BALTIMORE, June 10 (UPI) -- Having a low birth-weight baby in the intensive care unit can disturb sleep of mothers, but bright light therapy improves their sleep, U.S. researchers say.
Study author Shih-Yu Lee of Georgia State University said extended periods of exposure to the artificial dim light in the ICU and stress related to the infant's medical condition can intensify sleep disturbances in the mothers.
"The preliminary findings from our pilot study indicate that bright light therapy given through use of the special visor may improve mothers' nocturnal sleep, decrease daytime sleepiness and be beneficial to their well-being," Lee says in a statement.
The subjects -- 16 first-time mothers -- were randomly assigned to either receive 10,000 lux blue-green bright light therapy for four weeks or placebo dim red light therapy. Total sleep time during the day and night was measured by averaging the data obtained from two consecutive days of wrist actigraphy monitoring.
After light treatment average nocturnal total sleep time increased from 6.38 hours to 7.07 hours -- sleep increased by an average of 41 minutes. The total sleep time in the control group mothers worsened from 6.88 hours to 6.22 hours.
The findings were presented at the 22nd annual meeting of the Associated Professional Sleep Societies in Baltimore.
