19 October 2019
A new study has investigated the impact of exposing fruit flies to blue wavelengths of light.
The research, which was published in npj Aging and Mechanisms of Disease, involved observing the effects of keeping flies in different lighting conditions.
The researchers found that flies kept in 12 hours of light and 12 hours of darkness had shorter lives than those kept in darkness all the time or light with blue wavelengths filtered out.
The flies exposed to blue light exhibited damage to their retinal cells and brain neurons. They also suffered from impaired locomotion.
Professor Jaga Giebultowicz, from Oregon State University, highlighted that there is evidence suggesting that increased exposure to blue light is a risk factor for sleep and circadian rhythm disorders.
“With the prevalent use of LED lighting and device displays, humans are subjected to increasing amounts of light in the blue spectrum since commonly used LEDs emit a high fraction of blue light. But this technology, LED lighting, even in most developed countries, has not been used long enough to know its effects across the human lifespan," she shared.
Image credit: Pixabay/Free-Photos
The research, which was published in npj Aging and Mechanisms of Disease, involved observing the effects of keeping flies in different lighting conditions.
The researchers found that flies kept in 12 hours of light and 12 hours of darkness had shorter lives than those kept in darkness all the time or light with blue wavelengths filtered out.
The flies exposed to blue light exhibited damage to their retinal cells and brain neurons. They also suffered from impaired locomotion.
Professor Jaga Giebultowicz, from Oregon State University, highlighted that there is evidence suggesting that increased exposure to blue light is a risk factor for sleep and circadian rhythm disorders.
“With the prevalent use of LED lighting and device displays, humans are subjected to increasing amounts of light in the blue spectrum since commonly used LEDs emit a high fraction of blue light. But this technology, LED lighting, even in most developed countries, has not been used long enough to know its effects across the human lifespan," she shared.
Image credit: Pixabay/Free-Photos
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