Impact of Artificial Light on Health and Risk of Type 2 Diabetes
Smartphone, television, advertising lights… The night brings a lot of artificial lights that can impact the circadian rhythm. In the case of screens, “exposure to blue light from screens strongly stimulates the retina receptors, sending a ‘daytime’ signal to the biological clock, delaying falling asleep and inducing a phase delay,” explains the National Institute of Sleep and Vigilance (INSV). But what are the consequences on health and more specifically on the risk of type 2 diabetes? This is the question that researchers at Flinders University in Australia asked themselves. They noticed that people who tended to sleep with artificial light on, such as a television or a bedside lamp, had a 29% increased risk of type 2 diabetes. Their results are published in the journal The Lancet Regional Health – Europe.
A study published in 2022 in the scientific journal PNAS reached the same conclusion, exposure to lighting, even moderate, during the night could disrupt cardiovascular function and contribute to increased insulin resistance.
Initially, the researchers explain that different factors, such as exposure to light at night, can lead to a disruption of circadian rhythms, namely the internal clock of the human body. Previous research has highlighted the impact of an imbalance in (…)
Click here to continue reading the full article.