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Interesting developments in the AI world

Interesting developments in the AI world

by | General, Stealth

Sooooo. Chat GPT has seem to taken over the world. For those of you who might not know..

What is Chat Gpt?

ChatGPT[a] is an artificial intelligence chatbot developed by OpenAI and launched in November 2022. It is built on top of OpenAI’s GPT-3 family of large language models and has been fine-tuned (an approach to transfer learning) using both supervised and reinforcement learning techniques.

ChatGPT was launched as a prototype on November 30, 2022, and quickly garnered attention for its detailed responses and articulate answers across many domains of knowledge.[3] Its uneven factual accuracy, however, has been identified as a significant drawback.[4] Following the release of ChatGPT, OpenAI’s valuation was estimated at US$29 billion in 2023.[5]

Not to get left behind, I decided to try it out for an article – here are the answers to some of my questions…

 

Is AI dangerous for humans?

As of now, AI is not inherently dangerous to humans. Most AI systems in use today are designed and deployed with safety in mind, and the risks associated with them are relatively low. However, there are still concerns about the responsible development, deployment, and use of AI, and the potential risks that could arise if AI is not used responsibly.

There have been instances where AI systems have caused harm, such as in cases where automated decision-making systems have exhibited bias, or in cases where autonomous vehicles have caused accidents. However, these incidents are typically the result of mistakes or shortcomings in the design and deployment of the AI system, rather than an inherent danger posed by AI.

Overall, it is important to approach the development and deployment of AI with caution, and to prioritize safety and responsible use to minimize potential risks. The long-term impact of AI on society and human well-being will depend on how we manage these risks and ensure that AI is developed and used in a way that benefits humanity as a whole.

So is AI really dangerous currently?

As of now, AI is not inherently dangerous to humans. Most AI systems in use today are designed and deployed with safety in mind, and the risks associated with them are relatively low. However, there are still concerns about the responsible development, deployment, and use of AI, and the potential risks that could arise if AI is not used responsibly.

There have been instances where AI systems have caused harm, such as in cases where automated decision-making systems have exhibited bias, or in cases where autonomous vehicles have caused accidents. However, these incidents are typically the result of mistakes or shortcomings in the design and deployment of the AI system, rather than an inherent danger posed by AI.

Overall, it is important to approach the development and deployment of AI with caution, and to prioritize safety and responsible use to minimize potential risks. The long-term impact of AI on society and human well-being will depend on how we manage these risks and ensure that AI is developed and used in a way that benefits humanity as a whole.

Is AI dangerous for human beings in this day and age?

As of today, AI is not inherently dangerous to humans. Most AI systems in use today are designed and deployed with safety in mind, and the risks associated with them are relatively low. However, there are still concerns about the responsible development, deployment, and use of AI, and the potential risks that could arise if AI is not used responsibly.

There have been instances where AI systems have caused harm, such as in cases where automated decision-making systems have exhibited bias, or in cases where autonomous vehicles have caused accidents. However, these incidents are typically the result of mistakes or shortcomings in the design and deployment of the AI system, rather than an inherent danger posed by AI.

Overall, it is important to approach the development and deployment of AI with caution, and to prioritize safety and responsible use to minimize potential risks. The long-term impact of AI on society and human well-being will depend on how we manage these risks and ensure that AI is developed and used in a way that benefits humanity as a whole.

What do we do without AI?

AI is a rapidly growing field that has already impacted many areas of our lives. However, it’s important to remember that AI is not the only technology available, and there are many other tools and approaches that can be used to address a wide range of challenges.

For example, traditional programming techniques can be used to develop software applications, while statistical and mathematical methods can be used for data analysis and modeling. In some cases, human expertise and intuition may be sufficient to solve a problem or make a decision.

Furthermore, there are many non-technological solutions that can be used to address societal challenges, such as policy changes, education and training programs, and social interventions.

While AI has the potential to revolutionize many industries and improve many aspects of our lives, it’s important to recognize that it’s not a panacea, and that there are many other tools and approaches that can be used to tackle the challenges we face. Ultimately, the best approach will depend on the specific problem at hand, and the resources and expertise available to address it.

Would love to hear what you have to think about it.

Spammers will not be let through but deleted. I you have something of value to contribute, please leave your name and email address as requested…

 

The Year of the Gaslighter

by | Health

This article was originally published here by CJ Hopkins

Well, it has been quite a year, 2022. I’m officially dubbing it “The Year of the Gaslighter.” I was going to dub it “The Year of the Mother of All Mindfucking Global-Capitalist Gaslighters,” but that seemed like a mouthful, so I’m opting for brevity.

