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Lisa Heschong () shared her insights as part of the session “Daylight and Human Health | New Opportunities for the Fenestration Industry,” which outlined daylighting research from the perspective of four different scientific aspects of health. She also shared what the fenestration industry can do to help further additional research in the future.

“Even 100 years ago, daylight and health was big news,” said Heschong. “It got a huge amount of ink. But now, we have vastly more scientific tools. Scientists are working in many areas that are converging on a similar conclusion: natural daylight exposure has enormous health benefits.”

This positive connection between daylighting and better human health presents the industry with a range of opportunities, Heschong said. She went over four different scientific fields related to the impact of natural light on human health: chronobiology, epidemiology, embryology and microbiology.

Chronobiology

“Melatonin is the concert master, setting [our internal] rhythm,” said Heschong. “In biology, timing is everything. It times metabolic function, perception, development and more.” Our eyes are uniquely sensitive to blue wave lights, she explained. Blue light during the day suppresses the production of melatonin. Then, at night, as blue light fades, melatonin begins to rise. “And we know how important that is to quality sleep and its benefits,” she said.

Epidemiology

Despite fears of increased skin cancer, more sunlight exposure for the 88,000 adults studied in the UK predicted lower skin cancer rates and better mental health. “There were 17 percent fewer deaths among those with the highest daytime light exposure studied,” said Heschong. “You can’t get to the same levels of sunlight with electric lighting.”

Embryology

Childhood development is an important aspect, too, said Heschong, and violet light can help. “There is a myopia [nearsightedness] epidemic in children, first noticed around the 1970s,” she said. It appears to be a developmental disease that stabilizes in adulthood, but it puts adults at much bigger risk for many eye diseases and even blindness. “At current rates, by 2050, 50 percent of adults around the world will be myopic according to the World Health Organization,” said Heschong. “Studies are looking at myopia prevention, and that includes studying light exposure.”

Microbiology

Molecular clocks control the timing of energy production and consumption, said Heschong. “A thing similar to photosynthesis is happening in the animal world, in which mitochondria in human cells are generating energy,” she explained. “I call this the mitochondria hypothesis. Somehow, mitochondria can absorb photons, activating them and producing more energy. All this is very preliminary, but there is a lot of credible evidence about the positive effect of light on metabolic function.”

What’s Next?

At this time, very few studies have considered indoor daylight, said Heschong. “The built environment is not yet considered a ‘modifiable factor’ in health,” she said. “Plus, neither public health or energy policy considers light and health. Most of the scientists doing this [research] do not know each other, and this work is rarely funded from traditional sources.”

To help change this, Heschong recommended those in the industry do the following:

• Educate themselves and form networks
• Lead the conversation
• Support research on indoor daylight
• Demand that building codes address public health

“There is a lot of opportunity here for the industry,” she concluded.

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