Have you been wondering why natural light is so important in your home? The effect and benefits that come with natural light are incomparable. Exposure to sunlight has been linked with several improvements in the well-being and mood of the body. This is not only applicable to human beings but also animals and plants. It eliminates the need for artificial light, known to increase energy consumption and high electricity bills.
If you have been figuring out why natural light is so important in your home, this article will be explaining several reasons.
Beneficial to Plants
One of the aspects that one should understand in the growing of plants is the rule of limiting factors that determine the plant quality. Natural light is an essential variable in the growth of plants. Plants need light just like they need water from either rain or a residential garden irrigation system. If plants do not get enough light, they can’t grow to their full potential even if other variables are sufficient. Here are reasons why plant needs natural light.
- Sufficient light increases production: Light plays a significant role in photosynthesis, a process where plants convert sunlight into chemical energy. There should be enough light and carbon dioxide for the photosynthesis process to occur and ample spacing of plants to ensure enough light. It is during the photosynthesis process that plants split in a chemical reaction. Oxygen is converted into hydrogen, and carbon dioxide is converted into sugar. Experts have it that even a 1% increase in light will increase plant growth, resulting in a 1% increase in production. If you have trees that allow little light to reach your plants, you can do tree trimming. It is one way of increasing light to your plants. Since pruning trees requires professionalism and expertise, it is advisable to hire people offering tree services.
- Daylight integral improves plant quality: Daylight integral can be defined as the amount of light that plants get every day. It is comparable to rainfall that relies on rainfall density and duration. Daylight integral depends upon the intensity of the light duration, providing a direct signal of how much light is needed. Daylight integral reduces the rooting time of cuttings and seedlings while increasing crop quality with reduced energy levels.
Architects Are Embracing the Art
Professionalism and expertise are of the essence in every field. People are exercising the skills and knowledge to execute their duties or responsibility. When it comes to building and construction, architects are the experts, and their input in building and construction is valuable.
While in the past natural light has been regarded as ‘good to have’ but not crucial, it has turned out to be a vital factor in building and construction. This follows after the architect recognized that natural light in the building has excellent benefits to both humans and animals. Building houses with allowing sufficient natural light has been encouraged over recent years by the relevant construction and building authority bodies. Among the benefits attributed to natural light in the building include:
- Natural light brings well-being and efficiency: Natural light is embraced in different places since it is attributed to the wellness of the people around and the efficiency in that particular place. For instance, with the introduction of natural light in the office, workers demonstrate increased productivity and morale. When it comes to schools, natural light has proved to improve the results and concentration of the students in class. The same happens to hospitals; natural light enhances faster recovery. The church is also built with stained glasses to offer privacy that ordinary windows can’t do without blocking the light. These benefits can even go off-site. According to research by a northwestern university in Chicago, workers spending the better part of the day in the office have better and high-quality sleep. Because of the benefits and many more, architects have emphasized the importance of building homes, allowing more natural lights.
- Natural light saves energy: Natural light can save on energy. It eliminates the need for daytime lighting, a cost that can account for up to 40% of the energy used in commercial buildings. It reduces the heating, ventilation, and air conditioning costs, contributing to the commercial energy costs. Using natural lights is attributed to saving approximately 75% of the used energy in lighting and cooling the building.
Natural Light Increases Sales In Business
The light in storage also tells why natural light is so important in your home and business. To have enough light in the business translates to the better tracing of items without forgetting the ability to light up a dark room. Some of these come with advantages but not like it is with natural light.
Daylighting from natural light has proved to increase the volume of sales in retails stores significantly. Integrating designs such as access to natural lights and vents and including material low in chemicals has increased sales volume. Products stored in places lit by natural lights are said to sell faster than products in artificial lights.
Installing natural light at the checkout point facilitates the customers’ moods, making them spend more money. This has been experienced in big brand stores that use natural lights at the checkout point. They tend to register more sales compared to counterparts using artificial.
Optometry
If you have been looking for an excuse to spend most of your time outdoors, you are just lucky. This is especially important to people living in the apartment with tenant law preventing them from outdoor stay. According to recent research explaining why natural light is so important in your home, natural light can benefit one’s eyes, especially young people who are still growing.
It also means little or no exploitation by a medicare insurance agent due to reduced eye-related problems. If you can spend as little as three hours every day outdoors in natural light, it can have such a significant impact on your vision. It has proved to help children and young adults reduce the risks associated with myopia, commonly known as nearsightedness.
Natural light stimulates a chemical called dopamine found in the eye. Dopamine is responsible for the control of average growth and development of the eyeball. It is essential because if the eyeball is subject to artificial light and grows long and abnormally, it sends out-of-focus images to the retina caused by nearsightedness.