Seriously, if there were an Olympics of Gaslighting, GloboCap (i.e., the global corporatocracy) would take the gold in every event. At this point, the majority of the global masses have been successfully gaslighted into a semi-conscious, quasi-cyclothymic state in which they oscillate, on a moment-by-moment basis, between robotic obedience and impotent rage. Those who are not still walking around in their masks and prophylactic face shields and injecting themselves with experimental “vaccines” for reasons they no longer even pretend to be able to articulate without gibbering like imbeciles are genuflecting at the feet of an oligarch huckster who they believe has come to deliver them from Wokeness.

If you were GloboCap, and in the process of imposing your new official ideology on the entire planet in a kind of global Gleichschaltung op, and otherwise establishing your “New Normal Reich,” and you needed the masses confused and compliant, you couldn’t ask for much more from your Gaslighting Division!

The gaslighting got underway in January, when the corporate media, health authorities, and other major organs of the New Normal Reich started suddenly “discovering” that the official Covid narrative was “inaccurate,” or, you know, a bunch of lies.

A series of limited hangouts ensued.

Suddenly, it appeared that the “Covid case” and “Covid death” statistics were inaccurate, or inflated, or had been fabricated. The “vaccines” didn’t work. They were killing people. Lockdowns had been a “serious mistake.” And so on. Duplicitous politicians, pusillanimous public-health authorities, perfidious pundits, and assorted other professional sycophants and lying weasels were shocked to discover they had inadvertently been part of the most insidious PSYOP that had ever been perpetrated on the masses in the history of insidious mass-PSYOPs.

The Last Days of the Covidian Cult were upon us! The Corporatocracy had overplayed their hand, and underestimated their opposition, and they knew it.

But the Cult was not going to go down quietly. In February, in Ottawa, Canada, thousands of truckers and other working-class people who had had enough of the Pandemic PSYOP occupied the streets outside the capitol and demanded an end to “vaccination mandates,” segregation of “the Unvaccinated,” and other “emergency health measures.” Justin Trudeau, the Canadian media, and their counterparts throughout the New Normal Reich immediately denounced the protesters as “treasonous, Russia-backed, transphobic, Nazi terrorists.”

This affront to the authority of the New Normal Reich could not be allowed to go unpunished, so Trudeau declared de facto martial law and unleashed a battalion of militarized police and other unidentified goons to beat and trample the protesters with horses (including one old lady with a “terrorist walker”). Then he went about hunting down and freezing the bank accounts of any Canadians who had donated to the protest, and otherwise attempting to destroy the lives of anyone who had disobeyed him.

This display of contempt for the rule of law and the ruthlessness of the New Normal Reich was one of the last of the bloody crackdowns on dissidents in countries all over the world that had been in progress for over a year by then, e.g., in Australia, The Netherlands, France, Germany, China, and other countries. These vicious “crackdowns” on peaceful protests were conducted “to protect the public health,” of course, and were not at all a display of brute force meant to intimidate the masses into obedience. The global-capitalist ruling classes are not fascists, or totalitarians, after all, and anyone who suggests they are is clearly a “Russia-backed, Covid-denying, conspiracy-theorizing extremist,” or whatever.

Oh, and speaking of totalitarians, and fascists, and goose-stepping, Sieg-heiling neo-Nazis, the Gaslighting Cavalcade of 2022 reached a whole new level of gaslighting in March, when, after years of provocation, Russia finally invaded Ukraine, and all the Ukrainian neo-Nazis that the corporate media had been extensively reporting on magically vanished into the ether.

Yes, it was Springtime for the GloboCap Nazis! And not just for the GloboCap Nazis! Liberals, still struggling with withdrawal symptoms from the adrenaline rush of the Covidian Cult, and the thrill of fanatically persecuting “the Unvaccinated,” suddenly had a new official narrative that they could mindlessly parrot and fanatically defend from the “conspiracy theorists” and “disinformationists.”

The only problem was, it didn’t make any sense. According to the new official narrative, those reports of Ukrainian neo-Nazis by virtually every mainstream media outlet and Nazi-hunting organization on the planet in the years leading up to 2022 were now, suddenly, just “Russian propaganda.” GloboCap hadn’t even bothered to scrub or visibility-filter those reports. They were all still right there on the Internet.

And, OK, the other problem was, in order to remain “New Normals in Good Standing” and keep their jobs and social contacts, liberals were now forced to actively cheer for swastika-tattooed, Sieg-heiling Nazis, and look the other way as Ukrainian fascists advocated the mass murder of children and quoted Adolf Eichmann on Ukrainian television.

