Falling asleep with the TV is bad for you, and science has the hamsters to prove it. Researchers at Ohio State University in Columbus conducted a study using the puffy cheeked rodents and found out that exposing them to dim lights during the night has a number of negative side effects, like depression, breast cancer, and weight gain.
“We’ve set up a link between exposure to light at night with depression in these animals,” said Tracy Bedrosian, a doctoral student at the college told Discovery. “If it does apply to humans, people might want to think about getting dark shades, not leaving the TV on all night long, and making sure to give themselves darkness when they go to sleep.”
The result of the research is a number of adorably depressed fur balls. “The darkness-deprived hamsters drank 20 percent less sugar water than the other group, for example, suggesting that they weren’t getting the same enjoyment out of activities that they used to find pleasurable,” writes Discovery. “The depressed group also gave up far sooner on a swimming activity.”
Researchers have, in the past, linked depression to artificial light. Exposure to light regulates te release of melatonin in the body, which affects all manner of bodily functions.
While I doubt the new Audiovox AVDBR1 is going to make it into in-dash units anytime soon, if you’ve been looking for a way to take your Blu-Ray movies on vacation with you and keep the passengers on the back of the car quiet for the duration of the trip, Audiovox has the solution. The new AVDBR1 plays both Blu-Ray and standard DVDs, and will retail for $349.99, making it a pricey addition to or replacement for the entertainment system in your family van.
