dLIGHTed Talks: Good Light – Good Sleep | April 24th, 2025 (4PM CEST)

Learn how light affects your sleep in presentations by Dr. Renske Lok and Dr. Jeffrey Hubbard and moderated by Dr. Virginie Gabel.

In our fast-paced, technology-driven world, where artificial light dominates our environments, the relationship between light and sleep has never been more critical. Exposure to the right type of light at the right time is essential for regulating our circadian rhythms—the internal clock that governs sleep and wakefulness. Insufficient light exposure in the morning or excessive light in the evening can disrupt sleep, impair alertness, and reduce productivity during the day. Join us as we explore how good light can optimize melatonin production, support restful nights, and enhance overall well-being.

SAVE THE DATE: April 24th, 2025 (4PM CET)

MODERATION

Dr. Virginie Gabel is a distinguished chronobiologist and sleep scientist based in Strasbourg, France. She earned her Ph.D. in Neurosciences from the University of Basel, Switzerland, and completed her postdoctoral research at Stanford University, USA, where she specialized in the effects of light and aging on human behavior, cognitive performance, and sleep.
Dr. Gabel’s research has also extended to field studies, exploring human adaptation to extreme environments such as deserts, jungles, caves, and snowy terrains. As an associate researcher at the University of Caen in Normandy, France, she investigated how these unique settings impact sleep and circadian rhythms.

In addition to her academic work, Dr. Gabel is the founder of Clock&Me, a consulting firm dedicated to helping organizations prevent occupational risks associated with sleep deprivation and circadian misalignment. Through training programs, seminars, and consultancy, she provides tailored solutions to enhance workplace well-being and productivity.
Dr. Gabel is deeply committed to science communication. While in the Bay Area, she coordinated the U.S. national nonprofit organization Taste of Science, which aimed to bring science into local communities and foster public engagement with scientific research. Today, she actively engages with students across age groups through classroom interventions to raise awareness about the importance of sleep, particularly focusing on the impact of screen use on their daily lives.

As a board member and science advisor for the Good Light Group, Dr. Gabel advocates the use of healthy indoor lighting and highlights the health benefits of natural light. Her interdisciplinary expertise, coupled with her dedication to outreach, continues to make a significant impact in advancing public understanding of sleep science and its vital role in human health and performance.

PRESENTERS

Dr. Renske Lok is a senior postdoctoral fellow in the Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences at Stanford University, where she is a prominent researcher in sleep and circadian sciences. Her work focuses on the non-image-forming effects of light on circadian rhythms and sleep-wake patterns. Dr. Lok earned her Ph.D. from the University of Groningen, studying the impacts of light on alertness, cognition, thermoregulation, and sleep before joining Stanford University.

Her research, supported by prestigious grants such as the NIH K99/R00 award and funding from the American Academy of Sleep Medicine, investigates the mechanisms underlying sleep-wake fragmentation and aims to develop innovative interventions to enhance sleep consolidation and mitigate cognitive decline in older adults. Dr. Lok’s interdisciplinary approach, integrating neuroscience, psychiatry, and chronobiology, has garnered numerous accolades, including recognition for the best dissertation of the academic year in the Cognitive and Behavioral Neuroscience field for her Ph.D. thesis, entitled: “Grasping light: Mental and physiological responses to illumination”.

As the Vice-President of the Society for Light, Rhythms, and Circadian Health, Dr. Lok is instrumental in advancing the field. Her commitment to science communication is demonstrated through her involvement on the board of advisors for the Center for Environmental Therapeutics and as a science advisor for the Good Light Group. Additionally, Dr. Lok is dedicated to promoting diversity, equity, inclusion, and belonging, exemplified by her role as a mentor for local community college students with an interest in science.

Talk: How daytime light exposure shapes nighttime sleep quality.

Light is more than just a visual stimulus—it plays a fundamental role in regulating various physiological and behavioral processes beyond vision. These non-image-forming effects include maintaining alertness, enhancing cognitive performance, and regulating melatonin production. While many people recognize the importance of light for wakefulness, its impact on sleep is often overlooked.

Sleep is fundamental to overall health and well-being, playing a critical role in immune function, cognitive performance, and emotional regulation. Our research, spanning both controlled laboratory experiments and real-world field studies, reveals that daytime light exposure has a profound impact on nighttime sleep quality. Specifically, exposure to high-intensity light during the day enhances sleep depth, minimizes nighttime awakenings, and improves overall sleep efficiency. These effects not only promote more restorative sleep but also reduce next-day sleep inertia, leading to greater alertness upon waking.

These findings have important implications for both public health and personalized sleep strategies. Given modern lifestyles, where many individuals spend the majority of their day indoors under artificial lighting, understanding how light exposure shapes sleep can help inform better lighting designs, workplace policies, and behavioral interventions to improve sleep health.

Dr. Jeffrey Hubbard is a distinguished translational researcher specializing in the regulatory mechanisms of sleep and waking behavior and clinical sleep disorders, currently based in Switzerland. He began his research career at Stanford University as a clinical research coordinator in the psychiatry department, which was followed by a PhD in fundamental neuroscience in sleep neurophysiology from the University of Strasbourg, France. He pursued clinical postdoctoral training at the Department of Neurology at Strasbourg University hospital. This was followed by senior scientist positions at the Center for Integrative Genomics at the university of Lausanne and the Laboratory of Integrated Performance in Design at EPFL. Dr. Hubbard has dedicated his career to understanding the intricate mechanisms of sleep and waking circuitry, the role of gene regulation, and how exposure to light and darkness impacts this behavior.

Outside of his work, Dr. Hubbard is committed to mentoring young scientists and fostering the next generation of researchers. Additionally, he serves as a consulting researcher at the Centre for Integrative Genomics in Lausanne and is an adjunct instructor for the Federal Office of Sports in Switzerland (BASPO). Dr. Hubbard’s contributions continue to shape the future of sleep research and its transformative potential for healthcare. He currently works as a clinical evidence generation lead and in medical affairs.