Color of Light Influences the Body’s Internal Clock
For the first time ever, researchers have discovered how the color of light could impact the internal clock in humans and animals, and how the brain uses this data to measure the time of the data.
The researchers identified the neurological mechanisms for how the internal clock could measure changes in the light color that include the dusk and the dawn.
They found that there are changes in light intensity during sunset and sunrise and also during twilight.
Taking mice as the study subjects, the researchers made use of different visual stimuli and recorded the electrical activity from the brain clock, and discovered that the neurons of the brain were much more sensitive to the changes in color between yellow and blue, rather than by the brightness.
Using the changes in the brightness and color from the top of the University’s building for a month, they created an artificial sky stimulus and found that when mice were placed under the artificial sky for many days, the highest body temperatures were recorded after dusk (when the sky turned blue) which was a clear sign that the body clock was working at its best.
However, when the researchers only changes the brightness of the sky, and not the color, the body clock didn’t work properly in mice, and they were more active before dusk.
“This is the first time that we’ve been able to test the theory that color affects our body clock in any mammal. It has always been very hard to separate the change in color to the change in brightness but using new experimental tools and a psychophysics approach we were successful,” they explained.
“What’s exciting about our research is that the same findings can be applied to humans. So, in theory, color could be used to manipulate our clock, which could be useful for shift workers or travelers wanting to minimize jet lag.”
The researchers identified the neurological mechanisms for how the internal clock could measure changes in the light color that include the dusk and the dawn.
They found that there are changes in light intensity during sunset and sunrise and also during twilight.
Taking mice as the study subjects, the researchers made use of different visual stimuli and recorded the electrical activity from the brain clock, and discovered that the neurons of the brain were much more sensitive to the changes in color between yellow and blue, rather than by the brightness.
Using the changes in the brightness and color from the top of the University’s building for a month, they created an artificial sky stimulus and found that when mice were placed under the artificial sky for many days, the highest body temperatures were recorded after dusk (when the sky turned blue) which was a clear sign that the body clock was working at its best.
However, when the researchers only changes the brightness of the sky, and not the color, the body clock didn’t work properly in mice, and they were more active before dusk.
“This is the first time that we’ve been able to test the theory that color affects our body clock in any mammal. It has always been very hard to separate the change in color to the change in brightness but using new experimental tools and a psychophysics approach we were successful,” they explained.
“What’s exciting about our research is that the same findings can be applied to humans. So, in theory, color could be used to manipulate our clock, which could be useful for shift workers or travelers wanting to minimize jet lag.”
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