The Spring and Summer were kind of a blur, or maybe I was just preoccupied with publishing The Rise of the New Normal Reich, a collection of my essays documenting the rollout of the New Normal in 2020 and 2021, which was an international Barnes & Noble and Amazon bestseller upon its release, and then was promptly banned by Amazon in Germany, The Netherlands, and Austria, and labelled with a “Covid-19 vaccine warning” advising readers to visit the CDC before purchasing and (God help them!) reading the book in every other Amazon market.

I vaguely remember something about monkeypox, but, mostly, when I wasn’t promoting the book, or struggling to keep my breakfast down after seeing another one of my liberal friends cheering for neo-Nazis on Facebook, I was focused on events here in New Normal Germany (which, yes, mask mandates are still in effect), and The Normalization of the New Normal Reich (which, no, is not over, but is just beginning), and attempting to start to emotionally recover from two solid years of official gaslighting, demonization, segregation, and so on.

Fortunately, in September, right on cue, as I was working through my emotional issues, i.e., how most of my former friends and colleagues had either gone silent and looked away as our constitutional rights were cancelled, dissent was censored and demonized, goon squads were dispatched to brutalize dissidents, experimental “vaccines” were forced on people, a social segregation system was implemented, and so on, or else, if they hadn’t gone silent, they had joined the shrieking fascistic mob … just as I was starting to process all that, as were a lot of other people, a prophet arrived on the “freedom” scene!

That’s right, as it turned out, I was totally wrong about the new totalitarianism, and how it works! I had stupidly assumed it was a political phenomenon … you know, a sociopolitical and cultural system imposed on the masses from above by force, but, according to Mattias Desmet, it’s actually a psychological phenomenon, a “mass formation” or “mass hypnosis”-type thing!

It’s possible that I’m not describing it correctly. As his devoted fans have repeatedly informed me, I don’t understand the nuances of Desmet’s theory. He explained it all on the Alex Jones show, while he was lying, which he does, repeatedly, but … whatever. I’m not a professor of psychology. The point is, the Covidian Cultists were all hypnotized! No one was threatening or gaslighting the masses! The poor confused things were doing it to themselves!

But that was not the end of the gaslighting. Globocap saved the best for last!

See, the problem was, there were all these people who hadn’t joined the Covidian Cult or any other part of the New Normal movement, and who were extremely angry about having been demonized, and segregated, and censored, and gaslighted, and so on, by their governments, global corporations, non-governmental governing entities, the corporate media, “scientific experts,” and the majority of the masses for two and a half years.

Something needed to be done about all that anger. It needed to be redirected somewhere. At something that wasn’t GloboCap, and that wouldn’t interfere with the New Normal program.

Emperor Elonicus to the rescue!

If Elon Musk wasn’t actually appointed by the global-capitalist ruling classes to redirect the pent-up anger of “the Unvaccinated” demographic, and the “Systematically Censored and Demonized” demographic, and everyone else who opposed the New Normal into a balls-out left/right shit-slinging contest … well, they couldn’t have found anyone better for the job.

Consider what he’s accomplished in the space of six weeks. After purchasing Twitter for $44 billion, he bought himself a couple of independent journalists — because who could resist the Twitter Files? I certainly couldn’t have, had I been in their position — and is staging the most audacious limited hangout in the history of audacious limited hangouts. Whether it will work over the longer term is unclear — Bari Weiss and Matt Taibbi are already starting to become uncomfortable with being perceived and treated as Elon Musk’s employees — but, so far, it is going gangbusters!

Now, students of limited hangouts, whitewashing, and other COINTELPRO ops, really need to pay attention. Because the beauty of this limited hangout is that the “hangout” is actually a monumental story, an up-close look at the nuts-and-bolts processes of the global-capitalist Ministry of Truth. As Matt Taibbi reported in a recent piece …

“… the Twitter Files show something new. We now have clear evidence that agencies like the FBI and the DHS are in the business of mass-analyzing social media activity — your tweets and mine, down to the smallest users with the least engagement — and are, themselves, mass-marking posts to be labeled, ‘bounced,’ deleted or ‘visibility filtered’ by firms like Twitter. The technical and personnel infrastructure for this effort is growing. As noted in the thread, the FBI’s social media-focused task force now has at least 80 agents, and is in constant contact with Twitter for all sorts of reasons. The FBI is not doing this as part of any effort to build criminal cases. They’ve taken on this new authority unilaterally, as part of an apparently massive new effort to control and influence public opinion. These agencies claim variously to be concerned about election integrity, foreign interference, medical misinformation, and monitoring domestic extremism, among other things. As crises wax and wane, the building out of the censorship infrastructure to ever-bigger and broader dimensions has been constant, suggesting that creating and deploying the tool to manipulate opinion was always the real end.”

