Scientists may have discovered why we feel more alert and energetic when in bright light. A new study determined that bright light affects the brain’s hypothalamus, a structure deep in the brain that acts as your body’s control center. Higher levels of light affect parts of the brain that can enhance cognitive performance and wakefulness, according to the new study.

The authors of the study say their results could pave the way for future research into how therapists can use light to reduce sleeplessness and improve cognitive deficits. Light therapy could also be utilized to improve mood and treat mood disorders.

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According to Study Finds, lead author Islay Campbell from the University of Liège in Belgium and her team used MRI scanners to assess the brains of 26 healthy young adults as they performed cognitive tasks while exposed to different levels of light, ranging from total darkness to extremely bright light. The researchers found that higher levels of light improved the participants’ scores on executive thinking tasks. The team used a technique called 7 Tesla functional magnetic resonance imaging to assess the effects of different light levels on areas of the hypothalamus during the tasks.

While the posterior hypothalamus did not appear to participate in improved cognitive function, it did have a strong association with emotional processing tasks. The researchers suggested that this could mean that the relationship between the hypothalamus and cognition may depend on the type of task involved. In some tasks, certain hypothalamus nuclei or neuronal populations may be recruited to increase performance, but not in others. Campbell said that when light levels are high, they influence certain brain cells and not others to boost cognitive performance.

With further research, the findings could be used to develop light therapy treatments, said a news release, to increase a person’s quality of sleep and mood, allowing them to feel more awake and perform tasks better throughout the day. The authors of the study said that is important to assess the impact of light on other structures of the brain to determine how varying light levels interact with the cortex, the outermost layer of the brain responsible for higher cognition.

“Targeting lighting for therapeutic use is an exciting prospect,” said Campbell. “However, it will require more comprehensive understanding of how light affects the brain, particularly at the subcortical level. Our findings represent an important step toward this goal, at the level of the hypothalamus.”