magazine
42
Workplace
Light therapy is well known as
a means of alleviating seasonal
affective disorder (SAD), aiding sleep
and improving feelings of well-
being, but could it also reduce the
heightened risk of type 2 diabetes
amongst night shift workers?
This is the question Cambridge-based
light therapy specialist Lumie is hoping
to answer through its participation in the
EuRhythDia research project into type 2
diabetes.
EuRhythDia is a consortium of 15
European universities and research-led
SMEs, including Lumie. The main task
of the project, which involves 325 night
shift workers, is to find out how different
interventions in at-risk groups impact
the body’s circadian rhythms, or body
clock, to reduce the risk of developing
type 2 diabetes.
According to the NHS, in 2010 there
were approximately 3.1 million people
aged 16 or over in the UK with diabetes
(diagnosed and undiagnosed). By 2030,
this figure is expected to rise to 4.6
million, with 90% of those affected having
type 2 diabetes. Night shift workers have
a five-fold higher risk of developing type 2
diabetes than individuals who have never
worked night shifts.
The study interventions are designed
to improve participants’ adjustment
to disrupted sleep-wake patterns by
positively influencing their body clocks.
One of the groups, made up of 65
night shift workers, is undergoing light
therapy treatment in four different study
centres in Germany, Italy and Austria.
For this study, Lumie has supplied Lumie
Brazil, its most powerful lightbox for
optimum bright light therapy. Lumie
Brazil delivers 10,000lux at about 35cm
and is a certified medical device.
Workers undergoing three or more
consecutive night shifts receive light
therapy daily; light is applied during the
first half of the night shift and switched
off during the second half. In addition,
they receive light therapy at home on
off-night shift days, for up to one hour
during the first three hours after waking
up. Otherwise, the workers maintain the
same living habits (diet, exercise) and
sleep-wake patterns on non-night shift
days that they did before the study.
Project coordinator, Prof Rainer Böger
from the University Medical Center
Hamburg-Eppendorf in Germany, said:
“The study participants feel very satisfied
with this intervention. Those who have
already finished the study reported that
their subjective well-being was much
improved by the light therapy. They were
not only able to cope better with the
work at night, but they also observed
that it took them less time to re-adjust
to a normal day-night cycle after
the night shifts. This helped them to
maintain their social life more easily.”
EuRhythDia researchers now aim to
study if, beyond the subjective well-
being of the study participants, this
treatment also helps to reduce the risk
of developing chronic diseases, such as
diabetes mellitus.
“We are eager to see if light therapy
offers an easy and effective means of
helping to maintain the health of our
working population. The light therapy
devices can conveniently be placed on any
work desk, our study participants report.
Many of them asked if they could keep
the light therapy device even after the end
of the study.” explained Professor Böger.
Lumie CEO Jonathan Cridland added:
“Lumie prides itself on being at the
forefront of research into light therapy
and is delighted to be able to participate
in this potentially significant project.
The therapeutic impact of light on our
body clock and its particular benefit to
shift workers is already clear and it’s
an effective and relatively inexpensive
treatment. It is exciting to think light
therapy might now also be shown
to reduce the risk of a shift worker
developing type 2 diabetes.”
/
Could Lumie light boxes become standard
issue for night workers? That all depends
on the results of an on-going European
research project.
Light fantastic
Re-thinking Think
Steelcase has
launched a sleeker
version of its THINK
chair. Reflecting the
changing nature of
the workplace, the
new look Think is
claimed to combine
the comfort and
adjustability of a task
chair with the flexibility of a conference
chair. Continuing Think’s tradition of
sustainability – it was the first chair to
receive Cradle-to-Cradle environmental
certification when launched in 2004 –
Steelcase has used pre-consumer recycled
polyamide instead of virgin polyamide
for a number of parts and designed the
chair with recycling in mind. Think can
be disassembled in five minutes with
common hand tools and even the 3D
mesh versions are easy to take apart at
end of life.
Get up, stand up
Wilkhahn’s Stand-
Up brings a bit of
fun to the office or
home. Perfect for
recreational and
breakout zones,
workshop spaces
and lobbies and
waiting areas, it is
designed to encourage group dynamics
and creativity. The self-righting stool
is shaped like an ice cream cone and is
available in red, orange, green, light blue
and black.
Hand-sculpted mouse
Logitech has launched its most advanced
wireless mouse to date. Hand-sculpted
for comfort, control and speed, the MX
Master Wireless Mouse (£79.99) has a
speed-adaptive scroll wheel that lets you
shift automatically from click-to-click to
hyper-fast scrolling and a thumbwheel
for side-to-side scrolling and page
switching. Using Bluetooth Smart
Technology or the Logitech Unifying
receiver, you can pair the mouse with
up to three devices running a variety of
operating systems and switch between
them at the press of a button.
We are eager
to see if light
therapy offers
an easy and
effective
means of
helping to
maintain
the health of
our working
population.
