You Could Reduce Your Alzheimer’s Risk With This One Simple Trick, New Research Finds
Alzheimer’s disease impacts more than six million Americans, but the exact cause of the devastating condition is still being investigated by scientists. Now, new research has found a new risk factor to consider: light pollution.
The study, which was published in Frontiers in Neuroscience on September 5, is the first to connect Alzheimer’s disease with light pollution. It’s also raising a lot of questions about what’s behind this link, and how to avoid light pollution in the first place. Here’s what you need to know.
Meet the experts: Clifford Segil, DO, is a neurologist at Providence Saint John’s Health Center in Santa Monica, California. W. Christopher Winter, MD, a neurologist and sleep medicine physician with Charlottesville Neurology and Sleep Medicine and host of the Sleep Unplugged podcast.
What did the study find?
For the study, researchers looked at light pollution information in the lower 48 states, along with medical data linked with Alzheimer's disease risk factors. They then divided people into groups by light intensity exposure.
The researchers discovered that people in the groups with higher nighttime light pollution were more likely to develop Alzheimer’s disease, even when other risk factors (like high blood pressure, diabetes, and stroke) weren't there. The scientists also found that the link was strongest for people under the age of 65, which suggests that younger people may be more sensitive to light pollution at night than their older counterparts.
Does light pollution cause Alzheimer’s disease?
This is the first study to link light pollution to Alzheimer’s disease, making it tricky to say that exposure to light at night is a risk factor for the disease. Also, the study merely found an association—it didn’t prove that nighttime light exposure causes people to develop Alzheimer’s. In fact, the researchers even wrote in their conclusion that “these data suggest light exposure at night may influence Alzheimer’s disease, but additional studies are needed.”
That said, they did theorize that this could all be linked to inflammation. Specifically, exposure to light at night can throw your circadian rhythm out of whack, which raises the risk of inflammation. This increases the odds you’ll develop a host of different diseases.
W. Christopher Winter, MD, a neurologist and sleep medicine physician with Charlottesville Neurology and Sleep Medicine and host of the Sleep Unplugged podcast, adds that light pollution could be a risk factor since it "erodes sleep quality," which may "increase risk for dementia."
"Light pollution has been associated with other negative health outcomes—obesity, depression, anxiety, memory dysfunction, atherosclerosis, and cancer—and the dementia risk might be related to one of these outcomes," he continues.
But Clifford Segil, DO, a neurologist at Providence Saint John’s Health Center in Santa Monica, CA, says that it’s “challenging” to say that people who are exposed to light at night will increase their risk of developing Alzheimer’s disease down the road. He points out that light pollution “is not an accepted dementia risk factor” and that more research is needed before it can become one.
How can I avoid light pollution at night?
Light pollution can cause more issues than an increased risk of Alzheimer’s disease, including making it difficult to get a good night’s sleep.
If light pollution is an issue for you, the study’s researchers said in a statement that doing your best to block out light when you’re trying to sleep can make a big difference. That includes adding blackout curtains to any windows in your room or sleeping with an eye mask on. You can try covering items in your bedroom that may give off light at night, too.
Again, the link between light pollution and Alzheimer’s disease is a newer one that needs to be explored more. But lowering your exposure to light could help you sleep better, now and in the future.
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