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The Role of Daylight for Humans: Gaps in Current Knowledge

Daylight stems solely from direct, scattered and reflected sunlight, and undergoes dynamic changes in irradiance and spectral power composition due to latitude, time of day, time of year and the nature of the physical environment (reflections, buildings and vegetation). Humans and their ancestors ev...

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Autores principales: Münch, Mirjam, Wirz-Justice, Anna, Brown, Steven A., Kantermann, Thomas, Martiny, Klaus, Stefani, Oliver, Vetter, Céline, Wright, Kenneth P., Wulff, Katharina, Skene, Debra J.
Formato: Online Artículo Texto
Lenguaje:English
Publicado: MDPI 2020
Materias:
Acceso en línea:https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC7445840/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/33089192
http://dx.doi.org/10.3390/clockssleep2010008
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author Münch, Mirjam
Wirz-Justice, Anna
Brown, Steven A.
Kantermann, Thomas
Martiny, Klaus
Stefani, Oliver
Vetter, Céline
Wright, Kenneth P.
Wulff, Katharina
Skene, Debra J.
author_facet Münch, Mirjam
Wirz-Justice, Anna
Brown, Steven A.
Kantermann, Thomas
Martiny, Klaus
Stefani, Oliver
Vetter, Céline
Wright, Kenneth P.
Wulff, Katharina
Skene, Debra J.
author_sort Münch, Mirjam
collection PubMed
description Daylight stems solely from direct, scattered and reflected sunlight, and undergoes dynamic changes in irradiance and spectral power composition due to latitude, time of day, time of year and the nature of the physical environment (reflections, buildings and vegetation). Humans and their ancestors evolved under these natural day/night cycles over millions of years. Electric light, a relatively recent invention, interacts and competes with the natural light–dark cycle to impact human biology. What are the consequences of living in industrialised urban areas with much less daylight and more use of electric light, throughout the day (and at night), on general health and quality of life? In this workshop report, we have classified key gaps of knowledge in daylight research into three main groups: (I) uncertainty as to daylight quantity and quality needed for “optimal” physiological and psychological functioning, (II) lack of consensus on practical measurement and assessment methods and tools for monitoring real (day) light exposure across multiple time scales, and (III) insufficient integration and exchange of daylight knowledge bases from different disciplines. Crucial short and long-term objectives to fill these gaps are proposed.
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spelling pubmed-74458402020-10-20 The Role of Daylight for Humans: Gaps in Current Knowledge Münch, Mirjam Wirz-Justice, Anna Brown, Steven A. Kantermann, Thomas Martiny, Klaus Stefani, Oliver Vetter, Céline Wright, Kenneth P. Wulff, Katharina Skene, Debra J. Clocks Sleep Opinion Daylight stems solely from direct, scattered and reflected sunlight, and undergoes dynamic changes in irradiance and spectral power composition due to latitude, time of day, time of year and the nature of the physical environment (reflections, buildings and vegetation). Humans and their ancestors evolved under these natural day/night cycles over millions of years. Electric light, a relatively recent invention, interacts and competes with the natural light–dark cycle to impact human biology. What are the consequences of living in industrialised urban areas with much less daylight and more use of electric light, throughout the day (and at night), on general health and quality of life? In this workshop report, we have classified key gaps of knowledge in daylight research into three main groups: (I) uncertainty as to daylight quantity and quality needed for “optimal” physiological and psychological functioning, (II) lack of consensus on practical measurement and assessment methods and tools for monitoring real (day) light exposure across multiple time scales, and (III) insufficient integration and exchange of daylight knowledge bases from different disciplines. Crucial short and long-term objectives to fill these gaps are proposed. MDPI 2020-02-28 /pmc/articles/PMC7445840/ /pubmed/33089192 http://dx.doi.org/10.3390/clockssleep2010008 Text en © 2020 by the authors. Licensee MDPI, Basel, Switzerland. This article is an open access article distributed under the terms and conditions of the Creative Commons Attribution (CC BY) license (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/).
spellingShingle Opinion
Münch, Mirjam
Wirz-Justice, Anna
Brown, Steven A.
Kantermann, Thomas
Martiny, Klaus
Stefani, Oliver
Vetter, Céline
Wright, Kenneth P.
Wulff, Katharina
Skene, Debra J.
The Role of Daylight for Humans: Gaps in Current Knowledge
title The Role of Daylight for Humans: Gaps in Current Knowledge
title_full The Role of Daylight for Humans: Gaps in Current Knowledge
title_fullStr The Role of Daylight for Humans: Gaps in Current Knowledge
title_full_unstemmed The Role of Daylight for Humans: Gaps in Current Knowledge
title_short The Role of Daylight for Humans: Gaps in Current Knowledge
title_sort role of daylight for humans: gaps in current knowledge
topic Opinion
url https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC7445840/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/33089192
http://dx.doi.org/10.3390/clockssleep2010008
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