And this monumental story is being buried in shit … American red/blue partisan shit. With a series of ham-handed PR stunts, cheap provocations, attention-grabbing antics, and good old-fashioned diversionary shit-slinging, Musk is (a) whitewashing the new “free-speech Twitter,” which continues to censor and defame us with impunity, (b) burying the actual story under a steaming heap of partisan acrimony, and (c) driving a big blunt wedge into the supra-partisan coalition of forces that had aligned in opposition to the roll-out of the New Normal.

That, my friends, is some world-class gaslighting! And the wildest part is, he probably doesn’t even consciously realize what he’s doing. Nevertheless, by the time he’s done playing grab-ass with the freedom-of-speech thing, and getting revenge on Taylor Lorenz, and so on, corporate censorship will have been completely normalized. “Freedom of speech” will be a running joke, as opposing camps of hate-drunk hypocrites take turns applauding as global corporations and their governmental partners censor one camp or the other.

On that cheery note, I’ll sign off for the year, and go tend to all the irate messages I’m getting from abject Elon Musk worshipers, and the hate-email from assorted anti-Semites, and so on, and then hibernate until 2023.

Oh, yeah, and those “Covid Twitter Files.” I can’t wait to scroll through those with a nice glass of eggnog. I’m sure they will be coming out any day now, maybe even on Christmas morning!

Happy holidays to one and all!

###

CJ Hopkins
December 18, 2022
Photo: Gaslight, MGM

DISCLAIMER: The preceding essay is entirely the work of our in-house satirist and self-appointed political pundit, CJ Hopkins, and does not necessarily reflect the views and opinions of the Consent Factory, Inc., or its staff, or any of its agents, subsidiaries, or assigns. If, for whatever inexplicable reason, you appreciate Mr. Hopkins’ work and would like to support it, please go to his Substack page, or his Patreon page, or send a contribution to his PayPal account, so that maybe he’ll stop coming around our offices trying to hit our employees up for money. Alternatively, you could purchase his satirical dystopian sci-fi novel, Zone 23, or Volumes I, II, and III of his Consent Factory Essays, or any of his subversive stage plays, which won some awards in Great Britain and Australia. If you do not appreciate Mr. Hopkins’ work and would like to write him an abusive email, feel free to contact him directly.

Why a Light While You Sleep Can Be Bad for Your Health

Why a Light While You Sleep Can Be Bad for Your Health

by | Health

Analysis by Dr. Joseph Mercola

STORY AT-A-GLANCE

  • Researchers from Northwestern University found even a moderate amount of light exposure while sleeping has a negative effect on your heart health and metabolism, increasing your risk of developing Type 2 diabetes
  • Light controls your internal clock known as your circadian rhythm, which is influenced by melatonin production in the pineal gland. Light exposure at night inhibits melatonin, which plays a role in many health functions
  • Melatonin is a powerful antioxidant with anticonvulsant, antiviral, antibacterial and antiexcitotoxic properties. It has the rare ability to enter the mitochondria and prevent impairment; melatonin has been used in the treatment of sepsis, and as an adjunct treatment for COVID
  • Consider making changes to your routine that lower your nighttime light exposure, such as not turning on the lights if you get up at night, using a dim light near the floor if you need light to navigate at night, avoiding white or blue light in the evening and using blackout shades or an eye mask

 

Researchers from Northwestern University released data from a study that showed even moderate amounts of light exposure at night could have a negative impact on your health.1 In a press release, researchers report that up to 40% of individuals sleep with a light on, which could be a bedside lamp or the television.

However, this estimation does not appear to include the ambient light that comes through your window from streetlamps and other outdoor lighting. This means that many more may be affected by the results of this study.

Exposure to light at night is a relatively recent phenomenon after the invention of electric lighting. Until then, people commonly went to bed at sunset and got up when the sun rose. Scientists have been studying the alterations in your sleep patterns as a result of present-day night lighting that can have a significant impact on your health.

For many years it was widely accepted that sleep was a mystery and potentially little more than a waste of time.2 Modern research has shed more light on the matter and demonstrated that sleep is a crucial component to your healthy lifestyle.3

A negative impact on sleep quality or quantity can have far-reaching consequences, affecting a wide variety of systems from your mood, creativity and brain detoxification4,5,6 to DNA expression and dementia.7,8 Sleep deprivation slows your reaction time and increases your risk for accidents.9 Getting less than six hours of sleep leaves you cognitively impaired.

