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The Agora => UK & World News => Weird Wild Wacky => Topic started by: Maik on Saturday, 05 April, 2014 @ 06:01:03
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Researchers... have found that exposure to bright light in the morning is linked to a significantly lower BMI.
The earlier participants saw daylight, the lower their body mass index. Conversely, those who weren't exposed to bright light until later in the day were significantly heavier in relationship to their height. This effect was independent of the number of hours’ sleep participants were getting. Most interestingly, the study showed that morning light lowers our BMI independently of how many calories we eat or how much exercise we're getting. It appears that the time we start our day directly affects our metabolic rate, accounting for an impressive 20 percent of our BMI score.
“If a person doesn’t get sufficient light at the appropriate time of day, it could de-synchronize your internal body clock, which is known to alter metabolism and can lead to weight gain.”
According to Zee, the crucial hours we should be aiming to see bright light are between eight 8am and midday. No need to overdo it though; about 20 to 30 minutes of this early light is enough to affect BMI.
It isn’t just people who get up late who are at risk of upsetting their metabolism. The fact that most of us work indoors in poorly lit environments also contributes to the problem. The results of the study showed 500 lux to be "the magic number" in lowering BMI. This is about 200 to 300 lux higher than the artificial lighting provided in an average office.
http://www.independent.co.uk/news/science/the-newest-way-to-lose-weight-get-up-early-and-go-outside-9239817.html
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mmmm
So people who get up earliest (farmers, labourers) are slimmer than those who get up a bit later (office workers) and both of those groups are slimmer than those who get up even later.
A scientific survey established that? Well who'd ever have thought it, eh?
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Wait for it...
1. a scientific study concluding the skinny early risers are more likely to get skin cancer than fat, lazy b*st*rds who get up late;
2. a scientific study concluding that, while both studies are correct, neither apply to the UK as it rarely gets 30 minutes bright sunlight;
3. a scientific study concluding that, as the UK rarely gets 30 minutes bright sunlight, all UK commercial properties must be lit to 500 lux from 08:00 - 12:00, even if no-one starts work in them until 09:00;
4. a scientific study concluding that all all UK employees must wear sunglasses and suncream whilst at work.
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Wait for it...
1. a scientific study concluding the skinny early risers are more likely to get skin cancer than fat, lazy b*st*rds who get up late;
Does it make any difference at what time you go to bed ? :dunno:
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Does it make any difference at what time you go to bed ? :dunno:
Good question. Reckon that calls for another scientific study.
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This is known in research circles as the correlational design cock-up. Assuming the research has been done right and the data analysed OK all you've got is a relationship between the two things. The two snags are:
- You don't know at this stage what the "direction of effect" is. So it could be that skinny people get up early while fat people moulder in their pits till late.
- Alternatively there may be something entirely different that effects one or both these things so they appear to be correlated or in this case differentiated when it's only an indirect connection (the so-called "intervening variable"). So it could be for instance that skinny people wear different things at night to the fat people which means they wake up early.
Tony