Impact of light on human health

For 50 years now many surveys have been studied about light and its influence on the human body and also on animal behavior. It has been proved by scientists that our body has physical responses to light and dark patterns and we have a special hormone, which is produced by our body in the evening and during the night, this hormone is called melatonin which causes sleep. Also it is a circadian that we have, it means that during the night our bodies want to go to sleep and during the day they want to be awake this happen every day.

Some research have expressed the lack of normal light patterns in a significant amount of time could have negative effects on our health. These affects could be both physically and mentally. SAD or seasonal affective disorder is one of the effects of inadequate levels of daylight which probably many of us have this experience, in fall or winter when it is cloudy and the light is not shining as the summer is, some people have the experience of depression in these two season; fall and winter.

It has been expressed by scientists that inadequate light levels contribute to many health problems such as diabetes and could continue to other problems such as cancer. We also know that different colors have different affects on our body. Red is one of the colors that might makes one feel sleepy or blue could makes one awake. Different people have different experiences with light and its effects on the colors.

It is very important as a designer to provide adequate amount of light for spaces and pay attention to lighting affects related to health issues in our design.