It is the color of light and not luminosity that seems to have the biggest impact on the body clock than anything else, new research in this field has revealed.
As per the findings published in the PLOS Biology magazine on April 20, Monday, the neurons of the brain have been found to be more sensitive to changes in the color of the light between yellow to blue.
As part of the study, mice were subjected to different lighting conditions under a simulated setting that mimicked dawn and dusk environments. Researchers found body activity to be the warmest just after dusk, a period when the sky takes on a darker hue of blue.
However, when it's only the brightness factor that is changed with the color of light remaining unchanged, the mice was found to become more active before dusk. This allowed the scientist to conclude that the body clock of the mice was not in tune with the cyclic day and night changes, according to HNGN.
The research throws up some new light hitherto unknown as it's the brightness of light that so far was considered to be the sole factor that led to the functioning of an individual's body clock, be it in animals or humans, ScienceToday claimed.
"This is the first time that we've been able to test the theory that color affects the body clock in mammals," said Timothy Brown from the University of Manchester, England. "It has always been very hard to separate the change in color to the change in brightness but using new experimental tools and a psychophysics approach we were successful."
Scientists are already visualizing how the outcome of the research could be put to use in treating cases of sleep disorders, depression to even jet lag in future.