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 Exposure to more light during the day and less light at night is
critical for healthy sleep patterns because it helps to calibrate
the body’s internal “circadian” clock, the study team writes in the
journal Sleep Health.
The results suggest that in office environments, being exposed
either to daylight or electric lights that are rich in short wave
“blue” light may be important for the health of workers, said lead
author Mariana Figueiro.
Many office buildings may actually be moving in the direction of
reducing light said Figueiro, program director at the Lighting
Research Center at Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute in Troy, New
York. “Much has been done to reduce light levels to promote energy
efficiency, which is important, but we may be going too far in this
direction,” she told Reuters Health by email.
“We need to start thinking about how we light our daytime
environments,” Figueiro added.
To see whether typical office workers get enough light to regulate
their sleep-wake cycle, the study team recruited participants in
five government office buildings across the United States.
A total of 109 employees working at the offices wore light-measuring
devices for one week in summertime to gauge their exposure to
different types of light throughout the day, and 81 of these
participants repeated the experiment in winter as well.
The office workers logged their sleep and wake times and completed
questionnaires about their mood and sleep quality at the end of each
study period.
Researchers found that people who were exposed to greater amounts of
light during the morning hours, between 8 a.m. and Noon, fell asleep
more quickly at night and had fewer sleep disturbances during the
night compared to those exposed to low light in the morning.
People getting more morning light were also less likely to report
feelings of depression and stress.
Office workers who were exposed to high levels of light all day,
from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m., also reported lower levels of sleep
disturbance and depression.
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“Individuals should think about their lighting environment at work,
and also some of their habits during the day (and before bed),” Ilia
Karatsoreos, an associate professor of integrative physiology and
neuroscience at Washington State University in Pullman, told Reuters
Health by email.
A lack of good quality sleep has been linked to mental and physical
health problems, including issues with mood, thinking, metabolism
and the immune system, said Karatsoreos, who was not involved in the
study.
“There are many easy things we can do during the day to increase our
exposure to sunlight that could have beneficial effects on mood and
sleep for many people,” Karatsoreos noted. “Perhaps leaving your
desk and getting out in the bright sun for lunch could help.”
“A robust light and dark pattern (high circadian effective light
during the day and low in the evening) is important for our health
and wellbeing,” Figueiro said.
“Look out a window, seek light during the day, especially during the
morning, go out during lunch time,” Figueiro advised.
SOURCE: http://bit.ly/2pPhvZM Sleep Health, online April 23, 2017.
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