{UAH} DOES YOUR SMARTPHONE OR TABLET HAS A BLUE LIGHT?

How using a smartphone or tablet could make you FAT: Blue light emitted by devices 'increases hunger'

• Exposure to the light increases hunger levels for several hours
• It even increases hunger levels just after a person has eaten a meal
• It is not yet known why there is a link between blue light and hunger

By Emma Innes

Published: 16:13 GMT, 3 June 2014 | Updated: 20:49 GMT, 3 June 2014

Using a computer or smartphone at night can cause us to pile on the pounds, new research has revealed.

The study found a link between blue light exposure - blue light is emitted by smartphones and tablets - and increased hunger

It found that exposure to the light increases hunger levels for several hours and even increases hunger levels after eating a meal.

Using a computer or smartphone at night can cause people to pile on the pounds, new research has revealed

Results of the US study show that blue-enriched light exposure, compared with dim light exposure, was associated with an increase in hunger that began 15 minutes after light onset and was still present almost two hours after the meal.

Blue light exposure has also already been shown to decreased sleepiness in the evening increasing the risk of insomnia.

Study co-author Ivy Cheung, of Northwestern University, in Chicago, said: ‘A single three-hour exposure to blue-enriched light in the evening acutely impacted hunger and glucose metabolism.

‘These results are important because they suggest that manipulating environmental light exposure for humans may represent a novel approach of influencing food intake patterns and metabolism.’

The findings are published in the science journal Sleep and were presented today at an annual meeting of the Associated Professional Sleep Societies in Minneapolis.

The study group comprised 10 healthy adults with regular sleep and eating schedules who received identical carbohydrate-rich meals.

Exposure to the blue light these devices emit increases people's hunger levels meaning they tend to eat more and are more likely to gain weight

They completed a four-day trial under dim light conditions, which involved exposure to less than 20 lux during 16 hours awake and less than three lux during eight hours of sleep.

On day three they were exposed to three hours of 260 lux, blue-enriched light starting 10.5 hours after waking up, and the effects were compared with dim light exposure on day two.

Ms Cheung said more research is needed to determine the mechanisms of action involved in the relationship between light exposure, hunger and metabolism.

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