Saturday, July 29, 2006

Wearing glasses increases fertility?

A press release claims that a "study" (no reference or source given for said study) has shown that seasonal changes in hours of daylight trigger melatonin release in the body, and that in turn makes women more fertile during the months in which conception would lead to birth in the spring, a more favorable time for newborns to enter the world. The advent of electric lighting has upset the natural ebb and flow of melatonin and hence fertility. With artificial lights on long after the sun sets, fertility is supressed since this would simulate the longer days of spring and summer; pregnancy at that time would lead to birth in the cold winter months.

The so-called study says that it is light in the blue spectrum that supresses the melatonin release. So an enterprising scientist has developed a set of glasses that filter the blue spectrum. Women can wear the classes for gradually increasing periods of time to fool the body into thinking that a seasonal change is occuring and the time for conception is optimal. There are other products as well, including light bulbs and filters for TV screens that block the blue light.

This is the first I have heard of this theory about melatonin and fertility. If this is true it seems that taking melatonin supplements would also be quite effective in boosting fertility. Many people currently take melatonin to regulate their sleeping patterns, especially when traveling across time zones. The hormone is readily available and inexpensive.

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