Study links evening blue light exposure to increased hunger

http://www.eurekalert.org/pub_releases/2014-06/aaos-sle060214.php

PUBLIC RELEASE DATE: 2-Jun-2014
Contact: Lynn Celmer
American Academy of Sleep Medicine
Study links evening blue light exposure to increased hunger

Manipulation of light exposure may be a novel method of altering food intake and metabolism

DARIEN, IL – A new study suggests that blue-enriched light exposure immediately before and during the evening meal may increase hunger and alter metabolism.

Results show that blue-enriched light exposure, compared with dim light exposure, was associated with an increase in hunger that began 15 minutes after light onset and was still present almost two hours after the meal. Blue light exposure also decreased sleepiness and resulted in higher measures of insulin resistance.

"It was very interesting to observe that a single three-hour exposure to blue-enriched light in the evening acutely impacted hunger and glucose metabolism," said study co-author Ivy Cheung, a doctoral candidate in the Interdepartmental Neuroscience program at Northwestern University in Chicago, Illinois. "These results are important because they suggest that manipulating environmental light exposure for humans may represent a novel approach of influencing food intake patterns and metabolism."

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