If you spend lots of time on your mobile screen then this may not be good news for you. A recent study finds that spending too much time on gadgets may make you older earlier than normal. A recent study published in the journal Frontier in Ageing reveals that blue light that emits from gadgets have a bad effect on our brain cell and can lead to early ageing.
Let us find out more about this study.
Flies exposed to constant blue light
Nowadays we spend too much time on our mobile device, tablets, and computer that emits blue light. Blue light is characterized by high-energy short-wave light, scientists are already aware of its health hazard and potential damage to the eyes. But, the actual mechanism of bad effects on cells other than the corneal cells is not known.
Curious to find out how it can affect our brain cells, researchers choose genetically ablated fruit flies to study the ill effects of blue light. The purpose of choosing genetically ablated flies was to be able to find out the effect of blue light on cells that is not directly related to vision1. They carefully selected adult male flies 2-3 days old and separated them into two groups. One group of flies were constantly exposed to artificial blue light and another group to constant darkness for 10 to 14 days.
After the 14 days, the lifespan of each fly was measured. However, the findings related to flies constantly exposed to blue light were concerning.
Increased exposure to blue light linked with early ageing
Scientists found that in the cells in the head of blue light exposed flies, there was a significant alteration in the metabolism process, energy production and other cellular pathways as compared to flies exposed to constant darkness.
In the brain of light-exposed flies, marked neurodegeneration was observed including highly elevated levels of succinate but reduced levels of pyruvate and citrate, suggesting impairments in energy production. All changes suggest the changes associated with ageing.
The author is a physiotherapist who has been practising for the last 17 years. He owns a successful physiotherapy clinic named "Physiofirst" in Rourkela, Odisha, India.
He holds a Bachelor's in Physiotherapy (BPT) from SVNIRTAR (Swami Vivekananda National Institute of Rehabilitation and Research), one of the prestigious physiotherapy schools in India.
Taking every pain and disability case as a challenge is his motto. Whatever he learns dealing with his patient, he shares it with the world through blogs and e-books.
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