Even a single night of sleeping only four to six hours can impact your ability to think clearly the next day. In 2021, the National Highway and Transportation Safety Administration (NHTSA) reported that drowsy driving causes 100,000 car crashes each year and kills 1,500 people.10

As noted by the featured study, sleeping in a room with even a small amount of light can negatively impact your metabolism and overall health.11 If you combine nighttime light exposure with an inadequate amount of sleep, you’ll be exhausted as your body struggles to maintain homeostasis.

Fortunately there is an easy and inexpensive solution. For the lights you keep on after sunset you can replace them with red light bulbs as red light does not suppress melatonin. Ideally the bulbs should not have any flicker. I found some on Amazon that are relatively inexpensive and these are the only bulbs I use in my home after sunset.

Data Show Sleeping With a Light Damages Health

Researchers found that just one night of sleeping with light in your room can launch a domino effect, affecting your level of melatonin, insulin resistance, heart rate and heart rate variability.12 The research was published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences (PNAS).13

The team studied 20 healthy people in their 20s and tracked the impact light had on their biological clock, melatonin levels and metabolism. The participants spent two nights in a sleep lab. During the first night, each one slept in a darkened room. On the second night, some slept in a room with a dim overhead light, which simulated streetlights coming through a window or a dark cloudy day.14

Data, including brain waves, heart rate, EKGs and melatonin levels, were collected throughout the night from each of the participants with as little interference as possible. The researchers used long IV tubes to collect blood samples, so the participants were not awakened.

Study researcher Dr. Phyllis Zee, director of the Center for Circadian and Sleep Medicine at Northwestern University Feinberg School of Medicine, told CNN:15

“We recorded the brainwaves and could tell what sleep stage the person was in. We recorded their breathing, their heart rate, their EKG, and we also drew blood from them to measure melatonin levels while they were sleeping.”

Results of the study showed that the participants’ heart rate rose higher than expected during the night when they were exposed to light. Another researcher, Dr. Daniela Grimaldi, commented in a press release:16

“Even though you are asleep, your autonomic nervous system is activated. That’s bad. Usually, your heart rate together with other cardiovascular parameters is lower at night and higher during the day.”

Similarly, the data showed that the participants who slept in a lit room had higher insulin resistance the morning after as the body secreted a higher amount of insulin to normalize glucose.17 Past research had shown that people who slept exposed to light at night were more overweight and obese. The current study may help explain how exposure to light impacts your ability to regulate glucose.

Despite the consistent concrete objective data, the participants subjectively were unaware of the changes. The researchers tested sleeping in moderate light and dim light over a single night. They discovered that moderate exposure increased the alert state, in which the participants experienced increased heart rate and force of contractions.

“These findings are important, particularly for those living in modern societies where exposure to indoor and outdoor nighttime light is increasingly widespread,” Zee said. “If you’re able to see things really well, it’s probably too light.”18

Light Controls Your Circadian Pacemaker

Your body runs on an internal clock known as your circadian rhythm. When this clock is messed up, your cells are exposed to an unusual amount of stress. Many of the health conditions attributed to the biannual time change are because these internal clocks are not easily reprogrammed and are synchronized to a 24-hour cycle of light and dark.19

Researchers have demonstrated that when you are exposed to light at night, a time when your body expects it to be dark, physiological changes happen. Another system responsible for regulating your internal clock is located in the hypothalamus. It is called the suprachiasmatic nucleus (SCN) and it functions through hormones and chemical signals that regulate your sleep-wake cycle.

This influences the regulation of other physiological activities, which include your core body temperature, neuroendocrine function, memory and psychomotor activity.20 Based on signals of light and darkness, your SCN tells your pineal gland when it’s time to secrete melatonin — promoting sleep — and when to turn it off.

Nighttime light exposure inhibits the secretion of melatonin, which can cause circadian disruptions that play a role in developing cancer.21 In fact, it’s been shown that higher exposure to outdoor light at night may increase the risk of postmenopausal breast cancer,22 and emerging evidence suggests light at night may also increase the risk of thyroid cancer.23

To maintain a healthy master circadian clock, it’s important to get bright light exposure during the day.24 Yet, many indoor environments simply don’t have enough intense light to anchor your circadian rhythm, so it’s important to get outside for at least 30 minutes in the morning or mid-day.

In other words, just going outside for half an hour at lunch could give you most of the anchoring light you need to maintain a healthy circadian rhythm. On the other side of the day, you need to avoid bright artificial lighting after sunset.25 This can lower melatonin production and affects sleep quality. Using room light during your usual hours of sleep will suppress melatonin by more than 50%.

