Holistic nutritionist Katie Braswell and her family have chosen to turn off blue lights, or conventional lighting, in the evenings. She shares how aligning themselves with their natural circadian rhythms and investing in non-toxic products has made an impressive improvement in their lives.
Mrs. Braswell, who lives with her husband, Carson Braswell, and their two children in Chattanooga, Tennessee, is no stranger to going against the grain. With a master’s degree in nutrition and years of experience in the food industry, Mrs. Braswell now focuses on prenatal and postpartum nutrition for mothers.
“Fortunately, my mom raised us in a health-conscious household,” she told the Epoch Times. “My mom was a nutritionist herself and always made sure we had home-cooked meals, a handful of supplements at hand, or juices to drink, and access to good food.
Ancestral Lifestyle in the Modern World
After obtaining her bachelor’s degree in marketing, Mrs. Braswell found her “true passion” in the food industry and learned firsthand what was required for a company to obtain U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) organic certification. She also learned how to “encourage people to understand food sourcing and how to have access to better foods.” But after 8 years in the food industry, she felt she had more to offer.“I always knew my calling would be back in nutrition,” she said, “so from that, I actually went to get my master’s degree in nutrition and then became certified as a holistic nutritionist.”
Mrs. Braswell shares that she herself “walked through a season of infertility,” and this motivated her to work with clients on their prenatal and postpartum nutrition. After going through this experience, she focused on bettering herself and her own body, which ultimately led to her career.
“That’s what led me into this specific niche,“ she said, ”but a lot of it just stems from helping support women and helping them understand their bodies to better support their system from an ancestral perspective and then also support their bodies holistically.”
She says ancestral living practices entail looking at the lifestyles of our great-grandparents and beyond and aligning with those practices as much as possible in a modern world.
“My mom is actually a first-generation born in America,” she said. “Her parents were Dutch and Indonesian, and she did a great job of carrying on traditions from her parents and great-grandparents. One of the things that we do as a family is eat nose-to-tail, eating the entirety of the animal. A lot of that came from my ancestors. My mom cooked all of our meals and was very connected to this way of living.”
Limiting Blue Light Exposure
While both Mr. and Mrs. Braswell are busy in their careers, they do as much as they can to spend quality time with their children, who are both under 4 years of age. In addition to their fulfilling careers, they are also building a homestead as a family.In the past, to get as much quality time as they could with their children, the Braswells tried to do a lot of their work at night after their children were in bed.
“We found that that was the best time because we could be really intentional with the kids during the day when they were awake,” Mrs. Braswell said. “And then after they go to bed, we’re like: ‘Okay, we‘ll turn on a show,’ and then we’d work on our computers and phones, all of our devices, until 11 o'clock.”
Mrs. Braswell noticed, however, that this began to take a toll.
“I was waking up feeling fatigued. I was exhausted. I had a short fuse. I wasn’t connecting as well with my husband and family,” she said.
Something had to change.
After a friend talked to her about the benefits of limiting exposure to conventional lighting and using candles instead, especially during the evening, Mrs. Braswell decided to make the change for her family, hoping they would see some benefit.
The Benefits
The Braswells reorganized their daily routines and made it a rule that conventional lighting would be turned off at their house after 7 p.m., and began using candles and full spectrum light bulbs, which are circadian rhythm-friendly. The first thing they noticed was improvements in their relationship as a couple. Previously, they spent time together, but they weren’t engaging as much since they were “working or trying to complete daily tasks.”She said: “[Now] we really spend a lot of time playing games and reading books together and just having more of a connection. I think that my husband and I, too, are able to communicate more efficiently because we have that time in the evening that’s not driven by blue light, working, or watching TV.”
They also began to play and learn music to engage their minds at night. This has become a cherished activity for their family. They love to settle down in the evening by playing music and snacking on something like sourdough cookies that they made earlier in the day. The difference in their children was, perhaps, even more dramatic.
“My kids actually seem ready for bed,” Mrs. Braswell said. “How many kids fight bed? I think that a lot of the overhead conventional lighting seems to be really stimulating for a lot of kids, so when we turned on the candlelight, they were ready for bed much sooner than before.”
Mrs. Braswell says it feels like they have been able to slow life down and take time in the evening to bond as a family.
“We spend time going over the plan for the next day,” she said. “My boys really like to hear things like: ‘Okay, tomorrow we’re going to spend time planting this vegetable,‘ or ’We’re going to do this in the morning,’ and kind of get the full recap of what the next day would hold.”
Natural Rhythms Bring Awareness
Besides these personal anecdotes on how choosing to use natural lighting in the evening has led to great benefits for her family, Mrs. Braswell also gets into the nitty gritty of how it benefits her family’s minds and bodies, using her knowledge and expertise from her holistic health experience.A big part of it has to do with our circadian rhythm, which is the body’s natural rhythm of increasing mental clarity with the rising of the sun and winding down for rest as the sun sets.
“Our circadian rhythm is pivotal to the function of our bodies,” Mrs. Braswell said. “It does a lot for our body from a cellular function. It’s responsible for balancing our hormones, in addition to other body systems. It’s essential for balancing our endocrine system. It really helps with setting the stage for our day-to-day functions.”
Following these natural rhythms can bring greater awareness.
“My older son was only 3, and he was telling me: ‘I feel like I know when the moon is at its full moon phase or when it’s back.’ We actually are more in alignment with what’s happening with nature,” she said.
For anyone looking to try something similar or who wants to readjust their own circadian rhythm, Mrs. Braswell says, “If you’re feeling at a point where you’re burned out, you’re overwhelmed, and you feel that you need some support coming from an external area, I would say that it’s worth trying.”
Mrs. Braswell also suggests that some might not feel ready to make a drastic change. If this is the case, she suggests putting phones away at a certain time or reducing screen time by 30 minutes at a time, working towards having screens and lights put away and turned off for the whole evening.
When it comes to following the natural patterns of the sun, day and night, she has simple but profound advice.
She says, “I would say at a very basic level, just starting out, if you can just see the sunrise, maybe a couple of times a week. Just start with that and then from there, add on trying to see the sunset. That’s the best thing you can do.”
