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Sleeping at the glow of a television screen can result in gradual weight gain, warns a new study. Researchers at the NIH's National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences studied women aged 35 to 74 and found a connection between sleeping with artificial light, gaining weight and increasing the risk of becoming obese . The study joins a growing body of research on the negative effects of artificial light.
Artificial light is everywhere – it comes from your phone, smartwatch, tablet, TV and bulbs. Attempts to reduce nocturnal exposure to artificial light are almost useless for many people. Exposure to artificial light often comes from the surrounding environment, including street lights outside the house and roadside lights.
The vast presence of artificial light has raised a number of health and environmental concerns. According to previous research, wildlife is exposed to artificial light at night, and artificial light is known to disrupt the quality of sleep. Poor sleep quality is closely related to short- and long-term health problems.
In the latest NIH study, researchers looked at data from a survey of more than 43,000 women who did not report sleeping during the day, were not pregnant, had no history of heart disease or cancer, or women workers on the team. Each participant provided information on his sleep patterns, namely, whether he had been exposed to small night lights, the light outside his room, the light or the television in the room.
A small amount of artificial light at night, such as a night light, was not related to participants' weight gain. However, women who slept with a television or light lit at night were 17% more likely to take 11 pounds or more during the follow-up period of the study. Artificial light from outside the participant's room was found to have a "modest" badociation with weight gain.
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