Researchers from Northwestern University’s Feinberg School of Medicine have found sleeping in a moderately lit room can potentially harm a person’s cardiometabolic health. The study saw just one night of sleep in a room with moderate ambient light increased nighttime heart rate and spiked insulin resistance in the morning.
Plenty of recent research has investigated the impact of light from screens on our sleep quality and general health. Much of this study has focused on how exposure to nighttime light disrupts our circadian rhythms, and it has been suggested these disruptions can increase a person’s risk of cancer, heart disease and obesity.
Less understood is the relationship between light exposure while we sleep and general health. Observational studies have detected associations between bedroom light levels and conditions such as diabetes or obesity but only a few investigations have experimentally looked at the effect of sleeping under bright lights.
This new study recruited 20 healthy young adults […]
Great and informative article. I always thought having a blue night light in the bathroom, was better than switching on a light – but glad to learn from this article, that it is actually more stimulating. I also learned that a dim nightlight, as close to the floor as possible for middle of the night bathroom trips are best.