ArticleJournal of affective disorders2021
Time spent in outdoor light is associated with mood, sleep, and circadian rhythm-related outcomes: A cross-sectional and longitudinal study in over 400,000 UK Biobank participants.
Article in Journal of affective disorders, 2021. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 81 papers, 2 of them syntheses that pooled it.
What it found
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The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.
The trial behind it
Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.
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Who cites it
81 citing papers in PubMed, 2 syntheses or guidelines pooled it, 170 citations in OpenAlex.
- Ocular light and optical radiation exposure as a modifiable environmental determinant of health: expert consensus on research gaps and priorities.BMC medicine · 2026Guideline
- Artificial light at night and risk of depression: a systematic review and meta-analysis.Environmental health and preventive medicine · 2024Pooled it
- Effects of light therapy on sleep and circadian rhythm in older type 2 diabetics living in long-term care facilities: a randomized controlled trial.Frontiers in endocrinology · 2024Trial
- Wearable-Derived Evening Motion Entropy and Morning Light Exposure Are Associated with Depressive Symptoms in University Students.Biosensors · 2026Article
- Daylight, Daily Rhythms, and Downstream Physiology: A Translational Study in Diurnal Nile Grass Rats (Journal of biological rhythms · 2026Article
- Light exposure and sleep architecture in real-world settings.Npj biological timing and sleep · 2026Article
- The Circadian-Light-Hygiene Hypothesis: A Potential Modulator of Fertility and Birthrate Trends.Biology · 2026Review
- Associations between habitual light exposure-related behaviors and sleep timing and sleep complaints in an international community sample.Scientific reports · 2026Article
- Functional and morphological alterations of light detection circuits in postmortem retina from donors with different stages of Alzheimer's-like pathology.Communications biology · 2026Article
- The Impact of Sunlight and Artificial Light at Night on Sleep Stages: Evidence From a 7-Day Sensor-Based Observational Study.JMIR mHealth and uHealth · 2026Observational
- Association between prescribed antidepressant medication and skin cancer (melanoma, basal cell carcinoma and cutaneous squamous cell carcinoma) risk: a systematic review and meta-analysis.Skin health and disease · 2026Review
- Omalizumab Therapy Results in Defined Behavioural Changes and Improvements in Quality of Life in Solar Urticaria.Photodermatology, photoimmunology & photomedicine · 2026Article
- Auxiliary data, quality assurance and quality control for wearable light loggers and optical radiation dosimeters.Npj biological timing and sleep · 2026Article
- Article
- Naturalistic light exposure patterns in relation to medication status, mood symptoms, and chronotype.Npj biological timing and sleep · 2026Article
- Structural resilience of skylights with perforated panels in healthcare facilities: a case study.Scientific reports · 2026Article
- Longitudinal associations of meteorological parameters during winter months in Sweden with self-reported symptoms of anxiety in the spring.International journal of biometeorology · 2026Article
- Health of teleworkers: a scoping review on the assessment of the work-from-home environment.Journal of occupational health · 2026Article
- Association between sleep, sunlight exposure, and multimorbidity in older adults with and without mental illness.Frontiers in public health · 2026Article
- Outdoor bicycle training following stroke: protocol development, feasibility testing and application guidelines.Frontiers in rehabilitation sciences · 2026Article
21 more citing papers are in PubMed but not listed here.
Corrections and comments
PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.
Authors and funding
6 authors at 3 institutions in 2 countries.
Funding
Abstract
backgroundLight has powerful effects on mood, sleep, and the circadian system. Humans evolved in an environment with a clear distinction between day and night, but our modern environments have blurred this distinction. Negative effects of light exposure at night have been well characterized. The importance of daytime light exposure has been less well characterized. Here we examine the cross-sectional and longitudinal associations of time spent in daytime outdoor light with mood, sleep, and circadian-related outcomes.
methodsParticipants were drawn from the UK Biobank cohort, a large study of UK adults (n = 502,000; 37-73 years old; 54% women).
resultsUK Biobank participants reported spending a median of 2.5 daylight hours (IQR = 1.5-3.5 h) outdoors per day. Each additional hour spent outdoors during the day was associated with lower odds of lifetime major depressive disorder (95% CI OR:0.92-0.98), antidepressant usage (OR:0.92-0.98), less frequent anhedonia (OR:0.93-0.96) and low mood (OR:0.87-0.90), greater happiness (OR:1.41-1.48) and lower neuroticism (incident rate ratio, IRR:0.95-0.96), independent of demographic, lifestyle, and employment covariates. In addition, each hour of daytime light was associated with greater ease of getting up (OR:1.46-1.49), less frequent tiredness (OR:0.80-0.82), fewer insomnia symptoms (OR:0.94-0.97), and earlier chronotype (adjusted odds ratio; OR:0.75-0.77). Auto-Regressive Cross-Lagged (ARCL) models were used to examine the longitudinal association of time spent in outdoor light at baseline with later mood-, sleep- and circadian-related outcomes reported at time point 2. Overall, longitudinal associations support cross-sectional findings, though generally with smaller effect sizes. LIMITATIONS: Future studies that examine the intensity of daytime light exposure at the ocular level are needed.
conclusionsOur findings suggest that low daytime light exposure is an important environmental risk factor for mood, sleep, and circadian-related outcomes.
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Registered trials
Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.