Associations of light exposure patterns with sleep among Dutch children: The ABCD cohort study
Magdalini Stefanopoulou1, Naomi Ruhé1, Lützen Portengen1
1Institute for Risk Assessment Sciences, Utrecht University, Utrecht, The Netherlands.
Insights
Children
Area of Science:
- Chronobiology
- Pediatric Sleep Medicine
- Environmental Health
Background:
- Light exposure is a critical regulator of the circadian system, influencing sleep quality.
- Research on light exposure and sleep in children is limited.
- Understanding these associations is crucial for pediatric health.
Purpose of the Study:
- To evaluate the associations between light exposure patterns and sleep metrics in children.
- To investigate how timing, duration, and intensity of light exposure affect sleep duration, efficiency, and onset.
- To provide insights into modifiable factors for improving children's sleep.
Main Methods:
- Actigraphy and sleep records were used to measure sleep parameters in 247 Dutch children (11–13 years old) over 7 nights.
- Personal light exposure was quantified using a light meter throughout the day and night.
- Generalized mixed-effects regression models, adjusted for confounders, were applied to analyze the data.
Main Results:
- Longer intervals between morning bright light and bedtime, and longer bright light duration, were linked to reduced sleep duration and shorter sleep-onset delay.
- Increased nighttime light intensity correlated with decreased sleep duration.
- Higher light intensity before bedtime was associated with prolonged sleep onset.
Conclusions:
- Children's sleep duration and onset can be significantly influenced by light exposure patterns.
- Modulating light exposure during both day and night may be a viable strategy to improve sleep quality in children.
- This study highlights the importance of light hygiene for adolescent sleep health.
Abstract:
Light exposure affects the circadian system and consequently can affect sleep quality. Only few studies examined this relationship in children. We evaluated associations between light exposure patterns and sleep metrics in children. We measured the sleep parameters of 247 Dutch children, aged between 11 and 13 years and recruited from the ABCD cohort, using actigraphy and sleep records for 7 consecutive nights. Personal light exposures were measured with a light meter during the whole day and night. We applied generalized mixed-effects regression models, adjusted for possible confounders, to evaluate the associations of light exposure patterns on sleep duration, sleep efficiency and sleep-onset delay. In the models mutually adjusted for potential confounders, we found the amount of hours between the first time of bright light in the morning and going to sleep and the duration of bright light to be significantly associated with decreased sleep duration (in min; β: -2.02 [95% confidence interval: -3.84, -0.25], β: -8.39 [95% confidence interval: -16.70, -0.07], respectively) and with shorter sleep-onset delay (odds ratio: 0.88 [95% confidence interval: 0.80, 0.97], odds ratio: 0.40 [95% confidence interval: 0.19, 0.87], respectively). Increased light intensities at night were associated with decreased sleep duration (T2 β: -8.54 [95% confidence interval: -16.88, -0.20], T3 β: -14.83 [95% confidence interval: -28.04, -1.62]), while increased light intensities before going to bed were associated with prolonged sleep onset (odds ratio: 4.02 [95% confidence interval: 2.09, 7.73]). These findings further suggest that children may be able to influence their sleep quality by influencing the light exposure patterns during day and night.
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