It is essential for professional lighting designers to understand that light, in addition to fulfilling the practical and aesthetic functions they are already familiar with, can also have a profound impact on our health and well-being. While light has traditionally been used for therapeutic purposes by most ancient cultures, since the beginning of the 21st century we are witnessing a remarkable acceleration in the amount of scientific research devoted to light medicine, with thousands of articles now published yearly. Lately there has been much talk in the lighting design community of "human-centric" aspects, such as melatonin suppression and blue light hazard. However, this is only the tip of the iceberg, with the surprisingly wide range of therapeutic applications of light going well beyond these topics. The purpose of this article is to provide a brief update on some of the latest research in the field, adapted to (and hopefully widening) the specific interests of lighting designers.
展开▼
