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Protecting the Melatonin Rhythm through Circadian Healthy Light Exposure
Currently, in developed countries, nights are excessively illuminated (light at night), whereas daytime is mainly spent indoors, and thus people are exposed to much lower light intensities than under natural conditions. In spite of the positive impact of artificial light, we pay a price for the easy...
Autores principales: | , , , , , , |
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Formato: | Online Artículo Texto |
Lenguaje: | English |
Publicado: |
MDPI
2014
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Materias: | |
Acceso en línea: | https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4284776/ https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/25526564 http://dx.doi.org/10.3390/ijms151223448 |
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author | Bonmati-Carrion, Maria Angeles Arguelles-Prieto, Raquel Martinez-Madrid, Maria Jose Reiter, Russel Hardeland, Ruediger Rol, Maria Angeles Madrid, Juan Antonio |
author_facet | Bonmati-Carrion, Maria Angeles Arguelles-Prieto, Raquel Martinez-Madrid, Maria Jose Reiter, Russel Hardeland, Ruediger Rol, Maria Angeles Madrid, Juan Antonio |
author_sort | Bonmati-Carrion, Maria Angeles |
collection | PubMed |
description | Currently, in developed countries, nights are excessively illuminated (light at night), whereas daytime is mainly spent indoors, and thus people are exposed to much lower light intensities than under natural conditions. In spite of the positive impact of artificial light, we pay a price for the easy access to light during the night: disorganization of our circadian system or chronodisruption (CD), including perturbations in melatonin rhythm. Epidemiological studies show that CD is associated with an increased incidence of diabetes, obesity, heart disease, cognitive and affective impairment, premature aging and some types of cancer. Knowledge of retinal photoreceptors and the discovery of melanopsin in some ganglion cells demonstrate that light intensity, timing and spectrum must be considered to keep the biological clock properly entrained. Importantly, not all wavelengths of light are equally chronodisrupting. Blue light, which is particularly beneficial during the daytime, seems to be more disruptive at night, and induces the strongest melatonin inhibition. Nocturnal blue light exposure is currently increasing, due to the proliferation of energy-efficient lighting (LEDs) and electronic devices. Thus, the development of lighting systems that preserve the melatonin rhythm could reduce the health risks induced by chronodisruption. This review addresses the state of the art regarding the crosstalk between light and the circadian system. |
format | Online Article Text |
id | pubmed-4284776 |
institution | National Center for Biotechnology Information |
language | English |
publishDate | 2014 |
publisher | MDPI |
record_format | MEDLINE/PubMed |
spelling | pubmed-42847762015-01-21 Protecting the Melatonin Rhythm through Circadian Healthy Light Exposure Bonmati-Carrion, Maria Angeles Arguelles-Prieto, Raquel Martinez-Madrid, Maria Jose Reiter, Russel Hardeland, Ruediger Rol, Maria Angeles Madrid, Juan Antonio Int J Mol Sci Review Currently, in developed countries, nights are excessively illuminated (light at night), whereas daytime is mainly spent indoors, and thus people are exposed to much lower light intensities than under natural conditions. In spite of the positive impact of artificial light, we pay a price for the easy access to light during the night: disorganization of our circadian system or chronodisruption (CD), including perturbations in melatonin rhythm. Epidemiological studies show that CD is associated with an increased incidence of diabetes, obesity, heart disease, cognitive and affective impairment, premature aging and some types of cancer. Knowledge of retinal photoreceptors and the discovery of melanopsin in some ganglion cells demonstrate that light intensity, timing and spectrum must be considered to keep the biological clock properly entrained. Importantly, not all wavelengths of light are equally chronodisrupting. Blue light, which is particularly beneficial during the daytime, seems to be more disruptive at night, and induces the strongest melatonin inhibition. Nocturnal blue light exposure is currently increasing, due to the proliferation of energy-efficient lighting (LEDs) and electronic devices. Thus, the development of lighting systems that preserve the melatonin rhythm could reduce the health risks induced by chronodisruption. This review addresses the state of the art regarding the crosstalk between light and the circadian system. MDPI 2014-12-17 /pmc/articles/PMC4284776/ /pubmed/25526564 http://dx.doi.org/10.3390/ijms151223448 Text en © 2014 by the authors; licensee MDPI, Basel, Switzerland. This article is an open access article distributed under the terms and conditions of the Creative Commons Attribution license (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/). |
spellingShingle | Review Bonmati-Carrion, Maria Angeles Arguelles-Prieto, Raquel Martinez-Madrid, Maria Jose Reiter, Russel Hardeland, Ruediger Rol, Maria Angeles Madrid, Juan Antonio Protecting the Melatonin Rhythm through Circadian Healthy Light Exposure |
title | Protecting the Melatonin Rhythm through Circadian Healthy Light Exposure |
title_full | Protecting the Melatonin Rhythm through Circadian Healthy Light Exposure |
title_fullStr | Protecting the Melatonin Rhythm through Circadian Healthy Light Exposure |
title_full_unstemmed | Protecting the Melatonin Rhythm through Circadian Healthy Light Exposure |
title_short | Protecting the Melatonin Rhythm through Circadian Healthy Light Exposure |
title_sort | protecting the melatonin rhythm through circadian healthy light exposure |
topic | Review |
url | https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4284776/ https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/25526564 http://dx.doi.org/10.3390/ijms151223448 |
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