Daylight has been associated with multiple health advantages. Some of these claims are associations, hypotheses or beliefs. This review presents an overview of a scientific literature search on the proven effects of daylight exposure on human health. Studies were identified with a search strategy across two main databases. Additionally, a search was performed based on specific health effects. The results are diverse and either physiological or psychological. A rather limited statistically significant and well-documented scientific proof for the association between daylight and its potential health consequences was found. However, the search based on specific health terms made it possible to create a first subdivision of associations with daylight, leading to the first practical implementations for building design.
Purpose:The International Commission on Illumination (CIE) recommends researchers to investigate a widevariety of behavioural and health outcomes. However, researchers often investigate only a part of occupationalhealth (OH) in relation to light. A literature study (2002–2017) regarding the relationship between office lightingconditions and OH was performed to identify gaps and methodological issues.Method:The OH outcomes investigated in this paper were grouped according to the International Classificationof Diseases and analysed per category: physical and physiological health, mental health, eye health, sleep param-eters and visual comfort.Results:Findings from the literature study (20 eligible papers) showed that all OH aspects were mostly but notexclusively measured subjectively. Furthermore, most studies investigated only a fraction of office lighting par-ameters and OH aspects.Conclusions:It seems that Correlated Colour Temperature (CCT) and illuminance mainly correlate with OH.However, this may also be explained by gaps and methodological issues in studies described in eligible papers.Based on the literature study, an overview was composed elucidating gaps and methodological issues of officelighting and OH studies. It can be used to design and target the purpose of light and health research.
Light enables us to see and perceive our environment but it also initiates effects beyond vision, such as alertness. Literature describes that at least six factors are relevant for initiating effects beyond vision. The exact relationship between these factors and alertness is not yet fully understood. In the current field study, personal lighting conditions of 62 Dutch office workers (aged 49.7 ± 11.4 years) were continuously measured and simultaneously self-reported activities and locations during the day were gathered via diaries. Each office worker participated 10 working days in spring 2017. Personal lighting conditions were interpreted based on four of the six factors (light quantity, spectrum, timing, and duration of light exposure). Large individual differences were found for the daily luminous exposures, illuminances, correlated colour temperatures, and irradiances measured with the blue sensor area of the dosimeter. The average illuminance (over all participants and all days) over the course of the day peaked three times. The analysis of the duration of light exposure demonstrated that the participants were on average only exposed to an illuminance above 1000 lx for 72 minutes per day. The interpretation of personal lighting conditions based on the four factors provides essential information since all of these factors may be relevant for initiating effects beyond vision. The findings in the current paper give first in-depth insight in the possibilities to interpret personal lighting conditions of office workers.
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