Abstract

Exposure to light at night is not an innocuous consequence of modernization. There are compelling data linking long-term exposure to occupational and environmental light at night with serious health conditions, including heart disease, obesity, diabetes, and cancer. However, far less is known about the physiological and behavioral effects of acute exposure to light at night. Among healthy volunteers, acute night-time light exposure increases systolic blood pressure and inflammatory markers in the blood, and impairs glucose regulation. Whether critically ill patients in a hospital setting experience the same physiological shifts in response to evening light exposure is not known. This paper reviews the available data on light at night effects on health and wellbeing, and argues that the data are sufficiently compelling to warrant studies of how lighting in intensive care units may be influencing patient recovery.

Extract

https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC8174656/

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By Nadia Ramlagan

May 14, 2021

NASHVILLE, Tenn. – Tennessee’s attorney general is part of a group that wants Facebook to stop its plans to create a kids’ version of Instagram.

The group contends using social media can be detrimental to children’s health and well-being, and that kids aren’t equipped to navigate the challenges.

Tennessee AG Herbert Slatery signed the letter, along with more than 40 other state attorneys general.

Facebook has said it wouldn’t show ads on the Instagram platform for kids under 13, but Tennessee Chief Deputy Attorney General Jonathan Skrmetti said ads or no ads, the platform will be designed to acclimate kids to social media at a time when they’re psychologically vulnerable.

“And so, they’re creating consumers,” said Skrmetti. “And they’re creating consumers who don’t recognize they’re going to potentially be commodified by these companies going forward.”

Read the article at https://www.publicnewsservice.org/2021-05-14/health/ags-urge-zuckerberg-to-halt-plans-for-kids-instagram/a74291-1

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European Parliamentary Research Service

Nov 6, 2020

It is increasingly recognised that the internet, in spite of all its benefits to society, can also be correlated with significant harms to individuals and society. Some of these harms have been studied extensively, particularly harms to privacy, harms associated with security and cybercrime, and harms resulting from digital divides. This video presents less studied but equally important harms: harms associated with internet use that concern the health, well-being a functioning of individuals, and the impact on social structures and institutions. It also lists some concrete policy options to be considered by the EU Institutions and Member States, to mitigate negative effects of the internet for European citizens. Read more in our publication: Potentially negative effects of internet use:

https://www.europarl.europa.eu/thinkt…

https://epthinktank.eu/2020/05/14/pot…

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