Department of Neuroscience, The Ohio State University Wexner Medical Center, Columbus, OH 43210, USA.
Mol Psychiatry. 2013 Jul;18(7):751-7. doi: 10.1038/mp.2013.70. Epub 2013 May 28.
Humans and other organisms have adapted to a consistent and predictable 24-h solar cycle, but over the past ~130 years the widespread adoption of electric light has transformed our environment. Instead of aligning behavioral and physiological processes to the natural solar cycle, individuals respond to artificial light cycles created by social and work schedules. Urban light pollution, night shift work, transmeridian travel, televisions and computers have dramatically altered the timing of light used to entrain biological rhythms. In humans and other mammals, light is detected by the retina and intrinsically photosensitive retinal ganglion cells project this information both to the circadian system and limbic brain regions. Therefore, it is possible that exposure to light at night, which has become pervasive, may disrupt both circadian timing and mood. Notably, the rate of major depression has increased in recent decades, in parallel with increasing exposure to light at night. Strong evidence already links circadian disruption to major depression and other mood disorders. Emerging evidence from the past few years suggests that exposure to light at night also negatively influences mood. In this review, we discuss evidence from recent human and rodent studies supporting the novel hypothesis that nighttime exposure to light disrupts circadian organization and contributes to depressed mood.
人类和其他生物已经适应了一致且可预测的 24 小时太阳周期，但在过去的 130 年左右，电灯的广泛使用已经改变了我们的环境。人们不再根据自然的太阳周期来调整行为和生理过程，而是根据社交和工作时间表来适应人造的光周期。城市光污染、夜班工作、跨时区旅行、电视和电脑极大地改变了用于调节生物节律的光照时间。在人类和其他哺乳动物中，光线由视网膜检测到，内在光敏视网膜神经节细胞将这些信息投射到生物钟系统和边缘脑区域。因此，夜间普遍存在的光照暴露可能会破坏昼夜节律和情绪。值得注意的是，近年来，随着夜间光照暴露的增加，重度抑郁症的发病率也在增加。强有力的证据已经将昼夜节律紊乱与重度抑郁症和其他情绪障碍联系起来。过去几年的新证据表明，夜间暴露于光线下也会对情绪产生负面影响。在这篇综述中，我们讨论了最近来自人类和啮齿动物研究的证据，这些证据支持了一个新的假设，即夜间暴露于光线下会破坏昼夜节律的组织，并导致抑郁情绪。
