Impact of Light on Health and Welfare

After reading several articles on studies of light and the effects of light on health there were many interesting ideas that I had never heard of or thought of before. The study of Chronobiology was something very new to me. This is the idea that light exposure may have an influence on human health, physical and mental.
Growing up, or in school, I had always heard about sunlight having a positive effect on the body. I know and understand the sunlight provides Vitamin D and is important for human health. Being out in the sun, or even going to the tanning bed, would increase my happiness, or just make me feel better. I’ve also learned that people who live in areas of the world that do not receive as much sunlight tend to be more depressed and that there are higher suicidal rates in these areas.
While I have had knowledge of the effects of sunlight on health, it has never occurred to me that electrical lighting and daytime/night time lighting can have such an effect on the human body. I think the part that interests me the most would be how daytime and night time lighting has such a great effect on people. Most living species, including plants, respond to light and the changes in it. Humans respond to the daily (circadian) patterns of light and dark as well as the circannual or seasonal patterns of light. While I have previously understood how being awake at night and sleeping during the day can affect your natural rhythm of being asleep and awake, I have never known that it has a physical impact on your hormones and other parts of the body. Melatonin is a hormone that light has a great effect on. It promotes sleep and it is increased when there is no light. However, at night time, when the body is in light, this causes a negative effect on the body due to the melatonin levels. Another interesting point to think about is that energy efficient fluorescent bulbs may suppress melatonin production. If this is true, we need to seriously think about ways to keep melatonin at appropriate levels that promote good health. Other studies are showing that being exposed to light at night may cause an increase of breast cancer in women. An interesting fact to go along with that is blind women, even exposed to light, have lower than normal breast cancer rates because their melatonin is not being affected. Researchers are also looking into the impact of daylight savings time on health. After doing studies on people when daylight saving time takes place, they found that there was an association with sleep disruptions and possibly other serious problems.
I am beginning to understand the huge impact that lighting does have on health, both mental and physical. As a designer we have to be knowledgeable about who we are designing for. Light plays a very important part of any space. A change in lighting can completely change the experience of a space. While we strive to create aesthetically pleasing spaces, we must also strive to create physically and mentally healthy spaces. From the readings I gained that there are several important areas to consider when designing a space and thinking about light solutions. You must think about the site itself and how that will be planned out. You must also think about how the building will be oriented and where you will put items like windows and doors. Where and if there will be screens or shading is very important, as well as the amount and placement of electrical lighting.
As designers we need to challenge ourselves to find ways to create environments that healthy and go along with our natural circadian rhythms of light and dark. We cannot always assume that having more light is better; there is much more to it than that. We must also think about comfort of the lighting and how bright it is, whether or not there is a glare, is it safe and appropriate for egresses, and does it cause a change in temperature. Another thing we must be reminded of is that there is not only a need for light, but there is also a very important need for dark. I really like the idea of trying to find a way that you can make light individual for each person and their own needs, and also making it controllable. This would satisfy our needs for both light and dark and need to keep our circadian rhythms in check. The last important thing to remember would be that the sun is our “gold standard” for human light needs. If we are ever questioning light, and how much is appropriate and when we need it, we should look to the sun for that answer. I feel that the sun can really help us in making these important decisions as designers that will impact our health and welfare through light.