Importance of Melatonin

Melatonin is best known as a natural sleep regulator that functions alongside your circadian clock. Yet, melatonin also has many other important functions in the body.26 Notably, it plays an important role in cancer prevention27 and may help prevent autoimmune diseases such as Type 1 diabetes and inflammatory bowel disease.28

Melatonin is versatile and a powerful antioxidant that helps increase glutathione,29,30 which plays a significant role in detoxification. It also has anticonvulsant and antiexcitotoxic properties,31 and is a potent antioxidant32,33 with the rare ability to enter your mitochondria,34 where it helps prevent mitochondrial impairment, energy failure and the death of mitochondria damaged by oxidation.35

It’s shown to play a role in viral and bacterial infections36 and as recently as June 2020, researchers suggested it could be an important adjunct to COVID-19 treatment.37 In late 2021,38 a commentary discussed an October 2021 study39 that found melatonin significantly lowered mortality from COVID-19 when given to severely infected patients.

But this wasn’t the first time that melatonin has been highlighted for the ability to prevent and treat sepsis. A 2010 paper40 noted that it helps prevent and reverse septic shock symptoms and a 2014 study41 showed that melatonin accumulates in the mitochondria and has both antioxidant and anti-inflammatory activity that could be useful in the treatment of sepsis. It later became part of critical care physician Dr. Paul Marik’s protocol for the treatment of sepsis.42

Vitamin D is also involved in the pathways that produce melatonin in the pineal gland.43,44 An evaluation of clinical trials and correlation studies have shown that “Vitamin D has both a direct and indirect role in the regulation of sleep.”45

Tips to Reduce Light at Night

Researchers have also addressed the issue of light at night as it affected outcomes from COVID-19. They found that people who were exposed to ambient light at night had an increased risk of infection, including COVID. They found a strong connection in New York and Connecticut in cities with the highest intensity of light at night. Lead scientist Yong Zhu, Ph.D., from Yale School of Public Health, commented in a press release:46

“These findings suggest that repeated and prolonged exposure to artificial nighttime light could play a role in COVID-19 incidence. We are just beginning to understand the role of circadian rhythms on health, and this is further evidence that a connection exists.”

The current study is one in a long list that has demonstrated the negative effects of sleeping even in a dimly lit room.47,48,49,50,51,52 Consider making these changes to lower your nighttime light exposure:53

Do not turn on the lights if you get up at night
Older adults who need light at night to navigate to the bathroom can consider using a dim light that is located close to the floor
Avoid using blue or white light at night, and use amber or red/orange light instead, as it’s less stimulating to your brain
Use a nighttime setting on your electrical devices after sunset as this blocks blue light, which shuts off your melatonin production
If you need an alarm clock, consider covering the clock with blackout material to block the light or set it outside your bedroom so you must get up to shut it off
Avoid watching television before bed as the light delays production of melatonin and affects sleep quality
Consider blackout shades or an eye mask when you can’t control outdoor light shining in your bedroom

 

Sources and References

 

Black Seed Oil Evaluated for Chronic Inflammation

Black Seed Oil Evaluated for Chronic Inflammation

by | Health

Analysis by Dr. Joseph Mercola
Sources and References
Can Your Bedtime Determine Your Heart Health?

Can Your Bedtime Determine Your Heart Health?

by | Health

STORY AT-A-GLANCE

  • Research data found people who go to bed from 10 p.m. to 11 p.m. and fall asleep before 11 have a much lower risk of developing cardiovascular disease than those who go to bed earlier or later
  • Lack of sleep is associated with cardiac morbidity and mortality and fragmented sleep is linked to atherosclerosis and inflammation
  • Sleep deprivation is linked to a significant number of other health problems including obesity, mental health conditions, dementia, impaired immune function, increased risk of cancer and increased risk of pain-related conditions

There’s a growing body of evidence that shows a lack of sleep increases your cardiovascular risk. A study published in the European Heart Journal Digital Health1 found it’s not just the amount of sleep you get, but also the time you go to bed that makes a difference in your health.2

In the short-term, sleep deprivation can affect your judgment, ability to learn and mood, and increase your risk of an accident or injury.3 How much sleep you need is dependent on your age.4 Adults ages 18 and older benefit from seven to nine hours of uninterrupted sleep each night.

In 2016, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention5 revealed that 1 in 3 adults doesn’t get enough sleep. In reviewing the data, they found that sleep duration varied between states with a lower portion of adults who lived in states in the southeastern region of the U.S. and the Appalachian Mountains getting seven hours of sleep.

