Metabolic Implications of Exposure to Light at Night: Lessons from Animal and Human Studies.

ABSTRACT: Lately, the incidence of overweight, obesity, and type 2 diabetes has shown a staggering increase. To prevent and treat these conditions, one must look at their etiology. As life on earth has evolved under the conditions of nature's 24-hour light/dark cycle, it seems likely that exposure to artificial light at night (LAN) would affect physiology. Indeed, ample evidence has shown that LAN impacts many metabolic parameters, at least partly via the biological clock in the suprachiasmatic nucleus of the hypothalamus. This review focuses on the impact of chronic and acute effects of LAN of different wavelengths on locomotor activity, food intake, the sleep/wake cycle, body temperature, melatonin, glucocorticoids, and glucose and lipid metabolism. While chronic LAN disturbs daily rhythms in thes

SUBMITTER: Fleury G 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC7497102 | biostudies-literature | 2020 Jul

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature