Study Links Workplace Daylight Exposure to Sleep, Activity and Quality of Life

June 3, 2013
Science Daily/American Academy of Sleep Medicine
A new study demonstrates a strong relationship between workplace daylight exposure and office workers' sleep, activity and quality of life

Compared to workers in offices without windows, those with windows in the workplace received 173 percent more white light exposure during work hours and slept an average of 46 minutes more per night. There also was a trend for workers in offices with windows to have more physical activity than those without windows. Workers without windows reported poorer scores than their counterparts on quality of life measures related to physical problems and vitality, as well as poorer outcomes on measures of overall sleep quality, sleep efficiency, sleep disturbances and daytime dysfunction.

"The extent to which daylight exposure impacts office workers is remarkable," said study co-author Ivy Cheung, a doctoral candidate in the Interdepartmental Neuroscience program at Northwestern University in Chicago, Ill.

"Day-shift office workers' quality of life and sleep may be improved via emphasis on light exposure and lighting levels in current offices as well as in the design of future offices," said Cheung.
Science Daily/SOURCE :http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2013/06/130603114000.htm