From Hollow Rock to LEDs

The first lamp was invented around 70,000 BC. A hollow rock, shell or other natural object was filled with moss or a similar material that was soaked with animal fat and ignited.

Jump a few thousand years, long before Thomas Edison patented his incandescent light bulb, British inventors were demonstrating that electric light was possible with the arc lamp. Today we take lighting for granted in most parts of the world.

Switching on lights and enjoying the convenience it brings is part of life, and we don't think too much about it.

Can lighting affect your health?

Lighting can affect people's health, and not always in a good way according to a new report, Lighting and health, written by respected lighting experts.

Adequate lighting and lighting controls are essential to enable people to work and move around a building.

Poor lighting, particularly lighting that causes glare, can give visual discomfort which may result in sore eyes, headaches, and aches and pains associated with poor body posture.

'These issues can be avoided by careful lighting design that meets the recommendations of codes and standards' comments Cosmin Ticleanu, one of the authors of the report. 'It is important for designers and building owners and occupiers to be aware of these issues'.

A substantial amount of research has been recently carried out into how lighting can affect health.

Providing daylight in buildings is often a convenient way to achieve the benefits of daytime light in regulating circadian rhythms, resulting in improved health and mood. In principle bright artificial light could give similar benefits.

Shift workers wearing amber glasses during night shifts to selectively block blue wavelengths show improvements in performance and sleep quality.

Light at night experienced through a red filter has been found to prevent a decrease in melatonin production without adverse effects on vigilance, performance, brightness and visibility.

Careful lighting design in care homes can improve the quality of life for both residents and staff.

Can light keep you awake at night and damage your brain?

There are growing concerns that constant exposure to light when it's dark damages our health by disrupting our circadian rhythm - the body's built-in clock. Artificial light affects the production of melatonin, a hormone released by the pineal gland in the brain.

Location of the Suprachiasmatic Nucleus (SCN), or master clock which controls circadian rhythms

According to Professor Jim Horne, former head of sleep research at Loughborough University 'Bright light at bedtime suppresses melatonin production, so is probably going to delay sleep and affect the body clock. But some people are more sensitive to it than others.'

Did you know...

2015 is the International Year of Light

Image credits

Thomas Edison

Location of the Suprachiasmatic Nucleus

Girl gaming

I work at IHS BRE Press, exclusive publisher to BRE. View our publications