Nature and science of sleep

Brighter Blue-Enhanced Light to Boost Alertness and Performance in Rotating Night Shift Workers

Updated

Abstract

A 4.5-fold increase in melanopic illuminance significantly improved alertness and performance in night shift workers.

  • Exposure to higher intensity, blue-enriched lighting led to significant improvements in subjective sleepiness and reaction times during night shifts.
  • KSS scores and mean reaction times on the Psychomotor Vigilance Task were significantly better during the lighting intervention compared to traditional lighting.
  • The number of lapses in reaction time on the PVT also decreased significantly with the blue-enriched lighting condition.
  • No significant differences in self-reported mood were observed between the two lighting conditions.

Simplified

Key numbers

22.4 ms
Decrease in PVT Reaction Time
Measured at the end of the night shift under intervention lighting.
1.9
Reduction in PVT Lapses
Average number of lapses at the end of the shift compared to traditional lighting.

Full Text

We can’t show the full text here under this license.

Funding

Competing interests

TLS reports her institution has received equipment donations or other support from Philips Lighting, Philips Respironics, Optalert™ and Compumedics and she has received consultancy fees and reimbursement of travel expenses from Vanda Pharmaceuticals; Grants from National Health and Medical Research Council (NHMRC); Endorsement. NHMRC Enabling Grant # 343020 from Australasian Sleep Trials Network. SAF reports grants from the National Health and Medical Research Council, during the conduct of the study. BR, MM and DJK report no conflicts of interest in this work. RRG has provided consulting services to Merck and Teva and has been a medico-legal expert witness for Queensland Health, NSW Nurses Federation, NSW Health and NSW Director of Public Prosecutions. SWL has no conflicts of interests related to the research or results reported in this paper. In the interests of full disclosure, commercial interests are listed below. SWL has received consulting and personal fees and grants from the Atlanta Falcons, Pegasus Capital Advisors, KBR Wyle Services, EyeJust Inc, Paul, Weiss, Rifkind, Wharton & Garrison LLP, McCullough Hill Leary PS, View Inc, Rec Room, Delos Living, Estee Lauder, Roxbury Latin School, MIT, Stockgrand Ltd, from the CRC for Alertness, Safety and Productivity, Australia (nonprofit), Vanda Pharmaceuticals, Phillips Lytle, Wiley (Journal of Pineal Research), Atlanta Hawks, BHP Billiton, Noble Insights, Slingshot Insights and Team C Racing; honoraria and/or paid travel from BHP Billiton, DIN, Emory University, IES, Ineos, SLTBR, Solemma and Teague; has current consulting contracts with Akili Interactive, Apex2100 Ltd., Consumer Sleep Solutions, Headwaters Inc, Hintsa Performance AG, Light Cognitive, Lighting Science Group Corporation, Mental Workout, PlanLED, Six Senses, Stantec and KBR Wyle Services; has received unrestricted equipment gifts from Bionetics Corporation and F. Lux Software LLC and royalties from Oxford University Press; and has served as a paid expert in legal proceedings related to light, sleep and health. He holds a patent through Harvard University and Brigham and Women’s Hospital for “Systems and Methods for Determining and/or Controlling Sleep Quality.” He has 50% ownership (no monies received to date) from iSleep PTY. He is a member, Scientific Advisory Board (unpaid) for Midwest Lighting Institute. SWR reports that he has served as a consultant through his institution to Vanda Pharmaceuticals, Philips Respironics, EdanSafe, The Australian Workers’ Union, National Transport Commission, Transport Accident Commission, Teva Pharmaceuticals, and Circadian Therapeutics, and has through his institution received research grants and/or unrestricted educational grants from Vanda Pharmaceuticals, Takeda Pharmaceuticals North America, Philips Lighting, Philips Respironics, Cephalon, Rio Tinto, BHP Billiton and ResMed Foundation, and reimbursements for conference travel expenses from Vanda Pharmaceuticals. His institution has received equipment donations or other support from Optalert™, Compumedics, and Tyco Healthcare. He has also served as an expert witness and/or consultant to shift work organizations. He served as a Program Leader for the CRC for Alertness, Safety and Productivity, Australia, and is the current Chair of the Sleep Health Foundation.
PubMed

What Lands in Your Inbox Each Week:

  • 📚7 fresh studies
  • 📝plain-language summaries
  • direct links to original studies
  • 🏅top journal indicators
  • 📅weekly delivery
  • 🧘‍♂️always free