Study: Exposure To Morning Sunlight Helps Managing Weight

jones_supa (887896) writes "A new Northwestern Medicine study reports the timing, intensity and duration of your light exposure during the day is linked to your weight — the first time this has been shown. People who had most of their daily exposure to even moderately bright light in the morning had a significantly lower body mass index (BMI) than those who had most of their light exposure later in the day, the study found. It accounted for about 20 percent of a person's BMI and was independent of an individual's physical activity level, caloric intake, sleep timing, age or season. About 20 to 30 minutes of morning light is enough to affect BMI. The senior author Phyllis C. Zee rationalizes this by saying that light is the most potent agent to synchronize your internal body clock that regulates circadian rhythms, which in turn also regulate energy balance. The study was small and short. It included 54 participants (26 males, 28 females), an average age of 30. They wore a wrist actigraphy monitor that measured their light exposure and sleep parameters for seven days in normal-living conditions. Their caloric intake was determined from seven days of food logs. The study was published April 2 in the journal PLOS ONE. Giovanni Santostasi, a research fellow in neurology at Feinberg, is a co-lead author."

Re:correlation does not prove causation

[bluefoxlucid]

You're not reading this right. The solution is to get up later, when the sun is up, so that you are immediately exposed to sunlight early in the day.

Re:correlation does not prove causation

[The Grim Reefer]

I have a skylight in my bedroom. I'm going to start opening the blind on it in the morning and go back to sleep for an hour or two. And eat cake and ice cream for breakfast, lunch and dinner. That should drop my BMI by 20% according to the summary.

Re:Benjamin Franklin

[causality]

The early bird catches the worm. The early worm gets eaten.

The second mouse gets the cheese.