Artificial light could make us frail

                Artificial lighting could be making us frail, withering muscles and making bones more fragile. A mice was kept under a constant light for six months – a technique used by security services around the world. When the mice was examined, they were found to be suffering from muscle loss and early sign of osteoporosis, while their immune system seemed as if it was reacting to an infection.

                Researchers used to think of light and darkness as harmless or neutral stimuli with respect to health. We now realize this is not the case based on accumulating studies from laboratories all over the world, all pointing in the same direction. Study showed that the absence of environmental rhythms leads to severe disruption of a wide variety of health parameters.

                However, the mice recovered after they were switched to natural light. The good news is that the subsequently showed that these negative effects on health are reversible when the environmental light-dark cycle is restored.