February 2008

Q. I saw the clip on 2/20 on GMA with Dr. Savard talking about Light and Breast Cancer. The theory being that light at night surpresses the production of melatonin. I was floored to hear this. With no family history of the disease,I was diagnosed with Breast Cancer 4 years ago. So why was I the lucky one? I had a home invasion in1985 and for almost 12 to 15 years was unable to sleep without a light in my bedroom. It has only been in the last 7 to 10 years that I could go to a night light in my bedroom and them turn the light completely off. When I heard your report I had to wonder about this correlation. Where can I find additional information about this theory? Who is doing the research? Would love to read more about the research if you can point me in the right direction..

A. Thanks for taking the time to write about this story. The research was done at the Univ of Haifa in Israel where breast cancer is a major problem. If you google the WHO decision to list shift work as a probably carcinogen you will learn a lot more. I think there will continue to be much more research on this important topic.