Water comprises over half of our body weight and we hydrate to ensure that our daily physiological needs are met. Many of us take the quality of tap water for granted, but it can contain pollutants such as agricultural and organic contaminants, mercury and other heavy metals, viruses, bacteria, parasites, as well as public water additives and their byproducts, such as chlorine and chloramine. Drinking water containing these contaminants can lead to a spectrum of digestive symptoms, such as abdominal discomfort, diarrhea, vomiting, fever and headache. Long-term exposure to heavy metals, such as lead, has even more serious consequences, such as cardiovascular diseases, chronic kidney disease and developmental disabilities, contributing to over a million deaths globally in 2017. Delos offers water filtration solutions that help reduce the risks of poor water quality by filtering out impurities and improving taste, providing cleaner, better tasting water throughout your home.

The timing, duration and quality of light exposure is an essential influence on our health and well-being. Light regulates our circadian rhythms, the natural body cycles that keep us in-tune with a 24-hour solar day and regulate our sleep and wake times, hormone release, appetite and metabolism, among other processes. The science on light and circadian rhythms is evolving rapidly, and in fact, the Nobel Prize in Science or Medicine in 2017 was awarded for research on circadian rhythms.

In pre-industrial times, when the only sources of light were sun and fire, the light we were exposed to had "natural" timing and properties. Today, light is ever-present at varying levels of intensity and tone, and often not of the right quality at the right time. In the morning, we need bright blue-enriched white light (like daylight), which suppresses melatonin while raising cortisol levels, making us feel energized to start our day. High-intensity light during the day - whether outside or inside - is essential for circadian rhythm entrainment, acting as a continuous signal to our body that it is, in fact, daytime. In the evening, as natural light dims and becomes warmer in color, we too need light of lower quantity and intensity to start getting ready for rest. And at night, we need complete darkness to enable high-quality, restorative sleep.

All of this sounds obvious enough, but modern life has reversed our light exposure compared to what our bodies (and minds) need. We don’t get enough light in the morning or during the day, and the light we do get is often not bright enough, and not of the right spectrum. Similarly, in the evening, we are over-exposed to bright blue light indoors and in front of screens, which suppresses melatonin - a hormone that signals to the body that it is time to rest. This exposure is contrary to what humans have adapted to over hundreds of thousands of years of evolution. Not surprisingly, it can lead to negative outcomes such as delayed sleep onset, shorter sleep duration, feeling tired in the morning and lacking energy. Delos lighting solutions are in tune with the solar day, designed to keep your circadian rhythms in sync with nature.