Too much screen time can cause obesity and mental problems in people, said a study. “Overexposure to blue light from TVs, laptops and phones can have harmful effects on a wide range of cells in our body, from skin and fat cells to sensory neurons,” said one researcher. “Avoiding exposure to excessive blue light may be an anti-aging strategy,” he added. This conclusion was based on a recent study conducted on fruit flies, during which it was discovered that “a new problem, the blue light emitted by screens can affect our basic biological functions”.Also Read – Reducing calorie intake may not help you lose weight Read ahead
The study findings were published in Frontiers in Aging
Excessive exposure to blue light from everyday devices, such as TV, laptop and phonecan have harmful effects on a wide range of cells in our body, From skin and fat cells to sensory neurons. We are the first to show that levels of certain metabolites—chemicals that cells need to function properly—change in fruit flies exposed to blue light. Our study suggests that avoiding excessive blue light exposure may be an anti-aging strategy,” said Dr Jedwiga GibletowiczProfessor at Department of Integrative Biology at Oregon State University and senior author of this study. Also Read – Obesity: 5 Mental Health Problems That Affect Your Body Weight
Turn off the light
Stress-protective genes are “turned on” by light, and those who live in constant darkness live longer, a previous study conducted by researchers at Oregon State University showed. “To understand why high-energy blue light is responsible for accelerating aging in fruit flies, we compared metabolic levels in flies exposed to blue light for two weeks with those kept in complete darkness,” Gibletowicz explained. Also Read – Akhilesh Yadav will donate laptops to gifted students on his 49th birthday
Exposure to blue light led to significant differences in the levels of metabolites the researchers measured in fly head cells. Specifically, they found that levels of the metabolite succinate were increased, but glutamate levels were decreased.
“Succinate is essential to produce fuel for every cell’s function and growth. The high levels of succinate after exposure to blue light can be compared to gas not coming into a car even though it is in the pump,” Gibletowicz said. “Another troubling finding was that molecules responsible for communication between neurons, such as glutamate, are at lower levels after exposure to blue light.”
Accelerates aging
The changes noted by the researchers indicate that the cells are functioning at a suboptimal level, and this may cause their premature death, and further, their previous findings explain that blue light accelerates aging.
“LEDs have become the main illuminant in display screens such as phones, desktops and TVs, as well as in ambient lighting, so humans in advanced societies are exposed to blue light through LED lighting during most of their waking hours. The signaling chemicals in the cells of flies and humans are similar, so blue light is likely to have negative effects on humans,” Gibletowicz explains.
Future work hopes to study the direct effect on human cells.
“We used fairly strong blue light on flies—humans are exposed to less intense light, so cellular damage may be less dramatic. The results of this study suggest that future research involving human cells is needed to establish whether human cells respond to blue light. Metabolism involved in energy production in response to overexposure may show similar changes,” Gibletowicz concluded.
(with agency inputs)
