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Lighting Your Way to Health by Elaine Ireland Now that winter is upon us with shorter days, light — natural light, that is — is not so plentiful. Yet light has a powerful effect on us — the amount of light, the kind of light and the color of light. The more natural light we get, the better it is for us. Turning on artificial lights not only involves the use of electric energy, which we're all trying to reduce, is not as effective — and not even as good for us as natural light. Ever hear of Seasonal Affective Disorder (SAD) ? or winter depression? Its believed to be related to the lack of healthy quantities of full-spectrum light — the kind that natural daylight provides. Whether you're affected to the degree of SAD or just want to optimize your health through the winter months, now is the time to assess how light may be affecting your life and consider some options for improving it. So what can we do? We've recently re-reviewed "The Heatlhy Home: An Attic-to-Basement Guide to Toxin Free Living" by Linda Mason Hunter. Its a classic resource guide bursting with a wealth of information. One chapter in particular, "Creating A Healthy Emotional Atmosphere: Light and Health' has peeked our interest again. Below are some highlights of this chapter about the little know relationship between light and health — particularly emotional health. Sunlight provides the total electromagnetic spectrum of wavelengths in which all life has evolved on this planet. Artificial light lacks many of these segments, delivering a different mix. You can see it clearly with colors and how they vary as the light may change in a room from light source to light source, say from daylight to an incandescent to a fluorescent. What's not so apparent is how light effects subtle changes in our moods and in living cells. Discovery of this phenomenon was reported by John Ott from his photobiology experiments of plant life under observation through the microscope. He discovered that artificial lighting drastically altered the natural activity of cells. Although some say this is controversial, it has opened up a new area of studies still being conducted in this field of photobiology — how light interacts with life. As Ms. Hunter's book lists, there are several findings that research shows us what the effects of light — or lack of it — have on us. These include: * Many ailments can be directly attributed to artificial lighting, such as fatigue, depression and decreased performance. • Hyperactivity, heart rate and blood pressure have been shown to be affected by an imbalance of artificial light to natural light. • Depression can be associated with a sensitivity to light. • Vitamin D deficiency can occur without adequate exposure to natural light Short of being outside all day, what can you do to get a healthy dose of natural light? Ms. Hunter lists a Prescription for Good Lighting in a Healthy Home. Daylighting •Lots of natural, unfiltred daylight entering through windows on at least two sides of every room •Window area in each room should equal at least one-tenth the room's floor area •Eliminate glare •Thermal shading on south-facing windows and skylights •Architectural integrity, even if skylights and clerestories have been added. Artificial Lighting •Safe lighting, indoors and out •When using compact fluorescent bulbs, make sure they're color corrected •A well-thought-out artificial lighting scheme using background lighting and task lighting in every room •Uniform background lighting in all rooms with a switch right inside the door •Light that matches the mood and character of each room •Consider the age of the occupants (See Mariana Figueiro's article on 'Aging Eyes')
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