Nov 12 2023 55 mins 1
As part of the Daylight Awareness Week (13-17th of November 2023), Prof. Russell Foster (Head of the Nuffield Laboratory of Ophthalmology, and Director of the Sleep and Circadian Neuroscience Institute at the University of Oxford) talks about the differential impact of daylight and electric light on health. In the first part, we cover the basics of how daylight has shaped life on Earth and how it changes over the course of a 24-hour day. Prof. Foster further explains how light sets our inner time, the so-called circadian clock, and how light can influence sleep, alertness, cognitive performance, cardiovascular and metabolic health.
More information about the Daylight Awareness Week: https://daylight.academy/daylight-awareness-week-2023/
Chapters:
(0:00:00) Intro & Daylight Awareness Week
(0:02:20) Topics of this episode series
(0:04:34) Introducing Russell Foster
(0:11:22) Evolution through daylight
(0:16:38) Physical properties of light
(0:26:02) Discovery of how light sets the circadian clock
(0:37:01) Central & peripheral clocks
(0:41:00) Melatonin is the darkness hormone
(0:48:05) Physiological modulation by light
(0:53:05) Outro & Teaser to Part 2
