The Effect of Blue-enriched White Light on Cognitive Performances and Sleepiness of Simulated Shift Workers: A Randomized Controlled Trial.

Abstract

Shift work is associated with reduced performance and efficiency, the current study aimed at investigating whether blue-enriched white light could improve workers' performance. The study, which adopted a randomized controlled trial, was conducted among 48 simulated shift workers. The participants performed sustained attention task, working memory task, and sleepiness task during night shift work. The data was analyzed using two-way repeated measure ANOVA. The results indicated that, compared to conventional light, participants' correct responses of the sustained attention significantly increased when they were exposed to blue-enriched white light, correspondingly, the commission errors and omission errors declined. Furthermore, the blue-enriched white light had a significant effect on the decrease of sleepiness. However, the working memory was not significantly affected. Exposing to blue-enriched white light can improve sustained attention and reduce sleepiness.