Natural light exposure, sleep and depression among day workers and shiftworkers at arctic and equatorial latitudes.

This study aimed to investigate the relationship between individual natural light exposure, sleep need, and depression at two latitudes, one extreme with a few hours of light per day during winter, and the other with equal hours of light and darkness throughout the year.This cross-sectional study in...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:PLOS ONE
Main Authors: Elaine Cristina Marqueze, Suleima Vasconcelos, Johanna Garefelt, Debra J Skene, Claudia Roberta Moreno, Arne Lowden
Format: Article in Journal/Newspaper
Language:English
Published: Public Library of Science (PLoS) 2015
Subjects:
Medicine
R
Science
Q
Arctic
Online Access:https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0122078
https://doaj.org/article/4b8cbf64fe86400aa80e5a17f63fc379
Description
Summary:This study aimed to investigate the relationship between individual natural light exposure, sleep need, and depression at two latitudes, one extreme with a few hours of light per day during winter, and the other with equal hours of light and darkness throughout the year.This cross-sectional study included a sample of Brazilian workers (Equatorial, n = 488 workers) and a Swedish sample (Arctic, n = 1,273).The reported mean total natural light exposure per 4-week cycle differed significantly between the Equatorial and Arctic regions. However, shiftworkers from both sites reported similar hours of natural light exposure. Short light exposure was a predictor for insufficient sleep.Reduced exposure to natural light appears to increase the perception of obtaining insufficient sleep. Arctic workers were more prone to develop depression than Equatorial workers.

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