Afternoon to early evening bright light exposure reduces later melatonin 
production in adolescents

Lazar, R; Fazlali, F; Dourte, M; Epple, C; Stefani, O; Spitschan, M; Cajochen, C

doi:10.1101/2024.10.02.616112

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Afternoon to early evening bright light exposure reduces later melatonin production in adolescents

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Spitschan, M
Research Group Translational Sensory and Circadian Neuroscience, Max Planck Institute for Biological Cybernetics, Max Planck Society;

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https://www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1101/2024.10.02.616112v1.full.pdf
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Citation

Lazar, R., Fazlali, F., Dourte, M., Epple, C., Stefani, O., Spitschan, M., et al. (submitted). Afternoon to early evening bright light exposure reduces later melatonin production in adolescents.

Cite as: https://hdl.handle.net/21.11116/0000-000F-E819-0

Abstract

Whether light exposure during the day reduces non-visual light effects later in the evening has not been studied in adolescents. We investigate whether afternoon-early evening (AEE) light interventions (130 lx, 2500 lx, 4.5 hours, compared to 6.5 lx) would increase melatonin levels during later evening light exposure (130 lx) in a counterbalanced crossover study with 22 adolescents (14-17 years, 11 female). Contrary to our hypothesis, evening melatonin levels decreased after AEE bright light exposure, while sleepiness and vigilance were unaffected, and skin temperature showed no clear changes. The AEE light had acute alerting effects and bright light exposure in the 32 hours before laboratory entry was associated with higher evening melatonin and sleepiness. These findings suggest that bright AEE light increases alertness but may delay melatonin production by interfering with circadian rhythms. The study highlights the complex effects of light timing and its implications for managing adolescents' light exposure.