Caution: Using Your Iphone or Ipad At Night Could Make You FAT!
Did you know that using your smartphone or tablet at night could make you add pounds? That’s right! A recent study has shown that using your iPhone or iPad or any others of that ilk could actually increase your hunger, leading to eating more, leading to increase in weight. Apparently there is a direct connection between your exposure to the blue light emitted by these devices and increased hunger.
This US study has unearthed the following.
- Exposure to the light increases hunger levels for several hours.
- It even increases hunger levels just after someone has eaten a meal
- A reason for this effect is yet to be found.
The light that is emitted by a smartphone or a tablet has a high level of blue in it. And, it seems our bodies react to it by increasing hunger levels and glucose metabolism.
The study group consisted of 10 adults with normal health and with regular schedules for both eating and sleeping. For the purpose of this study they were given identical carbohydrate-rich meals. They were exposed first to dim lighting in individual rooms for two days. On the third day they were exposed to blue-enriched light from light-boxes that are commercially available while doing activities like reading or homework, and while having their evening meals and after. When polled for their ratings the participants all felt an increase in hunger levels when in the enriched light environment than when exposed to low light. This was reported by study co-author Ivy Cheung, a doctoral candidate in the Interdepartmental Neuroscience program at Northwestern University in Chicago, Illinois.
The study group said that not only did the feel hungrier, but they did so for several hours afterwards and even after they’d just had their evening meal. According to Cheung she considered theresults important as they suggested that by manipulating the environmental light, the food intake patterns and metabolism could be influenced in humans.
It has been known for quite some time now that exposure to blue light can disturb our sleeping patterns and cause insomnia. The reason for this is the disruptive effect it has on the production of melatonin a sleep inducing hormone. That leads to the conclusion that in our ever increasingly connected society we are being exposed to more and more blue light. It is also known that less sleep can induce greater hunger and calorie consumption.
Cheung says however, that it is too early to consider a definite connection between these ideas. But she feels there could be an interaction. The results from the current study cannot be called conclusive but it seems that further study is justified to study what effect prolonged blue light exposure at mealtime could have on sleep and hunger.One of the first things that spring to the mind about this study is that the population used was way too small. You really can’t come to any definite conclusion from testing a hypothesis which we expect this to have been, from a population of 10, although the fact that all of them came to the same conclusion looks promising and bears further research.
If further research is to reiterate the same facts, then there may come the day when your dietician would ask you to stay away from the phone. After all any device that increases your hunger, decreases your satiety and makes you eat even when your body does not need any food – cannot really be good, can it? But even as long as inconclusive proof is not had, maybe you could try out your own little experiment of trying to stay away from your phone at night – who knows, you may just notice that it’s easier to keep the weight off!http://www.aartiinformatics.com/health/caution-using-your-iphone-or-ipad-at-night-could-make-you-fat/Using Your Iphoneor Ipad At Night Could Make You FAThttp://www.aartiinformatics.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/06/using-your-laptop-at-night.jpghttp://www.aartiinformatics.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/06/using-your-laptop-at-night-300x300.jpgFITNESSHEALTHincrease in weight,increase your hunger,increased hunger,make you fatDid you know that using your smartphone or tablet at night could make you add pounds? That’s right! A recent study has shown that using your iPhone or iPad or any others of that ilk could actually increase your hunger, leading to eating more, leading to increase in weight....Aarti InformaticsAarti Daartiinformatics@gmail.comAdministratorAarti Informatics lead in development and invention of the industry’s most advanced information technologies, including computer systems, web-based solutions & business strategies.Aarti Informatics