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Circadian disruption and increase of oxidative stress in male and female volunteers after bright light exposure before bed time

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Abstract

Backgrounds

Circadian rhythms are patterns of behaviour, physiology, and metabolism that occur within a period of approximately 24 h. The higher risk of breast and prostate cancers among shift workers, as well as the general population, are reported to be associated with circadian rhythm disruption caused by exposure to light at night. We focused on the effects of bright light before bed comparing effects between men and women.

Methods

Male and female healthy volunteers aged 20–30 were exposed to 4 hours of bright light before bed for 3 and 4 days.

Results

We analyzed the shift of circadian rhythms of subjects based on cortisol secretion patterns in response to short periods of bright-light exposure at bedtime. We also found an increase of oxidative stress including MDA, 8-OHdG, and total antioxidants in both male and female volunteers.

Conclusion

These results suggest that bright light exposure before sleep, often encounter in modern daily life, has a considerable influence on the human body. The chronic effects of light exposure before bed time such as the carcinogenic effects caused by circadian disruption and oxidative stress need further investigation.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Preventive Medicine, College of Medicine, Korea University, Seoul, Republic of Korea

    Eunil Lee & YunJeong Kim

  2. Department of Biomedical Science, Korea University College of Medicine, Seoul, Republic of Korea

    Joung-Ho Moon & Heon-Jeong Lee

  3. Department of Public Health, Graduate School, Korea University, Seoul, Republic of Korea

    Eunil Lee & YunJeong Kim

  4. Department of Psychiatry, Gachon University School of Medicine, Incheon, Republic of Korea

    Heon-Jeong Lee

  5. Department of Legal Medicine, Korea University College of Medicine, Seoul, Republic of Korea

    Heon-Jeong Lee

  6. Department of Convergent Health Science and 3DPrinting, Dongnam Health University, Suwon, Republic of Korea

    Hyo-Sun Lee

  7. Environmental Health Center, Korea University Anam Hospital, Seoul, Republic of Korea

    Hyo-Sun Lee

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  1. Hyo-Sun Lee
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  2. Eunil Lee
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Correspondence to Eunil Lee.

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Lee, HS., Lee, E., Moon, JH. et al. Circadian disruption and increase of oxidative stress in male and female volunteers after bright light exposure before bed time. Mol. Cell. Toxicol. 15, 221–229 (2019). https://doi.org/10.1007/s13273-019-0025-9

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s13273-019-0025-9

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