Natural daylight during office hours improves glucose control and whole-body substrate metabolism.

Jan-Frieder Harmsen, Ivo Habets, Andrew D Biancolin, Agata Lesniewska, Nicholas E Phillips, Loic Metz, Juan Sanchez-Avila, Marit Kotte, Merel Timmermans, Dzhansel Hashim, Soraya S de Kam, Gert Schaart, Johanna A Jörgensen, Anne Gemmink, Esther Moonen-Kornips, Daniel Doligkeit, Tineke van de Weijer, Mijke Buitinga, Florian Haans, Rebecca De Lorenzo, Hannah Pallubinsky, Marijke C M Gordijn, Tinh-Hai Collet, Achim Kramer, Patrick Schrauwen, Charna Dibner, Joris Hoeks

Journal: Cell metabolism 2026;38(1):65-81.e10

PMID: 41418772

Abstract

Because 80%-90% of our time is spent indoors and daylight is the main synchronizer of the central biological clock, the chronic lack of daylight is increasingly considered as a risk factor for metabolic diseases, such as type 2 diabetes. In a randomized crossover design (NCT05263232), 13 individuals with type 2 diabetes were exposed to natural daylight facilitated through windows vs. constant artificial lighting during office hours for 4.5 consecutive days. Continuous glucose monitoring revealed that participants spent more time in the normal glucose range, and whole-body substrate metabolism shifted toward a greater reliance on fat oxidation during daylight. Primary myotubes cultured from skeletal muscle biopsies displayed a phase advance after daylight exposure. Multi-omic analyses revealed daylight-induced differences in serum metabolites, lipids, and monocyte transcripts. Our findings suggest that natural daylight exposure has a positive metabolic impact on individuals with type 2 diabetes and could support the treatment of metabolic diseases.

Copyright © 2025 The Author(s). Published by Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

Address: Department of Nutrition and Movement Sciences, NUTRIM Institute of Nutrition and Translational Research in Metabolism, Maastricht University Medical Center, Maastricht, the Netherlands; Healthy Living Spaces Lab, Institute for Occupational, Social and Environmental Medicine, Medical Faculty, RWTH Aachen University, Aachen, Germany; Chair of Healthy Living Spaces, Faculty of Architecture, RWTH Aachen University, Aachen, Germany.; Department of Nutrition and Movement Sciences, NUTRIM Institute of Nutrition and Translational Research in Metabolism, Maastricht University Medical Center, Maastricht, the Netherlands.; The Thoracic and Endocrine Surgery Division, Department of Surgery, Geneva University Hospitals, Geneva, Switzerland; Department of Cell Physiology and Metabolism, Faculty of Medicine, University of Geneva, Geneva, Switzerland; iGE3 Center, Geneva, Switzerland; Diabetes Centre, Faculty of Medicine, University of Geneva, Geneva, Switzerland.; The Thoracic and Endocrine Surgery Division, Department of Surgery, Geneva University Hospitals, Geneva, Switzerland; Department of Cell Physiology and Metabolism, Faculty of Medicine, University of Geneva, Geneva, Switzerland; iGE3 Center, Geneva, Switzerland; Diabetes Centre, Faculty of Medicine, University of Geneva, Geneva, Switzerland; Service of Endocrinology, Diabetology and Metabolism, Department of Medicine, Geneva University Hospitals (HUG), 1211 Geneva, Switzerland.; Molecular Discovery Platform, CeMM Research Center for Molecular Medicine of the Austrian Academy of Sciences, Vienna, Austria.; Department of Nutrition and Movement Sciences, NUTRIM Institute of Nutrition and Translational Research in Metabolism, Maastricht University Medical Center, Maastricht, the Netherlands; Paracelsus Medical University, Research Program Medical Science, Nuremberg, Germany.; Department of Nutrition and Movement Sciences, NUTRIM Institute of Nutrition and Translational Research in Metabolism, Maastricht University Medical Center, Maastricht, the Netherlands; Department of Radiology & Nuclear Medicine, NUTRIM Institute of Nutrition and Translational Research in Metabolism, Maastricht University Medical Center, Maastricht, the Netherlands.; Department of Nutrition and Movement Sciences, NUTRIM Institute of Nutrition and Translational Research in Metabolism, Maastricht University Medical Center, Maastricht, the Netherlands; IRCCS Ospedale San Raffaele, Department of Immunology, Transplantation and Infectious Diseases (DITID), Milan, Italy.; Department of Nutrition and Movement Sciences, NUTRIM Institute of Nutrition and Translational Research in Metabolism, Maastricht University Medical Center, Maastricht, the Netherlands; Healthy Living Spaces Lab, Institute for Occupational, Social and Environmental Medicine, Medical Faculty, RWTH Aachen University, Aachen, Germany.; Chronobiology Unit, Groningen Institute for Evolutionary Life Sciences, University of Groningen, Groningen, the Netherlands; Chrono@Work, Groningen, the Netherlands.; Diabetes Centre, Faculty of Medicine, University of Geneva, Geneva, Switzerland; Service of Endocrinology, Diabetology and Metabolism, Department of Medicine, Geneva University Hospitals (HUG), 1211 Geneva, Switzerland.; Charité - Universitätsmedizin Berlin, Freie Universität Berlin, Humboldt Universität zu Berlin, Laboratory of Chronobiology, Berlin, Germany.; Institute for Clinical Diabetology, German Diabetes Center, Leibniz Institute for Diabetes Research at Heinrich Heine University Düsseldorf, Düsseldorf, Germany; German Center for Diabetes Research (DZD), Partner Düsseldorf, Neuherberg, Germany; Clinical Epidemiology, Leiden University Medical Center, Leiden, the Netherlands. Electronic address: [email protected].; The Thoracic and Endocrine Surgery Division, Department of Surgery, Geneva University Hospitals, Geneva, Switzerland; Department of Cell Physiology and Metabolism, Faculty of Medicine, University of Geneva, Geneva, Switzerland; iGE3 Center, Geneva, Switzerland; Diabetes Centre, Faculty of Medicine, University of Geneva, Geneva, Switzerland. Electronic address: [email protected].; Department of Nutrition and Movement Sciences, NUTRIM Institute of Nutrition and Translational Research in Metabolism, Maastricht University Medical Center, Maastricht, the Netherlands. Electronic address: [email protected].
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