Numerous scientific studies have shown that lack of natural daylight reduces productivity and worker satisfaction. Modern workplace design focuses heavily on wellness, as more and more companies realize that the indoor environment must cater first and foremost to its workers, as they are the end users.
The benefits and impact of natural daylight can be clearly observed in environments such as the workplace, schools, and even hospitals. Take for example schools in the US, where studies show that schools with the best daylighting conditions experience a 20-26% faster rate of improvement over a one year period compared to those with the lowest provision of windows in California.
In hospitals, studies have shown that nurses exposed to more than three hours of daylight every day reported significantly less work related stress and higher job satisfaction levels. The benefits can also be observed in patients; those exposed to more daylight reported a decreased need to take analgesic medication per hour.
BE Offices, in collaboration Dr. Kerstin Sailer, co-founder of Brainybirdz and workplace scientists, put together the available research on the impact of daylight in the workplace and how it affects performance, with the hopes of casting more light on the importance of well-designed spaces, and what can be done to more proactively address this issue.
“We all intuitively know that daylight is important, but how much of this is scientifically proven? Seeing the hard facts on the impact of daylight on perceptions of stress, productivity, mood and sleep patterns shows how crucial daylight is to the rhythms and physiological responses of the human body.