Drs. Oz & Roizen

No doubt, it’s time to lighten up

Rosanne Barr, Al Roker and Rosie O’Donnell are outspoken about their weight-loss surgery and its life-changing benefits. Rosanne was a pioneer in 1998 when she hit 350 pounds on her 5-foot-4 frame; Al lost 150 pounds, regained 40, and has lost some again. Rosie chose the surgery after a heart attack at 50 scared her into action.

Not for you? Well, if you’ve been struggling to achieve a healthy weight, you may want to give nine servings of fresh produce daily, 10,000 steps a day and 7-8 hours of sleep nightly another try … but add this newly discovered, weightloss step into the mix: Get more natural light during the day and a lot less artificial light at night (those glowing screens are following you).

A new study in the Journal of Clinical Endocrinology & Metabolism found that exposure to more than three hours of artificial light at night resulted in a 10.2 percent gain in waist-to-height ratio and a 10 percent gain in BMI over 10 years! And that’s independent of calories eaten, physical activity or sleep patterns.

Also true: The longer a person was exposed to just 500 lux (a measure of luminosity) of natural sunlight and the longer nighttime light registered dim to dark, the greater the slim down. FYI: Indirect sunlight on a clear day delivers 10,000 to 25,000 lux; below 3 lux it’s nicely dark; twilight is around 10. This is a bright idea that’ll make it easier for you to lighten up!

(c) 2017 Michael Roizen, M.D. and Mehmet Oz, M.D.