Excessive light pollution may increase risk of Alzheimer's, especially in younger people

Medical Xpress / Frontiers / Frontiers in Neuroscience ^ | Sept. 6, 2024 | Robin M. Voigt et al

[ConservativeMind]

In some places around the globe, the lights never go off. Streetlights, roadway lighting, and illuminated signs can deter crime, make roads safer, and enhance landscaping. Undisrupted light, however, comes with ecological, behavioral, and health consequences.

In the US, some states have legislation in place to reduce light pollution; however, levels of light at night remain high in many parts of the country. Now, researchers there have investigated correlations between outside nightly light pollution and Alzheimer's disease (AD).

"We show that in the US there is a positive association between AD prevalence and exposure to light at night, particularly in those under the age of 65," said Dr. Robin Voigt-Zuwala. "Nightly light pollution—a modifiable environmental factor—may be an important risk factor for AD."

Their results showed that for people aged 65 and older, AD prevalence was more strongly correlated with nightly light pollution than some other disease factors, including alcohol abuse, chronic kidney disease, depression, and obesity.

For people aged under 65, however, the researchers found that higher nighttime light intensity was associated with a greater AD prevalence than any other risk factor examined in the study. This could suggest that younger people may be particularly sensitive to the effects of light exposure at night, the researchers said.

It is unclear why younger people could be more vulnerable, but it could be due to individual differences in light sensitivity.

The researchers hope that their findings can help educate people about the potential risks of light at night. Said Voigt-Zuwala, "Easy to implement changes include using blackout curtains or sleeping with eye masks. This is useful especially for those living in areas with high light pollution."

Furthermore, light exposure inside the home could be as important as light exposure from the outside.

[TChad]

People that wear covid masks all day could just slip it up on their face a bit at night.

Won't work. Covid masks are supposed to filter the air you breathe. Sleep masks should block light from entering your eyes. Also, Covid masks don't work, and in my experience, sleep masks do.

[Cold Heart]

/s