title: Intense illumination in the morning hours improved mood and alertness but not mental performance.
abstract: Cognitive performance and alertness are two determinants for work efficiency, varying throughout the day and depending on bright light. We conducted a prospective crossover study evaluating the impacts of exposure to an intense, early morning illumination on sustained attention, alertness, mood, and serum melatonin levels in 33 healthy individuals. Compared with a dim illumination, the intense illumination negatively impacted performance requiring sustained attention; however, it positively impacted subjective alertness and mood and had no impact on serum melatonin levels. These results suggest that brief exposure to bright light in the morning hours can improve subjective measures of mood and alertness, but can also have detrimental effects on mental performance as a result of visual distraction. Therefore, it is important that adequate lighting should correspond to both non-visual and visual demands.
authors.affiliation: Institute for Sports Medicine, Alpine Medicine & Health Tourism, Department for Medical Sciences and Health Systems Management, UMIT Hall & TILAK/LKI Innsbruck, Eduard-Wallnöfer-Zentrum 1, A-6060 Hall in Tirol, Austria. Electronic address: veronika.leichtfried@umit.at.
authors.forename: Veronika
authors.initials: V
authors.lastname: Leichtfried
authors.affiliation: Institute for Sports Medicine, Alpine Medicine & Health Tourism, Department for Medical Sciences and Health Systems Management, UMIT Hall & TILAK/LKI Innsbruck, Eduard-Wallnöfer-Zentrum 1, A-6060 Hall in Tirol, Austria.
authors.forename: Maria
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Mair-Raggautz
authors.affiliation: Institute for Sports Medicine, Alpine Medicine & Health Tourism, Department for Medical Sciences and Health Systems Management, UMIT Hall & TILAK/LKI Innsbruck, Eduard-Wallnöfer-Zentrum 1, A-6060 Hall in Tirol, Austria.
authors.forename: Viktoria
authors.initials: V
authors.lastname: Schaeffer
authors.affiliation: Central Institute for Medical and Chemical Laboratory Diagnostics, University Hospital Innsbruck, Tilak/LKI Innsbruck, Anichstraße 32, A-6020 Innsbruck, Austria.
authors.forename: Angelika
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Hammerer-Lercher
authors.affiliation: Institute for Sports Medicine, Alpine Medicine & Health Tourism, Department for Medical Sciences and Health Systems Management, UMIT Hall & TILAK/LKI Innsbruck, Eduard-Wallnöfer-Zentrum 1, A-6060 Hall in Tirol, Austria.
authors.forename: Gerald
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Mair
authors.affiliation: Bartenbach LichtLabor, Rinner Straße 14, A-6071 Aldrans, Austria.
authors.forename: Christian
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Bartenbach
authors.affiliation: Bartenbach LichtLabor, Rinner Straße 14, A-6071 Aldrans, Austria.
authors.forename: Markus
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Canazei
authors.affiliation: Institute for Sports Medicine, Alpine Medicine & Health Tourism, Department for Medical Sciences and Health Systems Management, UMIT Hall & TILAK/LKI Innsbruck, Eduard-Wallnöfer-Zentrum 1, A-6060 Hall in Tirol, Austria.
authors.forename: Wolfgang
authors.initials: W
authors.lastname: Schobersberger
mesh_terms: D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D000339:Affect / Q000528:radiation effects*; D001143:Arousal / Q000528:radiation effects*; D001288:Attention / Q000528:radiation effects*; D002940:Circadian Rhythm / Q000502:physiology*; D003071:Cognition / Q000528:radiation effects*; D018592:Cross-Over Studies; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008029:Lighting; D008297:Male; D008550:Melatonin / Q000097:blood; D008875:Middle Aged; D009483:Neuropsychological Tests; D011446:Prospective Studies
chemical_list: D008550:Melatonin
keywords: Bright light exposure; Melatonin; Sustained attention