Day & Night Time Lights
🧠 Psych - 199/200
Hello Reader,
Hope you’re having a good time.
Today’s research talks about “Low daytime light and bright night-time light are associated with psychiatric disorders”.
What is it?
In this research, we conducted the biggest cross-sectional investigation of objectively measured day and night light exposure to date, and we investigated its connection with mental diseases.
Participants in the UK Biobank cohort aged 37-73 years were recruited for the UK Biobank general cohort population.
Light and physical activity patterns were tracked for 7 days in a subgroup of individuals (n=86,772; 43% male).
We investigated the independent relationships of day and night-time light with mental diseases and measures of symptom severity using regression models adjusted for age, gender, ethnicity, photoperiod (day duration), occupation, and physical activity.
What do I need to know?
We found that greater night light exposure was associated with greater odds of
Major depressive disorder (MDD),
Generalized anxiety disorder (GAD),
Bipolar disorder, post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD), self-harm behavior and psychotic experiences.
Conversely, greater daytime light exposure was associated with lower odds of MDD, PTSD, self-harm behavior and psychotic experiences. There was no significant association of day light exposure with GAD or bipolar disorder.
Our findings demonstrate that low day light and bright night light exposure are associated with a wide range of psychiatric outcomes. Avoiding light at night and seeking light during the day may be a simple and effective, non-pharmacological means of broadly improving mental health. [1]
References & Studies: -
https://www.medrxiv.org/content/10.1101/2022.10.16.22280934v1