Depression linked to artificial light during the night

Switching off your TV or computer before bed may help to prevent depression, new research suggests. A study on animals by researchers at the Ohio State University Medical Centre found that exposure to dim lighting at night from electronic displays and other sources may lead to mood disorders. Siberian hamsters were exposed to different light and dark conditions for four weeks. Half of the animals received a chronic dim light setting - the equivalent to having a TV on in a dark room - throughout the night. When compared with the hamsters exposed to complete darkness, those that experienced low light lacked energy, motivation and were less likely to drink their sugar water.

“The results we found in hamsters are consistent with what we know about depression in humans,” said Tracy Bedrosian, one of the authors of the study.

The findings highlighted changes in the tissue of the hippocampus which were similar to changes found in people with depression. Within a week of returning to a standard light-dark cycle, the hamsters had made a full recovery.

Researchers say that the rise in exposure to artificial light at night over the last 50 years has coincided with rising rates of depression, especially among women. Light pollution can come from electronic displays, overhead lighting in the home as well as streetlights, passing traffic and neighbouring buildings.

“The good news is that people who stay up late in front of the television and computer may be able to undo some of the harmful effects just by going back to a regular light-dark cycle and minimising their exposure to artificial light at night,” Bedrosian says. “That’s what the results we found in hamsters would suggest.” The results are published in the Molecular Psychiatry journal and the article was taken from my email news.

It has been suggested that breast cancer may be caused in someway by depression and stress, most of the women that I have spoken with who have breast cancer certainly either had a bad bout of depression or severe to moderate stress prior to diagnoses. I did write another article on lack of the hormone melatonin due to lack of sleep and the connection to nightshift workers and cancer. All of this definitely needs further research, although even if it is depression/stress how are we going to tackle it in an attempt to halt or stop someone getting cancer, its food for thought.

Melatonin interesting points....Breast cancer link

Here's an interesting set of points about the lack of melatonin or night shift work and Breast cancer taken from Chris Woollams newsletter July 2012.

Some quick facts about melatonin and cancer prevention

1. Melatonin is a natural hormone produced mainly by the pineal gland in the brain, although some has recently been found in the bone marrow where it appears to be linked with white cell formation. It is a crucial regulator of cancer driving hormones, and a powerful antioxidant.

2. Little was known about the pineal gland in Western Medicine until 1958 when Lerner reported that it secreted melatonin. However, the Greeks described it as The Realm of Thought; Descartes called it The Seat of the Soul. In Eastern medicine it has long been associated with the "Third Eye" and intuition, and it is linked to an important energy chakra.

3. The pineal has also been shown to be the link between the nervous system and the "Limbic System" of the brain. It is thus truly linked to perception and is activated (and turned down) by energetic, electrical and magnetic frequencies. These may be your own natural ones, or external EMFs.

4. Science has now shown that the pineal gland is linked to circadian rhythms, and to seasonal, sleeping and breeding habits. Recent research carried in Cancer Watch suggested that circadian rhythms might even control the effectiveness of chemotherapy drugs and the time of day they should be taken.

5. Philadelphia University have shown in research that areas of the brain are deactivated during meditation and during nuns praying.

6. In meditation, the pineal gland and the pituitary have been shown to vibrate in unison. Monks can even control their internal energy systems and temperature during meditation.

7. Melatonin is produced about 90 minutes after falling asleep in a fully darkened room. It pushes you into a deeper sleep. Production is light sensitive and regulatory "sensors" have been found in the retina. Several studies (e.g. The Boston Nurses Study, Scandinavian Airlines) have shown that irregular sleeping habits and sleeping in synthetic light, lower the production of the hormone and are also associated with higher breast cancer levels. Research has shown that melatonin regulates excess oestrogen levels and excess IGF-1 levels. Both drive cancer and IARC has declared lack of sleep a carcinogen. Melatonin is an anti-cancer agent.

8. However, it is now known that EMF´s (Electromagnetic frequencies) - the sort found from mobile phones, to masts etc - can also lower melatonin levels in the body, allowing oestrogen and IGF-1 levels to increase.

9. Recently the discovery of melatonin in the bone marrow and its reduction by EMFs has spawned debate about its role in prevention of leukaemia and especially child leukaemia.

10. There are nearly a thousand studies showing that melatonin supplementation has important oncostatic effects: both in cancer prevention, and also during chemotherapy, where it cuts down the side effects.

11. Melatonin levels decline with age, and melatonin supplements have been shown to have anti-aging benefits. Supplementation is now used by night shift workers, nurses, long-haul flyers and a number of top oncology and anti-aging professors on both sides of the Atlantic.

12. Supplements of 3 to 6 mgs are commonly taken about 30 minutes before going to bed. Levels above 10 mgs have been thought to cause vivid dreams and hallucination, but there is little scientific evidence. The hormone is freely available over the counter in many countries from Thailand to the USA. But not in the UK. Recently it was found that melatonin acts far better when plant-derived rather than synthetic. The plant derived version is called Asphalia.