Lighting Devised to Help Shift Workers Regulate Body Clocks

Marc Hébert (Canada Foundation for Innovation)

Researchers at Université Laval in Quebec City, Canada developed blue lighting to help shift workers regulate their internal clocks, to stay alert when working and get sleep when needed. Marc Hébert (pictured left), an ophthalmology professor at Laval and researcher in the university’s mental health research center, invented the light and started a company to take the invention to market.

According to Canada Foundation for Innovation that funded Hébert’s research, about one-third of Canada’s employees work evening and overnight shifts that keep them awake at night and require them to sleep during the day. Many shift workers, such as police officers, firefighters, factory workers, and truck drivers, rely on aids like coffee, energy drinks, and medications to keep alert at night and sleep during the day. “Shift workers and their families know the toll that this lifestyle can take on their health,” Hébert notes.

Hébert’s research indicates the time when there’s the most blue in natural light is in the morning. The human brain is hardwired to  release daytime hormones at that time of day to keep an individual alert for the day, plus body temperature increases to its peak for maximum performance. For a night shift worker however this synchronization is more difficult, since the worker leaves the plant to go home and get some sleep while flooded with morning light.

The low level blue light devised by Hébert aims to resynchronize the shift worker’s body clock. The light simulates the sky and tricks the body into thinking it is daytime. Shift workers then wear special glasses to block the blue light, giving the body a signal that it is night, which causes the body to relax and prepare for sleep.

The Laval research team tested the blue light system in Quebec City police cars. Early results show Quebec City police officers who were exposed to the blue light fell asleep easier and slept longer than their counterparts who did not have the light in their cars. The researchers found similar results with workers at Canada Post and forest-products company Abitibi-Bowater who, on average, slept 40 minutes more when exposed to the blue light.

Hébert started a company, Chronophotonix Inc. in Quebec City to commercialize the technology. The company plans to develop the the technology for shift and night-time workers such as factory workers, truck drivers, quarry and mine workers, airline pilots, and police and fire emergency responders.

Read more:

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• Water Cooled Cap Helps Relieve Primary Insomnia

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