Watching TV at night in the dark causes depression

Neurologist Tracy bedrosian gives practical advice to fans to watch TV at night. Constant exposure to dim light at night, for example, when watching TV in the dark can lead to depression, but to regain a good mood by simply restoring the normal daily regime, scientists of USA, conducted experiments on hamsters, according to MSNBC.

The researchers watched two groups of hamsters. The first group lived in a standard diurnal cycle: 8 hours in complete darkness and 16 hours of normal daylight (150 Lux). The second category of the subjects lived the first four weeks of the experiment in 16 hours illumination level 150 Lux, and at night in dim light (5 Lux), equivalent to the light from the TV in a dark room.

After behavioral tests, the scientists found that the hamsters from the second group were generally less active in the daytime compared to those who lived in normal light conditions. In addition, they showed symptoms of depression, reducing consumption of sweet water, which is usually love.

However, two weeks later, after returning to a standard light cycle, hamsters that lived at night in dim light, got rid of depression and became active as before.

"Good news for people who are late watching TV and computer, that can remove the negative effect of being in conditions of dim light, just returning to a normal daily routine" — quoted in the press release words of the head of the study, a doctoral student at the Department of neurology Tracy bedrosian.

She noted that the findings reinforce existing theories about what constant exposure to artificial light at night plays a key role in increasing the rate of depression among people over the last 50 years.

Source: www.ecology.md