This study aimed to investigate the relationship between individual natural light exposure, sleep need, and depression at two latitudes, one extreme with a few hours of light per day during winter, and the other with equal hours of light and darkness throughout the year.
This cross-sectional study included a sample of Brazilian workers (Equatorial, n = 488 workers) and a Swedish sample (Arctic, n = 1,273).
The reported mean total natural light exposure per 4-week cycle differed significantly between the Equatorial and Arctic regions. However, shiftworkers from both sites reported similar hours of natural light exposure. Short light exposure was a predictor for insufficient sleep.
Reduced exposure to natural light appears to increase the perception of obtaining insufficient sleep. Arctic workers were more prone to develop depression than Equatorial workers.
This research output has an Altmetric Attention Score of 108. This is our high-level measure of the quality and quantity of online attention that it has received. This Attention Score, as well as the ranking and number of research outputs shown below, was calculated when the research output was last mentioned on 20 February 2026.
All research outputs
#480,414
of 32,819,731 outputs
Outputs from PLOS ONE
#6,212
of 218,265 outputs
Outputs of similar age
#4,555
of 298,295 outputs
Outputs of similar age from PLOS ONE
#132
of 7,029 outputs
Altmetric has tracked 32,819,731 research outputs across all sources so far. Compared to these this one has done particularly well and is in the 98th percentile: it's in the top 5% of all research outputs ever tracked by Altmetric.
So far Altmetric has tracked 218,265 research outputs from this source. They typically receive a lot more attention than average, with a mean Attention Score of 17.1. This one has done particularly well, scoring higher than 97% of its peers.
Older research outputs will score higher simply because they've had more time to accumulate mentions. To account for age we can compare this Altmetric Attention Score to the 298,295 tracked outputs that were published within six weeks on either side of this one in any source. This one has done particularly well, scoring higher than 98% of its contemporaries.
We're also able to compare this research output to 7,029 others from the same source and published within six weeks on either side of this one. This one has done particularly well, scoring higher than 98% of its contemporaries.
