Sleep with lights related to weight gain in a new study



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Specifically, sleeping with a television or a lit light in the room was positively associated with gaining five kilograms over a five-year period in women, according to a new study published Monday in the medical journal JAMA Internal Medicine.

In addition, there was a 22% chance of becoming overweight and 33% chance of becoming obese, she added.

Obesity means having too much body fat and being overweight means weighing too much, according to the US National Library of Medicine. Overweight and obesity are both based on your body mass index, but "obese" usually means having a much higher BMI.

"We are in the midst of an epidemic of obesity in the United States and it is difficult for people to think about what we usually think for the prevention of obesity: eat better, exercise – and we do not seem to be making a dent, "said Sandler. "If the findings of this study are true and if they can be replicated, then it's a very easy public health message: turn off the lights when you sleep."

The study included analysis of data for 43,722 women aged 35 to 74 in the United States.

The data come from a national cohort study called Sister Study that recruited women between 2003 and 2009. The data included information about each woman's sleep patterns, for example whether she slept with a small night light or a night light. TV, and its body mass index.
The body mass index or BMI, a calculation derived from the weight and size of a person, can be used as a tool for screening for the risk of body fat and the risk of obesity. A normal or healthy BMI is generally considered to be between 18.5 and 24.9. A BMI of 30 and above is considered obese.

The sleep patterns reported by women were categorized into four categories: no light, small nightlight in the room, light outside the room and light or television in the room.

Women who reported more than one type of artificial light were ranked at the highest exposure level. Women who slept with a mask or did not report any light while sleeping were classified as not exposed to artificial light.

The researchers looked closely at each woman's sleep patterns and her risk of weight and obesity over a five-year period.

Among the women, the researchers found that sleeping with a TV or a lit light in the room was associated with a weight gain of 5 kg or more, an increase of BMI of at least 10% and at a higher risk of being overweight or obese, compared to exposure to no artificial light during sleep.

"There was a response to the dose, in that the association was strong, the stronger the association," said Sandler.

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The study had some limitations, including the fact that only one association was observed in the data, and not a cause-and-effect relationship. Further research is needed to determine whether sleeping with lit lights could actually lead to weight gain.

"Another limitation is that our data is based on self-assessments," said Sandler. Data on exposure to artificial light during sleep and weight gain were self-reported, and women were not asked why they kept the light on while they slept.

However, the results of the study appear to be consistent with those from different studies – including a study published in the Journal of Clinical Endocrinology and Metabolism in 2016, which linked increased light exposure at night with a 10% increase in body mass index over 10 years of the year in the elderly.
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The new study further highlights "the joint recommendation we make that people remove TVs and other technologies from the bedroom to facilitate healthy sleep," said Dr. Nathaniel Watson, professor of neurology and director of the Harbourview Sleep Clinic at the University of Washington in Seattle, who did not participate in the study.

"As the authors mention, you can not speak directly of causality between exposure to the light of a bedroom at night for a sleeping individual and weight gain, but I think that this It's really a step in that direction, "he said. "This indicates that we must respect our sleep and respect our sleep means to ideally make a sleep environment devoid of any kind of light."

Professor Malcolm von Schantz, a professor of chronobiology at the University of Surrey, UK, who did not participate in the study, told the Science Media Center that the study would have been stronger if women had worn instruments measuring their activity as well as the exact amount of light to which they were exposed, rather than depending on their self-assessment – "but the results have a perfect biological sense."

"We know that late-night light will delay our body clocks, and we have learned from experimental studies in people that light at night affects our metabolism in ways that are consistent with an increased risk of metabolic syndrome," he said. he declares. "These new findings will not change the advice of maintaining good sleep hygiene and avoiding bright, electronic distractions in the bedroom, but they add even more force to the case for this board. "

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