Sunlight may help improve Type 2 diabetes, study suggests

BOSTON - Getting more sunlight might help people with Type 2 diabetes.

A mismatch between our internal circadian clocks and modern day living with greater time spent indoors and topsy-turvy schedules has been associated with metabolic disorders, including Type 2 diabetes. But greater exposure to daylight may help.

This was a small study conducted in the Netherlands and Switzerland that exposed 13 participants to two different light treatments over four-and-a-half days: natural light and artificial light. 

They found that those exposed to the natural light had blood sugars that stayed in the normal range for longer periods of time and evidence of improved metabolism compared to those exposed to the artificial light.

The scientists advise people who work in office buildings or live in housing without much natural light to get outdoors in the daylight as often as possible.

In:
• Health
• Type-2 Diabetes

Mallika Marshall, MD

Mallika Marshall, MD is an Emmy-award-winning journalist and physician who has served as the HealthWatch Reporter for CBS Boston/WBZ-TV for over 20 years. A practicing physician Board Certified in both Internal Medicine and Pediatrics, Dr. Marshall serves on staff at Harvard Medical School and practices at Massachusetts General Hospital at the MGH Chelsea Urgent Care and the MGH Revere Health Center, where she is currently working on the frontlines caring for patients with COVID-19. She is also a host and contributing editor for Harvard Health Publications (HHP), the publishing division of Harvard Medical School.

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