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Women sleeping with bedroom lights on or artificial light trickling into the bedroom all night from outside increases their risk of breast cancer.

Long exposure to artificial lighting increases women's risk of breast cancer. According to researchers stronger the lighting higher the incidence of cancer. The more lit up a settlement was at night, the higher were the rates of breast cancer.

Researcher Itai Kloog of the University of Haifa in Israel explained, "The body produces the hormone melatonin at night, when it is dark. This hormone delays the growth of cancerous cells. Therefore, any reduction of this hormone in the blood as a result of exposure to artificial lighting constitutes another factor putting women at risk of falling ill with breast cancer."

In a survey of 100 women who suffered from breast cancer and 100 healthy women the researchers found that there was a significance difference between the group of cancer patients and the healthy group in their proximity to large shopping centers, malls, and entertainment areas. These places generally make use of "blue" lighting, which is much stronger than ordinary bulbs. They also have much more extensive lighting systems.

The University of Haifa researcher warns against artificial light trickling into the bedroom all night from outside. He advises shutting unnecessary house lights at night and to be careful not to fall asleep in front of a television that is left on. Deserted areas of the city, like an industrial area, should be blacked out at night, he feels.

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