The health-relevant architecture of the everyday light exposome
Year: 2026
Type: preprint
Study design: Observational Study
Abstract: Light supports circadian regulation and is associated with non-communicable diseases, yet ocular exposure patterns remain poorly understood. We recruited 191 adults across nine sites in seven countries, combining diaries and contextual reports with near-eye (141 participants; 816 participant-days) and complementary chest-level measurements (154 participants; 902 participant-days). In near-eye analyses, only 24.0% of recorded daytime minutes met the recommendation of at least 250 lx melanopic equivalent daylight illuminance; 63.3% of pre-sleep and 87.7% of bedside sleep-environment minutes met their respective limits. Variation among people and days within sites exceeded that among sites (ratio 1.99; 95%-CI, 1.29–4.77). In hourly models, light source and setting contributed the largest shares of fitted variation after time of day. Site-average outdoor exposure was 9.35 times that while awake at home (95%-CI, 6.95–12.59; 714.2 versus 76.4 lx). This baseline identifies a daytime exposure gap and supports testing interventions in everyday settings to improve light exposure and health.
Authors: Johannes Zauner, Altug Didikoglu, Sam Aerts, Gabriel Kwaku Agbeshie, Kwadwo Owusu Akuffo, Sena Gulsum Akgun, Sema Nur Aydin, David Baeza Moyano, Daan Boesten, John F.B. Bolte, Kai Broszio, Guadalupe Cantarero García, Roberto Alonso González Lezcano, Carolina Guidolin, Sarina Hilden, Nico Hogervorst, Astrid Jansen, Zeynep Kayar, Stefan Källberg, Suyoun Lee, Sofía Melero Tur, Maria Nilsson Tengelin, María Concepción Pérez Gutiérrez, Andrea Sancho-Salas, Oliver Stefani, Ingemar Svensson, Helga von-Breymann, Manuel Spitschan
Institutions: Technical University of Munich, Izmir Institute of Technology, University of Manchester, The Hague University of Applied Sciences, Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology, Universidad San Pablo CEU, Fundación Universitaria San Pablo CEU, National Institute for Public Health and the Environment, Federal Institute for Occupational Safety and Health, Max Planck Institute for Biological Cybernetics, RISE Research Institutes of Sweden, Universidad de Costa Rica, Lucerne University of Applied Sciences and Arts
Language: English
Subfield: Endocrine and Autonomic Systems
Field: Neuroscience
Domain: Life Sciences
Open Access status: green
OpenAlex ID: W7164040237