A brighter day

At the moment there is a lot of research into the effect light has on our bodies and the way sleep and activity is influenced with light.

In Videnskabens Verden they recently had a show dedicated to this subject. Bringing up a very interesting test of light on a radiology department at a major Danish hospital. (Rigshospitalet)
The show is available here but to best understand and appreciate it, you have to have a rudimentary understanding of Danish.

In the show they interview a leading Danish physiology professor and a doctor at the test ward.

The effect light has on our bodies is more profound than originally anticipated. The way our eyes interpret light hasn't changed since before fire was invented. Your body therefore wants to get up when its light enough to see and go to bed when its to dark to functionally do things. This hasn't changed, but the way we artificially create light has. The current 24 hour day, where you simply turn on a switch to extend your day has had a great effect on our sleeping patterns. We sleep increasingly less, and get stressed much more easily. Although it hasn't been proven yet, much of the research into the effect of sleep on your general mental health suggests that night is the time to recuperate and "heal" the brain. Without sleep you end up having too much stored, but not filed away, that you get stressed even dealing with small stimuli.
The experiment at Rigshospitalet is to change the way light is used during the day. Challenging the way we think about using light. The suggestion is to increase light from artificial sources in sync with the surrounding sunlight. This means that at noon the highest brightness is achieved, and at midnight the lowest intensity. The span between these to is held within the spectrum of tolerable light so as to keep the space occupied workable. One more feature is to move some of the light so that you achieve shadows as if the source was a window. This helps the brain to relax and distinguish shapes more easily, the previous method of trying to light every single surface has actually been hurtful the the way our brain interprets light.
They emphasised that you also need more of the blue spectrum of light that we have been using. Blue is harsher than the more soothing red light, given off by candles for instance, but stimulates more of the brain. Lastly they talked about the way darkness effects us. When darkness falls the brain produces a hormone called Melatonin that in effect is the exact opposite of adrenalin, it makes your body sleepy and also start the recuperation processes.

What I find interesting about this is that the place it has been implemented first is at a hospital ward. The way shifts are handled here with people coming to work either at 7 am, 3 pm or 11 pm, you naturally have someone coming in during the night for an extended period of time. This is actually not a big issue since giving your body time to reajust to a new cycle makes it easier to go back to daytime. Changing between the two frequently is where the hazard lies. Giving you the equivalent of jet lag each and every week.
By dimming the light at night, not making it too dark to work of course, and changing the light according to the outside intensity, you get a more natural feeling of light in the building and your rest/work cycles is much better.

In the experiment they had very big light fixture with both blue and red light bulbs (here actually as the long version, usually about 3 feet in length, coated with a film that either allows more blue or red light through.) attached to the center of the room, making shadows appear in the corners. In the windows they installed a sensor that measured the outside light, changing when its cloudy or the sun shone freely. A dimmer in the light fixture controlled 4 of the bulbs (2 blue and 2 red) independently and together to change the spectrum and intensity of the emitted light.
Personally I'd love to see the result for myself as I think this project has big promise. It would ease the tension most hospital stays can cause.

Lastly I'd really like to try this in my own home, making sure that you get proper sleep is apparently far more crutial than I thought.

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