Benefits of Using Natural Light

Posted by Beni Restea on November 14th, 2022

Organizing your home in such a way that you benefit as much from natural light as possible may not always be easy. Still, it is something we should always consider when buying a new home, building one, or simply moving to another place. Natural light has many benefits, and this vital resource that makes it possible for us and anything else to survive on this planet is the key to our psychological and physical well-being.

While these benefits aren’t always promoted, as you’ll find plenty of articles on the damaging impact of sun exposure, almost 90% of our lives are spent indoors. This makes it difficult to experience those benefits, making them that much more unapproachable even if we are aware of them. It doesn’t matter where our modern lifestyle will take us. There is no way around our biological programming and the positives brought by sunlight exposure. Limitless exposure to artificial light brought by technological advancements that occur too fast for our natural evolution makes it so that our bodies, designed to work around the day and night cycle, no longer experience this cycle.

Living life outside this day and night cycle can cause massive adverse effects on our mental and physical health. Disregarding our Circadian Rhythm can lead to depression, irritability, fatigue, and many other issues. Thorough research and documentation resulted from years of studying the benefits of natural light on the human body. The following benefits will give you all the reasons to spend as much time in the sun as possible. With the proper precautions, obviously.

Benefits Natural Light brings to our Minds and Bodies

Throughout the thousands of years of evolution, the human body has had one continuous constant - exposure to natural light. While the human body can be exposed to many natural elements, the sun has been the most constant, and, except for a few periods when massive volcanic clouds blocked the sun, we have never had to go on without it.

We are exposed to sunlight daily, and our circadian rhythm makes us wake up when the sun rises and go to sleep when the sun is no longer visible in the sky. This rhythm governs the quality of our sleep and programs us to react and adapt to sunlight. Still, there’s more to sunlight than a good night’s rest.

Vitamin D Provider

While we know that sunlight is our basic source of vitamin D, we may not be as aware of its purpose in our organism. Without vitamin D our body can not absorb calcium, but together they give us strong bone development. These two vitamins help us develop through infancy and beyond, and without vitamin D, we can develop obesity, depression, and even multiple sclerosis.

The best way to obtain vitamin D is through exposure to natural light. Supplements can boost vitamin D, among others, and milk, but by ingesting too much, we are exposed to increased calcium levels in our blood. Vitamin D from the sun isn’t something that we take, but something that is produced by our bodies through sun exposure. There’s no risk of getting too much, as when the body has enough vitamin D, it just stops creating more.

Productivity and Focus

Productivity is something that we strive for in most aspects of our lives. Since we open our eyes in the first rays of sunlight and get ready for work, being focused and efficient are tools on which our jobs and lives are judged. Our work is evaluated depending on how much we can do with the limited amount of time and resources. Did you know that natural light makes us more productive?

Unfortunately, you can’t go for a 30-minute walk and boost your productivity by 30%. The math doesn’t math like that. However, natural light positively impacts productivity, and this can be seen in workplaces that provide ample natural light. Aside from sleep quality, natural light helps productivity, morale, focus, and efficiency and reduces absenteeism. Research has shown that it also increases the ability to remember numbers, backward.

Circadian Rhythm Balance

There’s a whole psychology of the effect light has on our bodies based solely on our circadian rhythm. This circadian rhythm aims to coordinate all the functions our bodies need during the 24-hour day cycle. Ideally, this circadian rhythm is reset daily to maintain synchrony with external environmental time. This can be achieved by regular exposure to light and darkness.

However, while we can achieve this by living outside, our modern lifestyles constantly expose us to artificial light that doesn’t follow any pattern and can trick our bodies into thinking it’s still daytime. Without regular sunlight exposure, our circadian rhythm gets unbalanced, but sleeping in rooms that allow natural light to wake us up can realign our circadian rhythm. Even a walk in the sun can reset it and improve our sleep and effectiveness during the day.

Psychological Wellbeing

Aside from the physical benefits that we get from natural light exposure, our moods are significantly improved on a sunny day. While countries in Northern Europe with limited amounts of sunlight during the six colder months of the year developed the concept of Hygge to counteract the adverse effects of lack of sunlight exposure, Seasonal Affective Disorder (SAD) has been researched extensively in the UK.

While waking up in the dark mornings of the winter months isn’t exactly chipperish, exposure to natural light combats psychological illnesses such as depression and anxiety. At the same time, studies demonstrated that access to natural light reduces stress levels. It’s clear that more sunlight positively impacts our psychological state, generally making us happier.

Central for Future Designs

Recognizing the importance natural light has in our modern lives and developing the technology to control the amount of natural light in our homes is an essential part of the future trends in architectural design. As it is proven that with plenty of sunlight in a home, you need less energy to provide light and help with mold, natural light is heavily used in future home designs and wellness architecture. While not particularly a benefit to our mental or physical well-being, natural light can be a benefit for our pockets. 

Architects and designers are developing new ways to use natural light for its physical and psychological impact on our well-being. They also aim to increase energy efficiency. Glass living environments take daylighting and use them to improve our well-being and daily living conditions. Now, if you’re wondering what “daylighting” is, know that it is a “controlled admission of natural light, direct sunlight and diffused-skylight to reduce electric lighting and save energy”. With natural light's psychological and physical benefits, we can significantly improve our homes, workspaces, and living environments. Only the future will tell us how appealing wellness architecture is to investors because its positive impact on our lives has been tried and tested in organized trials or individual lifestyle choices.

Conclusion

In our modern world, artificial lighting is an essential part of our lives. Before artificial lighting was invented, working hours were based solely on the sun and the amount of light that got inside working spaces. However, with the invention of artificial lighting, working hours became gruesome, and protests ensued. Still, we learned to live our lives dismissively toward natural light. We overlook its purpose and take it for granted most of the time. But just as our ancestors were 100% connected and in synchronicity with natural light, so we must learn to be. Knowing how it can benefit you is just one part of the key. The next one is to go outside and experience its benefits first-hand.