How light affects our day-to-day life

In the smart future, every aspect of our lives will be digitised and optimised, including light and our relationship with it. Asli Okar, the marketing manager of Philips Lighting in the Middle East discusses the development of lighting and how it will affect our day to day life in the future.

Light, whether natural or artificial, affects all life on our planet. It is more than just a source of vitamin D for us humans. Philips has recently compiled in a white paper key insights from more than 10 years of ongoing research about the effects of light on our sleep/wake cycle, or what is known as our “circadian rhythm”.

It reveals that the amount and quality of light you are exposed to every day may be responsible for how you feel when you wake, ultimately dictating whether you are more of a morning person or a night owl.

Light plays a crucial role in regulating our circadian rhythm, which is one of our natural biorhythms commonly known as our body clock.

Our body clock is not naturally in sync with our artificial clock. It is slightly slower, running for 24 hours and 30 minutes on average, which means we are naturally inclined to sleep and wake 30 minutes later each day.

If this slower rhythm is not regulated by the end of the week our sleep/wake cycle could be off by more than two hours.

Because of our 9 to 5 lifestyle, we may be getting too little sleep during the working week and sleeping in during the weekends. More sleep at the weekend may compensate for any lack of rest, but can reset a later circadian rhythm the following week, resulting in that “Sunday morning blues” feeling.

Are you aware of the term social jet lag? This is a term coined by researchers to describe how you feel when you reset your sleep/wake cycle but are required to wake earlier to meet daily responsibilities. Like jet lag, you can feel groggy on Sunday morning if your weekend activities have reset your cycle to a later rhythm. Exposing yourself to the right quality of light at the same time each day and night can regulate and synchronize your natural body clock to the clock on your bedside table.

In today’s world, alarm clocks help to manage the time lag created by our slower circadian rhythm.

But looking back into history, humans, like most animals, used the sun and the amount of light during different times of the day to regulate our body clock; this was natural and the human body did this without realising it. The reason being, specific quality of light hitting the photoreceptors in our eyes not only regulates our internal body clock, but can actually reset it every single day.

thamid@thenational.ae

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QUARTER-FINAL

Wales 20-19 France

Wales: T: Wainwright, Moriarty. Cons: Biggar (2) Pens: Biggar 2

France: T: Vahaamahina, Ollivon, Vakatawa Cons: Ntamack (2)

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Explained

Who are the bidoon?

Have you been targeted?

Tuan Phan of SimplyFI.org lists five signs you have been mis-sold to:

1. Your pension fund has been placed inside an offshore insurance wrapper with a hefty upfront commission.

2. The money has been transferred into a structured note. These products have high upfront, recurring commission and should never be in a pension account.

3. You have also been sold investment funds with an upfront initial charge of around 5 per cent. ETFs, for example, have no upfront charges.

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Sugary teas and iced coffees

The tax authority is yet to release a list of the taxed products, but it appears likely that sugary iced teas and cold coffees will be hit.

For instance, the non-fizzy drink AriZona Iced Tea contains 65 grams of sugar – about 16 teaspoons – per 680ml can. The average can costs about Dh6, which would rise to Dh9.

Cold coffee brands are likely to be hit too. Drinks such as Starbucks Bottled Mocha Frappuccino contain 31g of sugar in 270ml, while Nescafe Mocha in a can contains 15.6g of sugar in a 240ml can.

SQUADS

Pakistan: Sarfraz Ahmed (capt), Azhar Ali, Shan Masood, Sami Aslam, Babar Azam, Asad Shafiq, Haris Sohail, Usman Salahuddin, Yasir Shah, Mohammad Asghar, Bilal Asif, Mir Hamza, Mohammad Amir, Hasan Ali, Mohammad Abbas, Wahab Riaz

Sri Lanka: Dinesh Chandimal (capt), Lahiru Thirimanne (vice-capt), Dimuth Karunaratne, Kaushal Silva, Kusal Mendis, Sadeera Samarawickrama, Roshen Silva, Niroshan Dickwella, Rangana Herath, Lakshan Sandakan, Dilruwan Perera, Suranga Lakmal, Nuwan Pradeep, Vishwa Fernando, Lahiru Gamage

Umpires: Ian Gould (ENG) and Nigel Llong (ENG)
TV umpire: Richard Kettleborough (ENG)
ICC match referee: Andy Pycroft (ZIM)

Ain Issa camp:

Established in 2016
Houses 13,309 people, 2,092 families, 62 per cent children
Of the adult population, 49 per cent men, 51 per cent women (not including foreigners annexe)
Most from Deir Ezzor and Raqqa
950 foreigners linked to ISIS and their families
NGO Blumont runs camp management for the UN
One of the nine official (UN recognised) camps in the region

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Honeymoonish

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E-cigarettes report

Tobacco giants, under attack from governments and forced to print gruesome warnings on their products, pour millions into 'healthier' e-cigarette products

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Squad: Majed Naser, Abdulaziz Sanqour, Walid Abbas, Khamis Esmail, Habib Fardan, Mohammed Marzouq (Shabab Al Ahli Dubai), Khalid Essa, Muhanad Salem, Mohammed Ahmed, Ismail Ahmed, Ahmed Barman, Amer Abdulrahman, Omar Abdulrahman (Al Ain), Ali Khaseif, Fares Juma, Mohammed Fawzi, Khalfan Mubarak, Mohammed Jamal, Ahmed Al Attas (Al Jazira), Ahmed Rashid, Mohammed Al Akbari (Al Wahda), Tariq Ahmed, Mahmoud Khamis, Khalifa Mubarak, Jassim Yaqoub (Al Nasr), Ali Salmeen (Al Wasl), Yousef Saeed (Sharjah), Suhail Al Nubi (Baniyas)