>Anyone ever note that green and blue lights are especially bad for the
>body's natural melatonin production and that the green lights that are so
>omnipresent on electrical electrical equipment and night lights arrived
>about 12 to 15 years ago?
 
Hi Sukie ~
 
You are such a deep thinker!  Actually you may be onto something with
light.  My experience here is only with plants, but it is complex.  I'll
try to really narrow it down, but it will help to have taken biology 101.
 
Plants, algae, some single-celled plants, and bacteria can carry on
photosynthesis.  They harvest light energy from the sun and change it
to stored chemical energy within food.  Organisms that produce their
own food by photosynthesis are called autotrophs.  Organisms that cannot
produce their own food are called heterotrophs.  All animals, fungi,
protists, and bacteria belong in this class.  Heterotrophs receive
energy from consuming autotrophs (i.e. the food chain).
 
We next need to understand what light energy and it's spectrum is.
Sunlight is a form of energy called electromagnetic energy (and also
radiation).  This energy travels as waves.  However, electromagnetic
energy can ripple.  A ripple is a disturbance in electric and magnetic
fields moving through space.  The waves coming from the sun can vary in
length.  The full range is called "electromagnetic spectrum".  Visible
light is only a small part of this spectrum, but it is made up of many
different wavelengths.  If you've ever seen a real rainbow it is made up
of an array of colors caused by the separation of various wavelengths of
visible light.  Even though electromagnetic energy travels as "waves" it
behaves like discrete "packets" of energy" called photons.  Within the
range of visible light, the shorter wavelengths are a violet light and
carry an "energy punch." The longer wavelengths are red.  They are very
beneficial to plants, increasing their ability to grow.  Many growers
(myself included) will supplement with some red spectrum in our
greenhouses over the winter and spring.
 
Now we get "x-rated." A molecule "captures" the energy of sunlight when
a photon of energy boosts an electron of the molecule to a higher energy
level than it already occupies.  The electron is said to be "excited."
This boost requires a specific amount of energy.  Specific atoms can
absorb only certain photons of light--those that correspond to available
energy levels.  Therefore a given atom has an "absorpton spectrum."
Molecules that absorb some visible wavelengths and transmit them (allow
them to pass), or to reflect others are called pigments.  Pigments
are responsible for all the colors we see.  The resulting electron
excitations ultimately generate nerve impulses sent to the brain.  There
the brain interprets them into specific colors: red, green, blue, etc.
 
- Gamma rays (380-430 nannometers) are mainly a deep purple;
- X-rays (430-500 nannometers) go from purple and contain a bit of blue;
- UV light (500 nannometers) is a deep green;
- Infrared light (560 nannometers) strangely is a lime green to yellow;
- Radio waves (600-750 nannometers) ranges from yellow, to orange, to red.
 
Do you remember a movie Joanne Woodward was in on the effects of Gamma
rays on plants?  Well Gammas have that violet spectrum that pack an
energy punch.
 
So perception of light, absence of light, and pigmentation are essential
to body functions.  Might they also be essential to those on the food
chain such as various animals?  Certain reactions of photosynthesis
produce ATP and NADPH (light-dependent reactions).  A second series of
reactions uses this newly formed ATP and NADPH to provide energy to form
sucrose.  If our fuzzies are so sensitive to light, or the absence of
light, might it also be true that the spectrum of light may affect them
in some way?  I know of no studies on this but would be interested to
see a measurement of light spectrum and certain diseases.
 
Warmly ~
Mary
Herbalist
The Conley Farm - organic herbs
Online Classes ~ [log in to unmask]
[Posted in FML issue 3970]