Bright Night Lights Linked to Type 2 Diabetes Risk: Study Reveals Health Hazards
A recent analysis revealed that bright light was harmful to the health of an individual.
As noted by Medical News Today, a recent study conducted by researchers from the Flinders University in Australia was able to link evening bright light exposure to type 2 cancer.
Senior author of the study, Andrew Phillips, spoke to Medical News Today, “Light is one of those environmental factors that is easiest to change, and has impacts on human health that are magnificently understated.”
He disclosed, “Individuals who have worked on shifts over several decades run a high risk of acquiring type 2 diabetes. One of the possible reasons for this is the body’s biological clock is overridden by environmental signals with poor timing.”
Dan Bao and colleagues found that study participants who were exposed more to light between 12:30 am and 6 am as compared to others were at a comparatively higher risk of developing type 2 diabetes.
Voyatzis explained the reason behind such drawbacks such as exposure to light in detail by saying, “All of physiology, including metabolism, is organized around circadian oscillations. Of all the time cues available to the body’s central circadian clock responsible for synchronizing rhythms throughout the body, light is the most prominent.”
“Laboratory experiments have shown that nighttime exposure to light disrupts circadian rhythms and leads to metabolic impairment. That is why we thought that type 2 diabetes might be associated with nighttime exposure to light in the population,” he went on.
In particular, an article in The Lancet Regional Health, Europe suggested the simplest and cheapest means in preventing the progression of type 2 diabetes would be going to bed without lights on.