The reasons people don’t get enough sleep vary.6 According to the International Classification of Sleep Disorders there are approximately 90 distinct sleep conditions. Many have symptoms of daytime sleepiness, difficulty going to sleep or staying asleep, or abnormal sensations or movements that happen during sleep.

The importance of good sleep is a cornerstone of well-being that is recognized by almost all health professionals. The current study adds to the information of how integral sleep is to good health.

 

Going to Sleep at 10 P.M. May Help Protect Your Heart

 

 

One of the scientists in the featured study7 explained that the impact bedtime has on your health may be related to the body’s 24-hour internal clock. He noted that although the data could not be linked to causation, it did suggest that the time you go to bed may disrupt your circadian rhythm and cause adverse consequences on your heart health.

Past research has looked at and found a link between sleep duration and heart disease. However, the relationship between what time an individual goes to bed and cardiovascular disease has not been the subject of much study.8

Data were collected from 103,712 U.K. participants over seven days9 from an accelerometer. The researchers then excluded over 15,000 people from the study as the data supplied was either low quality or incomplete. They also excluded participants who had been diagnosed with heart disease, sleep apnea or insomnia before or during data collection.

In the end, the researchers used a sample of 88,026 people. The average age of the individuals was 61 years and 58% of the participants were women. The participants were followed over the next 5.7 years, during which the researchers measured sleep times as they were reported before 10 p.m., between 10 p.m. and 10:59 p.m., 11 p.m. to 12 p.m. or at midnight or later.

The researchers controlled for age and gender while analyzing the data and found that those who went to sleep between 10 p.m. and 10:59 p.m. had the lowest incidence of cardiovascular disease. The results showed those who went to sleep at midnight or later experienced a 25% higher risk of heart disease when compared to those who went to bed between 10 p.m. and 10:59 p.m.

Interestingly, the risk for those who fell asleep before 10 p.m. was similar at 24%. Those who went to bed consistently between 11 p.m. and midnight had a 12% greater risk for heart disease. After further analysis of the association with gender, the researchers found there was a stronger risk in women than in men. One of the researchers, David Plans, Ph.D., commented in a press release:

“Our study indicates that the optimum time to go to sleep is at a specific point in the body’s 24-hour cycle and deviations may be detrimental to health. The riskiest time was after midnight, potentially because it may reduce the likelihood of seeing morning light, which resets the body clock.

While the findings do not show causality, sleep timing has emerged as a potential cardiac risk factor — independent of other risk factors and sleep characteristics. If our findings are confirmed in other studies, sleep timing and basic sleep hygiene could be a low-cost public health target for lowering risk of heart disease.”

 

Lack of Sleep Is Associated With Cardiac Morbidity

 

According to the World Health Organization, ischemic heart disease and stroke were the top two global causes of death in 2019.10 Although there have been dramatic declines in CVDs, conditions in this category continue to remain major causes of loss of health and life.11

The pervasive nature of sleep deprivation contributes to the rising incidence of heart disease and may have an underlying association with an increase in cardiovascular morbidity and mortality.12,13

One systematic review of the literature published in the Journal of the American Heart Association14 included 74 studies with 3,340,684 participants. The data showed that when there was a divergence from the recommended seven to eight hours of sleep there was a higher risk of mortality and other cardiovascular events. The researchers believe that more sleep may have a higher association with adverse outcomes compared to shorter sleep duration.

A 2019 paper15 published in Circulation discussed the risks of cardiovascular events or death in people who sleep too little or too much. The writer notes that sleeping too little has long been associated with high blood pressure, obesity and diabetes.

Another study16 evaluated the risks associated with too much or too little sleep in people with known coronary artery disease. They enrolled 2,846 patients who were followed for a median of 2.8 years. The researchers found sleeping both too long and too short were independently associated with higher mortality from heart disease.

 

Fragmented Sleep Linked to Atherosclerosis and Inflammation

 

In addition to the time of night you go to sleep and the number of hours you sleep, quality of sleep is also important for your cardiovascular health.

Fragmented sleep is associated with atherosclerosis,17 a buildup of fatty plaque in the arteries often called “clogged” or “hardened” arteries that can result in fatal heart disease.18 Cardiovascular disease kills 12,000 Americans a week,19 which is far more than the average reported COVID-19 toll of 8,279 people each week in 2021 as reported by the CDC.20

In June 2020, U.C. Berkeley sleep scientists published an article in PLOS Biology that began to clarify some of the mechanisms through which fragmented sleep can cause atherosclerosis.21

Fragmented sleep is characterized by waking up during the night, having difficulty going back to sleep and a sense of not being rested when you wake in the morning. Several causes of fragmented sleep can range from stress and anxiety to excessive caffeine and alcohol consumption. It is also associated with an assortment of illnesses.22

Sleep specialists from UC Berkeley studied more than 1,600 participants.23 They were able to separate the effect of fragmented sleep on atherosclerosis from other common contributors such as sex, ethnicity, body mass index, age, smoking status, blood pressure and other lifestyle factors.

