Light at night might increase weight gain

Researchers from Israel and the USA have conducted research that might prove one reason why some people gain weight and are unable to loose weight. The inability to loose weight could be related to the presence of dim light during the night hours and how this affects ones body clock and metabolism.

The research involved mice. 50% of the mice had a dim light during the night hours and the other 50% had no light during the night hours. Mice tend to eat the majority of their food during the night hours. The researchers found out that the mice that had dim light during the night hours began to mix up their eating times. They began to consume more amounts of food throughout the day rather than the night. As a result these mice gained weight over an eight week period.

They believe that the dim light contributed to the mice's higher BMIs and lower glucose tolerance resulting in weight gain. These results suggest that when day and night cycles are mixed up the body clock is confused and results in the body desiring food at insufficient times equating to weight gain.

Obviously this research was conducted with mice as the prototypes but researchers believe that there could be a similar correlation in humans with obesity. The environmental factor of insuring darkness during night hours might be an easy factor to reduce weight gain and re-align ones body clock.

Think about it, watching TV into the late hours of the night, working late at a computer, playing video games are all producers of dim light that can contribute to distorting ones body clock and eating habits. The human body needs consistency with times of light and dark, day and night.