The Benefits of Natural Light

Everyone from scientists and teachers to optometrists and dermatologists are now touting the benefits of natural light. Following are some of the positive effects sunlight is credited with providing:

• Improves moods and combats depression
  
• Boosts energy and increases production levels
  
• Makes interior spaces appear larger
  
• Renders colors true
  
• Reduces eyestrain
  
• Conserves energy
• Brings the outdoors in

Research Finds Health, Happiness and Sunlight Closely Linked
Everyone loves a bright sunny home, but who would have thought that those good ole’ natural rays could have such a profound impact on you?

Recent studies reveal that natural light not only brightens your home, but actually boosts your spirits and keeps you healthier.

Putting Kids to the Test
A two-year study of five elementary schools conducted in Canada by the Alberta Department of Education tracked the health benefits in schoolchildren exposed to daylight as opposed to traditional electric lighting. The study found:

• Exposure to full-spectrum light resulted in better attendance (3.5 fewer days absent a year)
• Students in daylit rooms had better dental records (nine times less tooth decay)
• Students in daylit classrooms grew more (more than 3-4-inch in two years)
• Daylit libraries had significantly reduced noise levels, due to increased concentration levels among the children
• Daylighting induced more positive moods, resulting in better scholastic performance

An Indoor Society
Lifestyles today have changed to the extent that as much as 90 percent of our time is spent indoors, away from natural light. Daniel F. Kripke, a researcher with the University of California San Diego, surveyed adults in San Diego, who wore wrist meters to register the amount of sunlight they received during the day. The study found that the majority was only exposed to sunlight for less than one hour per day and some did not go outdoors at all during a 48-hour period.

Of course, most of us do not have the luxury of being outdoors as much as we would like. That is why daylighting – techniques which optimize the use of natural light to illuminate interiors – is becoming increasingly popular not only for its ability to dramatically transform a room, but also for its natural healing powers.

Lighten Up: Moods and Light Go Hand in Hand
The power of light to rejuvenate the body and mind – treating everything from lethargy to "winter blahs" to clinical depression – has been suspected for thousands of years, but only recently have scientific studies revealed evidence of the correlation.

One of the largest studies on the use of light to treat clinical depression was published in 1992 in the journal Biological Psychiatry. Dr. Kripke administered light treatment to 25 depressed hospitalized patients at a VA hospital. Patients who were exposed to natural white light were significantly less depressed than those in artificial light.

An estimated 90 percent of humans suffer from seasonal mood changes during the winter months and up to 10 percent of those suffer from the condition known as seasonal affective disorder, or SAD, characterized by fatigue, gloom, change in appetite, fitful sleep and despair. The most effective treatment for these symptoms is, quite naturally, exposure to more light. Studies indicate that the time between sunrise and sundown is the key factor in SAD, rather than the lack of sunny days or cold temperatures.

Productivity: Workers Powered by Daylight
Lighting for all workers has long been a concern in many European countries, where construction codes dictate the maximum distance a worker can be from a window as well as how much of a building’s light must come from the outdoors. (In the Netherlands, for example, that figure is 37 percent.)

These ideas are starting to make their way to the United States, reinforced by data showing that the rewards can extend beyond aesthetics to affect the companies’ productivity and bottom lines. Some examples include:

• *Wal-Mart installed skylights in half of its environmental demonstration store in Lawrence, Kans., resulting in significantly higher sales per square foot in the store’s daylit portion.
• A circuit board manufacturing facility in Southern California found a 45 percent decrease in absenteeism among its employees following a renovation project to daylight its work areas.
• Pennsylvania Power & Light reported absentee rates dropped 25 percent after natural light was introduced to its workforce.
• Workers in one area of Boeing stated natural light improved their ability to detect imperfections in jet panels by 20 percent.
• Lockheed Corp. found its facility, designed with natural lighting techniques, accounted for a 15 percent drop in absenteeism, with productivity also claimed to be significantly increased.
• A study at two federal facilities in the Washington D.C. area questioned nearly 2,000 occupants who sat near an exterior window, finding that less expressed dissatisfaction with their workplace than their counterparts in the inner core of the building. The same respondents also had 10 to 15 percent fewer health complaints.