I always notice how sunlight affects a flower near the window. The flower leans towards whichever direction the light is. But I haven’t ever thought that light could affect people like that too. The article by O’Connor, The Claim: Daylight Saving Time Can Affect Your Health, enlightened me on a subject that I was uneducated about. Daylight savings time is something exciting every October because I get an extra hour of sleep that night! The fact that this could be dangerous to my health is scary. I haven’t noticed any sleep disruptions or problems with my internal clock. But I can see how your body and its circadian, rhythm could be affected by this and potentially be dangerous.
Influence of Architectural Lighting on Health, by Eve Edelstein is another topic that was new to me. Seasonal Affective Disorder (SAD) is a condition involving prolonged exposure to inadequate levels of daylight (Edelstein, 2). This can cause dysfunction in a person’s immune and endocrine systems, and even cancer. Edelstein discusses the studies done of night shift nurses, factory workers and flight crew. Because of their almost constant exposure to electric and solar light, studies show increased cancer rates. Circadian rhythm is a body’s internal clock. Cardiac function responds to it and electric light almost instantly. Meaning daily heart rate patterns can also change under different environmental conditions (Edelstein, 2). These findings are all of importance to designers and other professionals because they could help to eliminate some of these problems that may be controllable.
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