Bright Light at Night May Increase Your Risk for Type 2 Diabetes

A healthy diet, exercise, a good night’s sleep and no smoking are all proven ways to help prevent type 2 diabetes.

But here’s one you probably haven’t heard about yet. Avoid bright light at night.

A new study finds exposure to brighter light after dark may boost your odds of developing the chronic condition. For the study, 85,000 people without type 2 diabetes wore light-tracking devices day and night for one week.

They were then followed for about nine years, and the results showed participants with the highest exposure to light between 12:30am and 6am were much more likely to be diagnosed with type 2 diabetes.

Researchers noted this was true regardless of how much light they got during the day.

The senior author says exposure to bright light at night disrupts your body’s internal clock, which can interfere with key processes.

He says, “Changes in insulin secretion and glucose metabolism caused by disrupted circadian rhythms affect the body's ability to regulate blood sugar levels, which can ultimately lead to the development of type 2 diabetes.”

Maintaining a dark environment at night may be an easy and cost-effective way to prevent or delay type 2 diabetes.

Source: The Lancet Regional Health