Human
Lighting of Office Environment Influences Overall Health
Kathleen Lees
First Posted: Aug 08, 2014 03:45 PM EDT
Previous studies have shown that various environmental factors essentially contribute to our overall health. Now, a recent study published in the Journal of Clinical Sleep Medicine found that the light office exposure could essentially determine sleep duration, quality, amount of physical fitness and overall quality of life.
Researchers found that offices with natural light exposures had healthier employees. More specifically, work environments with windows had employees with 173 percent more white light exposure during work hours and slept an average of 46 minutes more per night than employees who did not have natural light exposure in their workplace.
"There is increasing evidence that exposure to light, during the day, particularly in the morning, is beneficial to your health via its effects on mood, alertness and metabolism," said senior study author Phyllis Zee, M.D., a Northwestern Medicine neurologist and sleep specialist, in a news release. "Workers are a group at risk because they are typically indoors often without access to natural or even artificial bright light for the entire day. The study results confirm that light during the natural daylight hours has powerful effects on health."
Zee noted that a relatively simple design solution to deal with the issue could involve workstations within 20 to 25 feet of the peripheral walls that contain windows.
To further study the idea, researchers examined a group of 49 day shift office workers; 27 in windowless workplaces and 22 in workplaces with windows. All participants were measured based on health-related quality of life and sleep quality via self-reports. Light exposure, activity and sleep were also measured via actigraphy in a representative subset of 21 participants; 10 in windowless workplaces and 11 in workplaces without windows.
Actigraphy, also known as a single device worn on the wrist that measures light exposure, can also determine activity and sleep. Researchers used this recorded data to determine activity levels during walking time and to calculate sleep time.
"Light is the most important synchronizing agent for the brain and body," said Ivy Cheung, co-study author and Ph.D. candidate in neuroscience in Zee's lab at Northwestern. "Proper synchronization of your internal biological rhythms with the earth's daily rotation has been shown to be essential for health."
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First Posted: Aug 08, 2014 03:45 PM EDT
Previous studies have shown that various environmental factors essentially contribute to our overall health. Now, a recent study published in the Journal of Clinical Sleep Medicine found that the light office exposure could essentially determine sleep duration, quality, amount of physical fitness and overall quality of life.
Researchers found that offices with natural light exposures had healthier employees. More specifically, work environments with windows had employees with 173 percent more white light exposure during work hours and slept an average of 46 minutes more per night than employees who did not have natural light exposure in their workplace.
"There is increasing evidence that exposure to light, during the day, particularly in the morning, is beneficial to your health via its effects on mood, alertness and metabolism," said senior study author Phyllis Zee, M.D., a Northwestern Medicine neurologist and sleep specialist, in a news release. "Workers are a group at risk because they are typically indoors often without access to natural or even artificial bright light for the entire day. The study results confirm that light during the natural daylight hours has powerful effects on health."
Zee noted that a relatively simple design solution to deal with the issue could involve workstations within 20 to 25 feet of the peripheral walls that contain windows.
To further study the idea, researchers examined a group of 49 day shift office workers; 27 in windowless workplaces and 22 in workplaces with windows. All participants were measured based on health-related quality of life and sleep quality via self-reports. Light exposure, activity and sleep were also measured via actigraphy in a representative subset of 21 participants; 10 in windowless workplaces and 11 in workplaces without windows.
Actigraphy, also known as a single device worn on the wrist that measures light exposure, can also determine activity and sleep. Researchers used this recorded data to determine activity levels during walking time and to calculate sleep time.
"Light is the most important synchronizing agent for the brain and body," said Ivy Cheung, co-study author and Ph.D. candidate in neuroscience in Zee's lab at Northwestern. "Proper synchronization of your internal biological rhythms with the earth's daily rotation has been shown to be essential for health."
See Now: NASA's Juno Spacecraft's Rendezvous With Jupiter's Mammoth Cyclone