Artificial lights near homes linked to obesity in new study

Bright artificial lights which glare all night may cause residents of nearby homes to become obese, a recent study has suggested.

Researchers made the findings by analysing satellite images of artificial light at night (ALAN) taken by the US military alongside World Health Organisation data on obesity rates.

The team at the University of Haifa in Israel found a “statistically significant” link between a man or a woman being overweight or obese when living near ALAN.

N.A. Rybnikova of the University of Haifa in Israel told Reuters said that artificial light could cause people to eat after the natural dusk when metabolic processes in the body slow down.

It is believed that artificial light interferes with the body’s product of melatonin, which controls the sleep cycle.