What is the problem? Too much light!
A new study, The Relationship Between Obesity and Exposure to Light at Night: Cross-Sectional Analyses of Over 100,000 Women in the Breakthrough Generations Study, published in the American Journal of Epidemiology on May 29, 2014 suggests that there may a link between your exposure to light at night (LAN) and your body mass index (BMI).
The authors of the study were not able to prove a definitive link, but the results are still surprising:
We found a significant association between LAN exposure and obesity which was not explained by potential confounders we could measure.
A BBC article about the same study further explains that:
A team at the Institute of Cancer Research in London found women had larger waistlines if their bedroom was “light enough to see across” at night.
Their answers were compared to several measures of obesity. Body Mass Index, waist-to-hip ratio and waist circumference were all higher in women with lighter rooms.
One possible explanation is that the light is disrupting the body clock, which stems from our evolutionary past when we were active when it was light in the day and resting when it was dark at night.
-- Important: The Sleep Blog does not provide medical advice, diagnosis, or treatment. Instead, this website provides general information for educational purposes only. Always seek the advice of a qualified health care provider if you have questions or concerns regarding any medical condition or treatment.