Dear Farzana,

Sunlight and human health has shown strong relation in terms of improving well being or causing serious disease.

Beauchemin and Hays found that treating patients in sunny hospital rooms can reduce their stays in hospital compared to other patients in dull rooms.The reference is here:

Kathleen M Beauchemin, Peter Hays “Sunny hospital rooms expedite recovery from severe and refractory depressions” Journal of Affective Disorders Volume 40, Issues 1–2, 9 September 1996, Pages 49–51.

Thank you so much Nader Aghakhani....Appreciate your help.

Dear Franza, 

this research discusses the link between day lighting and well being of patients from infection control perspective... if patients are safe, this will promote their well-being.. Hope it will be useful.

Alia

Dear Farzana,

Definitely it is imperative that the day light and its effect on the well being of the patient (specially the chronic and long stay hospital patients) has been proven beyond doubt , the reasons can be attributed these are many ; it includes the natures blessings, psychosomatic effects,a feeling of freshness and and of course a change from the typical inpatient dull bed settings.

I can say with conviction"  we humans are programmed to be outdoors while the sun is shining and home in bed at night"

Regards

The attached article may be of use to you :Environ Health Perspect. 2008 Apr; 116(4): A160–A167.

PMCID: PMC2290997

Benefits of Sunlight: A Bright Spot for Human Health

Thank you Sultan Salah for your article. Actually, I have read few interesting journals which intrigue my writings along with the knowledge expansion. However, I am trying to focus on some Architectural Design issues like facade or window treatment and some diffused lighting inside patient's ward along with outside view. Please forward me if you come across such an article or journals.

Regards,

Farzana 

Dear Farzana,

it has been proven that daylight is a very important factor for well beeing for people who spend long hours indoors. It influences their:

- circadian rythm (very important for hormonal ballance and normal functioning of sleeping cicle),

- physical well beeing (even vitamin D if window is open),

- has beneficial psicholoogical effects.

All that improves the healing process and shortens hospital stay. Regarding your interest in archtectural design issues, maybe this paper will help you:

KOŠIR, Mitja, KRAINER, Aleš, DOVJAK, Mateja, KRISTL, Živa. Automatically controlled daylighting for visual and nonvisual effects. Lighting research & technology, ISSN 1477-1535. [Print ed.], 2011, letn. 43, št. 4, str. 439-455, ilustr., doi: 10.1177/1477153511406520.

Regards,

Živa

Dear Živa,

I agree with you.

Of the many aspects of weather, sunshine is the most intimately tied to mood. Although the link is weaker than many people imagine, sunlight has repeatedly been found to boost positive moods, dampen negative moods and diminish tiredness.

Thank you so much Ziva for your article. It was an interesting and quite informative too. Appreciate your help.

Hi,

Sunlight is very important for all human beings, living things and for all aspects.  If we construct the building with sunlight is very useful to the hospitalized patients. Especially for long term staying patients and also the staff those who are working the same hospital (nurses).  The sunlight is one of the natural and no cost source.  The following are the sunlight uses:

Light impacts human health and performance by enabling performance of visual

tasks, controlling the body’s circadian system, affecting mood and perception, and by enabling critical chemical reactions in the body. The higher light levels are linked with better performance of complex visual tasks and light requirements increase with age. By controlling the body’s circadian system, light impacts outcomes in healthcare settings by reducing depression among patients, decreasing length of stay in hospitals, improving sleep and circadian rhythm, lessening agitation among dementia patients, easing pain, and improving adjustment to night-shift work among staff. The presence of windows in the workplace and access to daylight have been linked with increased satisfaction with the work environment. Further, exposure to light is critical for vitamin D metabolism in the human body. Light exposure also is used as a treatment for neonatal hyperbilirubinaemia.

Adequate and appropriate exposure to light is critical for health and well-being of

patients as well as staff in healthcare settings. A combination of daylight and electric light can meet these needs. Natural light should be incorporated into lighting design in healthcare settings, not only because it is beneficial to patients and staff, but also because it is light delivered at no cost and in a form that most people prefer.

References:

http://hiaconnect.edu.au/old/files/Hospital_Design_Review.pdf

http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/books/NBK2633/

http://www.minnesotamedicine.com/Past-Issues/Past-Issues-2008/March-2008/Clinical-Zborowsky-March-2008

http://www.academia.edu/696902/_HEALING_ARCHITECTURE_DAYLIGHT_IN_HOSPITAL_DESIGN

Dear Farzana and all,

I agree with all the views above about daylight entering the indoor space of hospital wards. My paper on daylight in hospital design is attached by  Senthilvel Vasudevan (Thank you).

However, I want to share with you and others that while we are excited about bringing daylight into wards, heat gain increases depending on the window size. Thus there is a need to achieve a balance between these two. I refer this as the conflicting issues - physical vs. physical (increase window size heat gain increase and thus warm and glare may occur) and physical vs psychological (reduce window size will have an effect on mood and daylight factor).

Simulation of all the parameters may provide an answer to achieve the appropriate size and windows design. I did this simulation and will put up a paper for journal soon.

On your query about outside view and opening. My thinking on the issue is that building orientation is one of the key factors influencing outside view, visual comfort and dayligting design in wards environment.

I am not a fan of this page (that's why I have been passive) but daylighting, hospital design and sustainability are my research interest.

I can also be contacted at [email protected]

Thank you

Srazali Aripin

Those devices are called sunlighting transmitting system via fibers. I developed some prototypes as shown in attachment.

[1]   Song J, Jin Z, Zhu Y, et al. Development of a fiber daylighting system based on the parallel mechanism and direct focus detection[J]. Solar Energy, 2015, 115: 484-493.

[2]   Song J, Zhu Y, Jin Z, et al. Daylighting system via fibers based on two-stage sun-tracking model[J]. Solar Energy, 2014, 108: 331-339.

Dear Jifeng Song, it is interesting to know about the device. I am surely going to follow about that. Thanks once again.

Dear Farzana

Daylight is still a factor affecting the state of mind of a patient. Who says beneficent light cure said said life. Should that light is not intense to avoid dazzling patients inevitably it is interesting to translucent materials

Thanks Fadel Djamel.

Dear Farzana,

Day light is critical to human functioning in that it allows us to see things and perform activities. But it is also important because it affects human beings psychologically and physiologically.

Several studies have documented the importance of light in reducing depression, decreasing fatigue, improving alertness, modulating circadian rhythms, and treating conditions .

Further, the presence of windows in the hospitals and access to daylight have been linked with increased satisfaction with the hospitalization environment.

Regards,