HARMFUL LIGHTS AT NIGHT

Hello guys, this blog that you are about to read talks about an article that I have recently came across. It caught my attention the moment i scanned the headline,

 "Exposure to Light at Night May Cause Depression, Learning Issues, Mouse Study Suggests"

This article talks about how too much exposure to lights in a regular basis may cause depression and learning issues. The experiment was tested on experimental mice, different mouse would receive different amount of light, one longer than the other. A biology professor in John Hopkins University, Samer Hattar constructed this investigation and found out that mouse exposed to longer duration of light exposure shows signs of depression. You might ask: How do you know if a mouse is depressed or not? Well, Hattar observed their behavior and noticed that the mouse became less active, they lacked the interest in sugar or hunting for one and they also learned task a lot less quick.

I read the article and asked myself, why use a MOUSE? How can a mouse be hold accountable for these things? They aren't human, how is it that we can claim that human would portray the same effect?

Turns out mice and human are very much alike, one is that they both contain ipRGCs in their eyes affecting them and us in the same way. ipRGCs (intrinsically photosensitive retinal ganglion cells) are cells in the eyes that become activated by bright lights and they would have an effect on the brain's center for learning, memory and mood.

These lights that are proven to effect human ranges from light bulbs in houses, lamps, mobile, computers and even iPads.

After reading the whole article, quite a few questions still rose into my mind.
1) So exposure to light during night time will affect us or the extended time we are exposed to lights?
2) Is there a proper duration to how long human should be exposed to lights?
3) Irregular exposure or simply lights at night?
4) How would our body know 'night lights'? Biological clock?
5) What if the exposure to light human receive (from iPad and computers) also provide human with entertainment and happiness? Would that work against the depression that may buildup?
6) Does this mean that we should be exposed to light as little as possible to save ourselves from depression?

This article summary may be somewhat confusing to some of you readers, I am also quite confused myself  of this experiment but nonetheless it was very interesting. You can read the actual article in the link down below!!

http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2012/11/121114133921.htm

Thank you guys for reading this blog, more to come on other cool interesting science news!