deLIGHTed talks 8 | Renske Lok - How daytime light exposure shapes nighttime sleep quality скачать в хорошем качестве

deLIGHTed talks 8 | Renske Lok - How daytime light exposure shapes nighttime sleep quality

Light is more than just a visual stimulus—it plays a fundamental role in regulating various physiological and behavioral processes beyond vision. These non-image-forming effects include maintaining alertness, enhancing cognitive performance, and regulating melatonin production. While many people recognize the importance of light for wakefulness, its impact on sleep is often overlooked. Sleep is fundamental to overall health and well-being, playing a critical role in immune function, cognitive performance, and emotional regulation. Our research, spanning both controlled laboratory experiments and real-world field studies, reveals that daytime light exposure has a profound impact on nighttime sleep quality. Specifically, exposure to high-intensity light during the day enhances sleep depth, minimizes nighttime awakenings, and improves overall sleep efficiency. These effects not only promote more restorative sleep but also reduce next-day sleep inertia, leading to greater alertness upon waking. These findings have important implications for both public health and personalized sleep strategies. Given modern lifestyles, where many individuals spend the majority of their day indoors under artificial lighting, understanding how light exposure shapes sleep can help inform better lighting designs, workplace policies, and behavioral interventions to improve sleep health.