Woman watching TV at night. She is alone in the attic room changing channels on TV.
We know that you have been doing a lot of things to keep your summer body, and it is depressing when you start to notice that you have been gaining weight, well, the reason behind this could be is that you are falling asleep while the TV is on.
According to researchers, women who get exposed to light, artificial light in particular, during the evenings are more likely to gain weight.
A new study that was done on around 44,000 women for over 5 years showed that women who left the lights on at night gained 5 kilograms.
The study was conducted by the National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences of North Carolina. They did research on women who are aged 35 to 74 years old who have no history of Cancer and Cardiovascular Disease. Also, women who took part in the study did not work shifts, sleep in the day, and pregnant.
The 44,000 women who took part in the study reported the number of hours they were exposed with artificial light during night time, this includes light coming from TVs and phone screens.
The study showed women who slept with the TV on were 22 percent more likely to gain weight. The researchers believe that this could be because of the lack of sleep that makes you more hungry, which is caused by hormones that are released in your body when you are tired. Also, it is because you get less sleep, which means you have more time to eat food and do more work.
The researchers also noticed that exposure to artificial light during night times is related to unhealthy behavior like stress eating.
But this study still needs more time.
Experts say that it does make sense that having artificial light or “Blue Light” during night times can make you hungrier.
During an interview with the Daily Mail, Malcom von Schantz, a Professor at the University of Surrey, said, “We know that light in the late evening will delay our body clocks. We know from experimental studies in people that light at night affects our metabolism in ways that are consistent with increased risk of metabolic syndrome.”
The professor added, “What is novel with this paper is that it is a longitudinal study comparing the weight of the same individuals at baseline and more than five years later. These new findings won’t change the advice to maintain good sleep hygiene, and avoid light and electronic distractions in the bedroom, but they add further strength to the case for this advice.”
So ladies, make sure to turn that TV off when you sleep and spend less time on your phone during night times.