Light at Night ‘Linked to Obesity’

According to a new study, those people who sleep in a room which is light enough to see across tend to have a larger waistline. This study suggests that sleep is not only essential to getting a good night’s rest, but that it is in some way related to weight.

The Cancer Study with Surprising Results

The research that has provided these surprising results was not originally aiming to suggest some kind of correlation between the lightness in a room and weight; instead it was a study focusing on isolating causes of breast cancer specifically in women.

The study itself asked 113,000 women in London whether there was enough light in their rooms at night for them to be able to see through the dark. The participants were asked to place a tick in the box of one of the following four categories:

• Light enough to read
• Light enough to see across the room, but not read
• Light enough to see your hand in front of you, but not across the room
• Too dark to see your hand or you wear a mask

The answers were collated and measured against a variety of metrics for obesity including BMI and waste-to-hip ratio. The results suggested that is some positive correlation between the participants who sleep in relatively light rooms, and a higher BMIs and weight-to-hip ratio. Although there is no evidence to support some kind of causative relationship between levels of light and obesity as of yet, the fact that there appears to be some correlation at all is interesting in and of itself.

Appropriate Lighting Levels

So what does this mean for us? Well, it means that those of us in the lighting industry might need to start thinking more about the effect that various forms of lighting have on other on those the lights hit. It also means that people looking to make lighting purchases might need to be more considered over what types of lighting they choose.

Directional down lights are a good idea if you need lighting for your late-night reading sessions but don’t want to prevent your partner from getting their well-needed sleep. There are a number of solutions such as this that can help you get a fuller night’s sleep, and if a full night’s sleep really can help you keep on top of your weight, it’s something that the lighting industry should be aware of.