Health and Lighting Sarah
Mabry
8-29-12
In
new evidence and research is leading scientists to gain a greater understanding
of how light is affecting our health.
For the past 120 years humans have been exposed to artificial lighting. The exposure to light is impacting out health
by increasing cancer rates, effecting Alzheimer’s disease, and diabetes. Increasing cancer rates are beginning to
appear in people who work at night.
Night shift working nurses are at a higher risk for breast cancer in
particular. Workers who chose to work at
night are going against their natural circadian rhythms that allow the body to
sleep. Melatonin the hormone that is
crucial for sleep is the link researchers are using to study why these rates
are going up. When working at night a
person body is exposed to one bright light source. The hormone melatonin is not released when
the body wants to naturally with the changes in light. Abnormal release of this hormone is not healthy
for the body. Researchers are also
looking at the color of light and how that affects the brain. Studies have been conducted exposing men to a
blue light and a red light. It has been
shown that men exposed to the blue lights were having trouble going to
sleep. This was not the case with a red
light. More and more blue light is being
used in technology and other products.
The exposure to these lights are contributing to how our health. Designers are one of the crucial elements in
building to controlling these issues.
The more knowledge designers have on the subject allows for change in
occur.
No comments:
Post a Comment