O.T. lights in the bedroom increase breast cancer risk

[Guest guest]

Mescape published an abstract from Chronobiol Int. 2011;28:76 which cited a study from Israel which found a significant increase in breast cancer risk among women whose bedrooms were not dark. There is controversy, of course, but this reminds me of the work of Joy de Felice from Yakima, WA who has many studies which show that darkening the bedroom of women who are infertile due to absent or erratic ovulation often leads to ovulatory cycles and fertility. The persistent light disrupts the circadian rhythm and may prolong estrogen effect and thus and prevent ovulation. Any connection with breast cancer? Hanna Klaus Hanna Klaus, M.D.Natural Family Planning Center of Washington, D.C. and Teen STAR Program4400 East West Highway # 911Bethesda, MD 20814-4510 hannaklaus@...http://www.teenstarprogram.org

[Guest guest]

I just attended a continuing education on the adrenals where we were presented with information on light in the room at night. It raises night time cortisol levels, at a time in the circadian you want these low. Even a small dot of red light can do this. It appears there is a sort of adrenal resistance developing(similar to, but not same as insulin resistance). We may be hearing more about adrenal fatigue and its sequelae in the near future. Our modern diet and lifestyle, illness, stress etc are contributing to this. We were taught it takes about 8 weeks to re-establish a healthy circadian adrenal level pattern . Part of this plan includes getting to bed by 10pm, > 7 hours sleep uninterrupted, no noise, remove hypoglycemia, and absolute dark room.The Adrenal Stress Index(ASI) lab evaluation is available at Diagnos-techs lab. It gives 4 adrenal hormone levels throughout the day. Allowing you to evaluate the chronobiological levels and where on the continuum of adrenal resistance your patient is. Adrenal resistant patients have chronically high ACTH. It is 'feminizing'. Men with this can have estradiol levels similar to cycling women. Raised cortisol levels lead to many health issues, including fertility. CRH results in decreased pulsatility of FSH and LH. Fixing the adrenal physiology can restore fertility.NFP gives us a chronobiological look at fertility giving us good information on hormonal profiles. We get more information when we look at fertility this way, rather than just a one time serum hormone level on one day. Same with the adrenals, more accurate information is obtained when looking at it from a chronobiological standpoint.Darcy Hemstad, RN, BSNBillings Ovulation Method Instructor

Mescape published an abstract from Chronobiol Int. 2011;28:76 which cited a study from Israel which found a significant increase in breast cancer risk among women whose bedrooms were not dark. There is controversy, of course, but this reminds me of the work of Joy de Felice from Yakima, WA who has many studies which show that darkening the bedroom of women who are infertile due to absent or erratic ovulation often leads to ovulatory cycles and fertility. The persistent light disrupts the circadian rhythm and may prolong estrogen effect and thus and prevent ovulation. Any connection with breast cancer? Hanna Klaus Hanna Klaus, M.D.Natural Family Planning Center of Washington, D.C. and Teen STAR Program4400 East West Highway # 911Bethesda, MD 20814-4510 hannaklaus@...http://www.teenstarprogram.org

[Guest guest]

Thanks Darcy for your input. It suggests that circadian disruption has effects in multiple systems.. Hanna Klaus From: nfpprofessionals [mailto:nfpprofessionals ] On Behalf Of Darcy HemstadSent: Friday, January 14, 2011 6:17 PMTo: nfpprofessionals Subject: Re: O.T. lights in the bedroom increase breast cancer risk I just attended a continuing education on the adrenals where we were presented with information on light in the room at night. It raises night time cortisol levels, at a time in the circadian you want these low. Even a small dot of red light can do this. It appears there is a sort of adrenal resistance developing(similar to, but not same as insulin resistance). We may be hearing more about adrenal fatigue and its sequelae in the near future. Our modern diet and lifestyle, illness, stress etc are contributing to this. We were taught it takes about 8 weeks to re-establish a healthy circadian adrenal level pattern . Part of this plan includes getting to bed by 10pm, > 7 hours sleep uninterrupted, no noise, remove hypoglycemia, and absolute dark room. The Adrenal Stress Index(ASI) lab evaluation is available at Diagnos-techs lab. It gives 4 adrenal hormone levels throughout the day. Allowing you to evaluate the chronobiological levels and where on the continuum of adrenal resistance your patient is. Adrenal resistant patients have chronically high ACTH. It is 'feminizing'. Men with this can have estradiol levels similar to cycling women. Raised cortisol levels lead to many health issues, including fertility. CRH results in decreased pulsatility of FSH and LH. Fixing the adrenal physiology can restore fertility. NFP gives us a chronobiological look at fertility giving us good information on hormonal profiles. We get more information when we look at fertility this way, rather than just a one time serum hormone level on one day. Same with the adrenals, more accurate information is obtained when looking at it from a chronobiological standpoint. Darcy Hemstad, RN, BSNBillings Ovulation Method Instructor Mescape published an abstract from Chronobiol Int. 2011;28:76 which cited a study from Israel which found a significant increase in breast cancer risk among women whose bedrooms were not dark. There is controversy, of course, but this reminds me of the work of Joy de Felice from Yakima, WA who has many studies which show that darkening the bedroom of women who are infertile due to absent or erratic ovulation often leads to ovulatory cycles and fertility. The persistent light disrupts the circadian rhythm and may prolong estrogen effect and thus and prevent ovulation. Any connection with breast cancer? Hanna Klaus Hanna Klaus, M.D.Natural Family Planning Center of Washington, D.C. and Teen STAR Program4400 East West Highway # 911Bethesda, MD 20814-4510 hannaklaus@...http://www.teenstarprogram.org

[Guest guest]

Dear Hanna,Sorry to be delayed in responding--just catching up on email.Part of my dissertation was on this issue of light and menstrual cycle. There are studies looking at the increased rate of cancer, breast cancer specifically, among night workers. Nurses comprised part of the sample. Melatonin is a scavenger of free radicals. In my review, red light was placebo and it is now known that blue light is being studied in sleep disorder research for specific effects.  I am attaching a pdf of the review and the figure--which had to be corrected as the legend was left off--if anyone is interested (or has trouble sleeping!!!) I was inspired to look into this by what Joy de Felice presented at a Billings conference that I attended a while back.

Lee Lee Barron PhD, APRN, FNP-BCDirector, MSN and DNP ProgramsSaint Louis University School of Nursing

 

Mescape published an abstract from Chronobiol Int. 2011;28:76 which cited a study from Israel which  found a significant increase in breast cancer risk among women whose bedrooms were not dark.  There is controversy, of course,  but this reminds me of the work of Joy de Felice  from Yakima, WA who has many studies which show that darkening the bedroom of women who are infertile due to absent or erratic ovulation often leads to ovulatory cycles and fertility.  The persistent  light disrupts the circadian rhythm and may prolong estrogen effect and thus and prevent ovulation.  Any connection with breast cancer?

 Hanna Klaus  Hanna Klaus, M.D.Natural Family Planning Center of Washington, D.C. and Teen STAR Program

4400 East West Highway # 911Bethesda, MD 20814-4510  hannaklaus@...

http://www.teenstarprogram.org