

Light exposure doubles down on hormones: 

Light exposure can also affect the messages your hypothalamus is sending out to your ovaries. It does this by triggering cortisol release (stress hormone) which as a result impacts healthy progesterone production. Many women I see in clinic would benefit from improved progesterone levels, so any interruption to this vital fertility hormone needs to be avoided. 

How light exposure at night can affect egg quality:

Melatonin is not just a sleep hormone, it is also a potent antioxidant. This is one of the main reasons why sleep is so restorative. If you are concerned about sperm or egg quality you are likely taking antioxidants such as ubiquinol or vitamin C to support their cellular health. Sleep is a huge influence on these cells, and as well as maximising sleep, we also can prescribe plant derived melatonin to further support this antioxidant action. Men can see huge improvements in their semen parameters through maximising sleep alone. You can take this to the next level by reducing nighttime light exposure. It is a genuinely impactful change that costs nothing. 

Make your nighttime environment as dark as possible for as long as possible. 

I don’t expect you to turn the mains off after 6pm, but consider:

• the use of lamps over the “big light”,
• having a screen free bedroom,
• a nighttime light curfew,
• sleeping with an eye mask,
• ensuring curtains are blocking out environmental lights (goodbye street lights),
• using small sensor lights in the house instead of sleeping with the bathroom or hallway light on. 
• or any other changes you can make to your lifestyle that may have a meaningful impact on your hormone balance and your fertility. 

The flip side - the hormonal impact of morning light exposure:

Light exposure first thing in the morning is equally as important as a dark night. Just 10 minutes outside within the first hour of waking can do wonders for your hormonal balance. Can you eat your breakfast outside on the veranda? Or close to an east facing window? If it’s bright, try not to wear sunglasses. If it's cold, rug yourself up - even overcast mornings can have an impact on your circadian rhythm. A good point to remember here is that light exposure is different to sun exposure, and light exposure can remain completely sun smart. Keeping your nights dark and your daytimes light can really tune up your circadian rhythm and the resulting hormonal cascade. 

How herbs and nutrients can accompany the dark/light rhythms:

Although we cannot change light exposure with herbs and nutrients, we can support these cycles. Allowing optimal melatonin release at night means relying on calming herbs and nutrients like passionflower or magnesium. As mentioned previously, we can maximise melatonin concentrations by using plant derived “herbatonin” made from chlorella, alfalfa and rice. We can also support natural morning cortisol release through b vitamins and gently uplifting herbs such as Siberian ginseng, being very careful not to overstimulate cortisol (many people already have cortisol that is too high in the morning).

An interesting aspect to consider:

In light of everything I have discussed about dark nights and light days, there is an interesting factor to consider. There have been various studies over the years that show nighttime light exposure can shorten menstrual cycles in women with long or irregular cycles. In these studies, light exposure in the middle of the night has been commenced on day 14-17 of the menstrual cycle resulting in earlier more predictable ovulation. I liken this effect to the natural effect of the full moon for a few bright nights every 28 days. Traditional naturopaths will often recommend the opening of the curtains to any light pollution at day 14 of the menstrual cycle, or turning on that hallway or bathroom light. You might experiment with mid cycle light exposure to see if it affects your menstrual cycle. One thing is for sure when it comes to the menstrual cycle - pulsing or cycling herbs, nutrients or even light can help set or reset those natural rhythms that the body craves. We see day-night light changes act in a significant way and these light rhythms potentially reach even the light changes that occur during the lunar cycle.

If you’ve loved my take on an often overlooked part of hormone balancing and would love to chat all things hormones in relation to YOUR specific situation, I would love to see you in clinic! Book a consultation with me at Nourishing Apothecary and together we will look at the full picture.

In the meantime, keep those nighttimes as dark as possible and let the morning light reach your eyes as soon as you can after waking.