New Delhi . Natural daylight may help better control blood sugar in people with type 2 diabetes. Being exposed to natural light is not only beneficial for mental health, but it can also improve metabolic health. According to new international research, people who were exposed to natural light for longer periods of time had blood glucose levels that remained in the normal range for more hours of the day and fluctuated less.
This study has been done jointly by scientists from Geneva University (UNIGE) in Switzerland and Maastricht University in the Netherlands. The researchers also found that participants exposed to natural light had slightly higher levels of the hormone melatonin in the evening. Melatonin is considered the sleep hormone and its balance helps in better regulation of the body’s internal clock i.e. circadian rhythm. Apart from this, fat oxidative metabolism was also found to be better in these people, that is, the body was able to convert fat into energy more effectively. This study is considered to be the first solid scientific evidence of the positive effect of natural light on type 2 diabetes.
According to Charna Dibner, Associate Professor at UNIGE, it has long been believed that disturbances in circadian rhythms play an important role in the development of metabolic diseases. Such metabolic disorders are increasing rapidly in western countries and this research adds an important link in that direction. This study included 13 people aged 65 years or older, who were already suffering from type 2 diabetes. All participants spent 4.5 days in specially designed living spaces. These spaces were provided with either natural light or controlled artificial light through large windows. After this, after an interval of at least four weeks, the same participants lived again in an environment with different types of lighting.
Professor Dibner says that this may not only enable better control of blood sugar, but also strengthen the coordination between the central clock of the brain and the internal clocks of other organs of the body. This discovery may open the way for new and simpler methods of diabetes management in the future. During the research, scientists took blood and muscle samples of the participants before, during and after each light treatment. Through these samples, lipids, metabolites and gene transcripts present in the blood were analyzed. Additionally, the regulation of the molecular clock in skeletal muscle cells was also examined. Overall, the study results clearly show that the body’s internal clock and metabolism are profoundly affected by natural light.
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