The Dark Side Of Light At Night

Every Urbanite knows that the bright lights of the city make it impossible to see all the stars in a night sky. What most of us don't know is that those bright lights might also be making us sick, as what some researchers, biologist, epidemiologist found out.

Did you know that light at night is one of many human or people's health hazard especially to us women? In some research, too much exposure to light at night decreases our melatonin level and possible contributor to the increased incidence of breast cancer, depressions and/or may lead to chronic fatigue.

Richard Stevens an epidemiologist at The University of Connecticut Health Centre, has developed the idea that light at night can disrupt critical hormone levels that affect human health. Another study Stevens worked on, showed that  women who worked the overnight shift seemed to have substantially higher at risk of breast cancer rather than those visually impaired woman. How is that happened? The key is melatonin, produced in the brain's pineal gland only when the eyes signal it is dark. Production begins around nightfall, peaks between 1 a.m and 2 a.m, and shuts off during the day. Those who worked under lightning at night could be reducing the amount of melatonin they produce. Experiments have shown that melatonin may inhibit oestogen from stimulating the growth of beast cancer cells, which explains why blind woman presumably maintain high melatonin levels rather than those night shifter woman worker.

What can you say about these studies? What important is we are aware of what's happening and what are the possible effect of too much light at night for us human, especially for us women.

Image credit; google.com

Source; Reader's Digest - June 2003 Edition,vol 81 no.483