Getting more light in the day and less at night is good for your health. Here's why

Getting more light in the day and less at night is good for your health. The data underscore that light represents an “emerging risk factor for poor health and longevity,” says Daniel Windred, lead author of the study and a postdoctoral researcher at Flinders University in Australia. “We know that exposure to broad daylight during the day can actually reduce the sensitivity of our circadian system to light exposure at night,” says Windred. Sponsor Message Czeisler's lab has documented that reading from light-emitting tablets in the hours before you go to sleep can “shift your circadian rhythm, making it harder for you to fall asleep, more difficult for you to wake up and less likely that you'll go to bed at an earlier hour the next day.” Keep lights out in the dead of night People who had the lowest chance of dying in the coming years were exposed to barely any light between about midnight and 6am, the study found. In this latest study though, Czeisler points out even when shift workers were excluded from the analysis, the detrimental effects of bright light at 3 or 4 in the morning were still “highly significant.” The best time to turn off the lights will depend, to some extent, on your schedule and chronotype — which is your body’s natural preferences toward being more of a morning or evening person — says Fonken.