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Good Places to Live and Sleep Well: A Literature Review about the Role of Architecture in Determining Non-Visual Effects of Light

Light plays a crucial role in affecting the melatonin secretion process, and consequently the sleep–wake cycle. Research has demonstrated that the main characteristics of lighting affecting the so-called circadian rhythms are spectrum, light levels, spatial pattern and temporal pattern (i.e., durati...

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Detalles Bibliográficos
Autores principales: Bellia, Laura, Fragliasso, Francesca
Formato: Online Artículo Texto
Lenguaje:English
Publicado: MDPI 2021
Materias:
Acceso en línea:https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC7908505/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/33498703
http://dx.doi.org/10.3390/ijerph18031002
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author Bellia, Laura
Fragliasso, Francesca
author_facet Bellia, Laura
Fragliasso, Francesca
author_sort Bellia, Laura
collection PubMed
description Light plays a crucial role in affecting the melatonin secretion process, and consequently the sleep–wake cycle. Research has demonstrated that the main characteristics of lighting affecting the so-called circadian rhythms are spectrum, light levels, spatial pattern and temporal pattern (i.e., duration of exposure, timing and previous exposure history). Considering that today people spend most of their time in indoor environments, the light dose they receive strictly depends on the characteristics of the spaces where they live: location and orientation of the building, dimensions of the windows, presence of external obstructions, geometric characteristics of the space, optical properties of walls and furniture. Understanding the interaction mechanism between light and architecture is fundamental to design non-visually comfortable spaces. The goal of the paper is to deepen this complex issue. It is divided into two parts: a brief historical excursus about the relationship between lighting practice and architecture throughout the centuries and a review of the available research works about the topic. The analysis demonstrates that despite the efforts of the research, numerous open questions still remain, and they are mostly due to the lack of a shared and clear method to evaluate the effects of lighting on circadian rhythm regulation.
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spelling pubmed-79085052021-02-27 Good Places to Live and Sleep Well: A Literature Review about the Role of Architecture in Determining Non-Visual Effects of Light Bellia, Laura Fragliasso, Francesca Int J Environ Res Public Health Review Light plays a crucial role in affecting the melatonin secretion process, and consequently the sleep–wake cycle. Research has demonstrated that the main characteristics of lighting affecting the so-called circadian rhythms are spectrum, light levels, spatial pattern and temporal pattern (i.e., duration of exposure, timing and previous exposure history). Considering that today people spend most of their time in indoor environments, the light dose they receive strictly depends on the characteristics of the spaces where they live: location and orientation of the building, dimensions of the windows, presence of external obstructions, geometric characteristics of the space, optical properties of walls and furniture. Understanding the interaction mechanism between light and architecture is fundamental to design non-visually comfortable spaces. The goal of the paper is to deepen this complex issue. It is divided into two parts: a brief historical excursus about the relationship between lighting practice and architecture throughout the centuries and a review of the available research works about the topic. The analysis demonstrates that despite the efforts of the research, numerous open questions still remain, and they are mostly due to the lack of a shared and clear method to evaluate the effects of lighting on circadian rhythm regulation. MDPI 2021-01-23 2021-02 /pmc/articles/PMC7908505/ /pubmed/33498703 http://dx.doi.org/10.3390/ijerph18031002 Text en © 2021 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 Review
Bellia, Laura
Fragliasso, Francesca
Good Places to Live and Sleep Well: A Literature Review about the Role of Architecture in Determining Non-Visual Effects of Light
title Good Places to Live and Sleep Well: A Literature Review about the Role of Architecture in Determining Non-Visual Effects of Light
title_full Good Places to Live and Sleep Well: A Literature Review about the Role of Architecture in Determining Non-Visual Effects of Light
title_fullStr Good Places to Live and Sleep Well: A Literature Review about the Role of Architecture in Determining Non-Visual Effects of Light
title_full_unstemmed Good Places to Live and Sleep Well: A Literature Review about the Role of Architecture in Determining Non-Visual Effects of Light
title_short Good Places to Live and Sleep Well: A Literature Review about the Role of Architecture in Determining Non-Visual Effects of Light
title_sort good places to live and sleep well: a literature review about the role of architecture in determining non-visual effects of light
topic Review
url https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC7908505/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/33498703
http://dx.doi.org/10.3390/ijerph18031002
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