Senior study scientist Matthew Walker, a UC Berkeley professor of psychology and neuroscience, commented on the results:24

“We’ve discovered that fragmented sleep is associated with a unique pathway — chronic circulating inflammation throughout the bloodstream — which, in turn, is linked to higher amounts of plaques in coronary arteries.”

According to Walker, “This link between fragmented sleep and chronic inflammation may not be limited to heart disease, but could include mental health and neurological disorders, such as major depression and Alzheimer’s disease.”25

Sleep Deprivation Affects More Than Your Heart

 

Insufficient sleep is linked to other significant health problems, including:

Increased risk of obesity and Type 2 diabetes — A scientific review article26 published in 2017 noted “difficulty initiating sleep increased the risk of Type 2 diabetes by 55%, while difficulty maintaining sleep increased its risk” by a whopping 74%.
Increased risk of neurological problems — These may range from depression27 to dementia and Alzheimer’s disease.28 Your blood-brain barrier becomes more permeable with age, allowing more toxins to enter.29 This, in conjunction with reduced efficiency of the glymphatic system due to lack of sleep,30 allows for more rapid damage to occur in your brain and is thought to play a significant role in the development of Alzheimer’s.
Decreased immune function — Research31 suggests deep sleep strengthens immunological memories of previously encountered pathogens. In this way, your immune system can mount a faster and more effective response when an antigen is encountered a second time.

Increased risk of cancer — Tumors grow two to three times faster in laboratory animals with severe sleep dysfunctions.32 The primary mechanism thought to be responsible for this effect is disrupted melatonin production, a hormone with both antioxidant and anticancer activity.33

Melatonin both inhibits the proliferation of cancer cells and triggers cancer cell apoptosis (self-destruction). It also interferes with the new blood supply tumors require for their rapid growth (angiogenesis).
Increased risk of osteoporosis — Women sleeping five hours or less each night had significantly lower bone mineral density measurements.34
Increased risk of pain and pain-related conditions — Total sleep deprivation increased pain sensitivity and lowered pain threshold in healthy adults.35 Chronic sleep deprivation and fatigue are strong predictors for the onset of chronic widespread pain in a population that was free from pain at the onset of the study.36
Increased susceptibility to stomach ulcers — Sleep disturbances raise the level of proinflammatory cytokines, which is associated with gastrointestinal diseases, such as gastroesophageal reflux disease (GERD), inflammatory bowel disease and colorectal cancer.37
Impaired sexual function — Hormonal changes linked to sleep deprivation affects testosterone levels and sexual function in men and women.38
Premature aging — One study found statistically significant differences in the quality of skin as measured by the SCINEXA skin aging scoring system and the participant’s assessment of their own skin.39
Increased risk of dying from any cause — Compared to people without insomnia, the adjusted hazard ratio for all-cause mortality among those with chronic insomnia was three times higher.40
Impaired regulation of emotions — There is a bidirectional relationship between emotion and sleep. Quality sleep is essential to cope with emotional stress, and stress can result in sleep disturbances.41 Healthy sleep helps repair brain activity and integrity of the prefrontal cortex and amygdala connections, which are important in emotion regulation.
Increased risk of mental health conditions — Chronic sleep problems affect up to 80% of people with mental health conditions, especially those with anxiety, depression, bipolar disorder and attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD).42
Impaired memory and reduced ability to learn — Memory consolidation occurs during sleep. Data suggest that insufficient or excessive sleep can affect this process and affect other cognitive processes.43
Reduced productivity, performance and creativity.44
Slowed reaction time — Getting less than six hours of sleep leaves you cognitively impaired and increases your risk of accidents. According to the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, in 2017 there were an estimated 91,000 police-reported crashes, 50,000 people injured and 800 deaths from drowsy driving-related crashes.45

Gut bacteria — One study46 recruited participants to measure the effect sleep deprivation may have on gut bacteria. They found a positive correlation between gut microbiome diversity and a cytokine known to affect sleep quality. Additionally, they found several bacteria in the gut were negatively correlated with sleep and concluded “Our findings initiate linkages between gut microbiome composition, sleep physiology, the immune system and cognition.”

 

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