Summary
This review synthesizes how circadian rhythms change with aging, including fragmentation of sleep/wake cycles, with implications for lighting strategies that support healthy entrainment in older adults. Understanding ipRGC dysfunction in conditions like Parkinson's disease may inform tailored lighting designs that compensate for reduced melanopsin-driven photosensitivity.
Key Findings
- Circadian rhythms become increasingly fragmented with age, which is associated with detrimental health outcomes.
- Parkinson's disease is associated with impaired intrinsically photosensitive retinal ganglion cell (ipRGC) mediated pupil function, suggesting reduced capacity for non-visual light responses.
- Age-related disruptions to biological clocks are identified as a target for intervention to improve health and longevity in aging populations.
Categories
Dementia & Elder Care: Examines circadian rhythm disruption in aging populations, relevant to elder care lighting interventions.
Sleep & Circadian Health: Reviews changes in sleep/wake patterns and circadian rhythm fragmentation across the lifespan.
The Science of Light: Impaired ipRGC-mediated pupil function in Parkinson's disease connects photoreceptor biology to circadian entrainment deficits.
Author(s)
DS Joyce, B Feigl, G Kerr, L Roeder, AJ Zele
Publication Year
2017
Related Publications
Dementia & Elder Care
- Light therapy and Alzheimer's disease and related dementia: past, present, and future
- New strategies for neuroprotection in glaucoma, a disease that affects the central nervous system
- Sleep and circadian rhythms in Parkinson's disease and preclinical models
- Chronobioengineering indoor lighting to enhance facilities for ageing and Alzheimer's disorder
- The clock is ticking. Ageing of the circadian system: from physiology to cell cycle
Sleep & Circadian Health
- Phototransduction by retinal ganglion cells that set the circadian clock
- The mammalian circadian timing system: organization and coordination of central and peripheral clocks
- The twoāprocess model of sleep regulation: a reappraisal
- Melanopsin is required for non-image-forming photic responses in blind mice
- Strange vision: ganglion cells as circadian photoreceptors
The Science of Light
- Phototransduction by retinal ganglion cells that set the circadian clock
- Color appearance models
- The mammalian circadian timing system: organization and coordination of central and peripheral clocks
- Diminished pupillary light reflex at high irradiances in melanopsin-knockout mice
- Melanopsin is required for non-image-forming photic responses in blind mice