Natural light exposure and circadian rhythm: a potential therapeutic approach for disorders of consciousness

Circadian rhythms are internal timetables that exist in every cell of our bodies, including the brain, which has its own clock. These clocks work together to provide us with daily sleep, temperature, metabolism, mood, and gut microbiome rhythms. Inappropriate circadian rhythm entrainment can cause the sleep–wake cycle to be rather unstable, with many transitions between sleep and wakefulness happening during the 24-h cycle. Circadian rhythm disorders, such as temperature, heart rate variation, and sleep, are common in severely brain-injured patients and are not favorable to wakefulness and awareness. Angerer et al. mimicked dynamic daylight to entrain and stabilize the circadian cycles of disorders of consciousness (DOC). This firstly emphasizes the necessity of natural room lighting as an auxiliary therapy technique for normalizing circadian rhythms in patients with DOC.

natual light exposure and circadian rhythm a potential therapeutic approach for disorders of consciousness