Personal light exposure patterns and incidence of type 2 diabetes

Originally published by The Lancet, 4 June 2024

Light at night disrupts circadian rhythms, and circadian disruption is a risk factor for type 2 diabetes.

Whether personal light exposure predicts diabetes risk has not been demonstrated in a large prospective cohort. This study assessed whether personal light exposure patterns predicted risk of incident type 2 diabetes in UK Biobank participants, using ∼13 million hours of light sensor data.

The study concluded that type 2 diabetes risk was higher in people exposed to brighter night light, and in people exposed to light patterns that may disrupt circadian rhythms. Avoidance of light at night could be a simple and cost-effective recommendation that mitigates risk of diabetes, even in those with high genetic risk.

Read the full study.