Natural light is vital to infants when exposed to it for at least three hours per day since their eyes are still in the development stages. That may sound like a lot of time for a young kid, but being outdoors for three hours doesn’t mean being direct to it. You can be outdoor but under the protection of shade, in cloudy conditions, and be exposed to natural light.
Natural light is not only helpful to young people but also to the elderly. Having older people exposed to natural light has been associated with a reduction in depression, helps in fighting Alzheimer’s dementia and other neuropsychiatric symptoms. Also, exposure of older adults to natural light increases the quality of their sleep and overall health.
Natural Light Matters in the Health of Our Pets
Like human beings, our furry friends need natural light to thrive and be happy. Pets are sensitive to natural light, and this is why you will notice your petting trying to get a nap on a brighter window. By exposing pets to artificial lights, you can’t guarantee the good health and well-being of pets. But with natural light, well-being and health assured, including other benefits like.
- Improving pet’s mood: Pets depend on natural light to have their mood stimulated. They have some of their body parts being photosensitive, like the eyes and skin, to allow them to do better, e.g., seeing in the dark more than a human being. If you expose the pets to natural light, it counters melatonin production, making their body feel active and less sleepy. Also, having them in the natural light can raise their serotonin levels, improving their mood and appetite. Besides, natural light from sunlight, especially in the morning hours, will have your pet’s brains boosted and geared towards a better metabolism and get them moving. One downside associated with artificial lighting is that pets get affected and change many things, including sleeping patterns.
- Source of vitamin D: Natural light is also helpful when it comes to boosting the bone health of pets. If you are a pet keeper, you might have realized why natural light is so important in your home. You must have discovered how much your furry friend enjoys the sunlight. Knowing how they benefit from the sunlight would give you a clear perspective on how natural light is essential to us and the pets. Just like human beings depend on sunlight to get vitamin D, so do pets. While they get the vitamin from food, sunlight also boosts the vitamin presence in their bodies for healthy bones. For example, every dog, especially the old one, will find it enjoyable to stretch in the warm sunlight. While sunlight can benefit your dog, be mindful of exposure time and always avail water in any dehydration for them to quench their thirst. Apart from the vitamin from natural light, there are other two benefits explaining why natural light is so important in your home. By dog sitting in the outdoors, the exposure helps create and facilitate a feel-good mood called serotonin. Also, having your dog out of the standard shelter helps them relieve stress and promote sound and quality sleep.
How Someone Could Get More Natural Light In Their Home
There are several tested and proven ways you can practice to get more natural light in your home. They are cost-effective and can considerably add more value to your home. They are as follows.
Installing a Skylight on the Ceiling
Installation of skylight is considered one of the effective ways to add more natural light to your home. You can have them in the hallway, bathroom and any other place receiving less sunlight. Skylights are made of different materials, shapes, types of light, and heat reduction levels. With such extra features, buying them for the first time can be a challenge.
The commonly available skylights are glass and acrylic. If you want to have the architectural style, go for the panel glass. They are more energy-efficient and tend to be flatter. Another option you can consider is the acrylic skylight. It is more traditional, shaped like a dome, and costs less compared to the glass option.
You still have more options to choose from. There are fixed and operable skylights available, and these can push your vision even further. They are designed traditionally with a simple design that makes them cost less. For the operable skylight, they let hot air from the high part of your house and ensure no debris enters your home.
Paint Your Eaves White
The hanging parts created by the house roof are either sealed with a horizontal soffit or left open. This section reflects natural light to your home, and painting it white would make it reflect more light to your home.
You can paint the eaves white even if the exterior part of the house is painted with a different color. This is because the eave is at an angle, and one can only see the white color within the wall of the house.
Use Brighter Interiors
Consider painting the interior of your house with bright paint, as it is an easy way to add more lighting to your home. Brighter interiors are the surest way to reflect light in your room. They have a reflective value of almost 100% for a house with a pure white interior and 0% for a home with black interiors.
Use Higher Reflective Tiles
Get your kitchen and the bathroom looking glossy with shiny surfaces and have the lights reflected into the room and make the room brighter and elegant. Reflective tiles reflect almost 100% of the lights hitting them, and they are best when installed in the kitchen or bathroom backsplash. The light bouncing off of the tiles, paired with the right custom shades for your window to let light in, are sure to brighten your room and mood.
Consider Replacing the Wall Space With Glass Blocks
The activity may not be a simple one, but the outcome is worth every dedication. Having glass blocks replace the wall space can bring a significant amount of light that would not be there without them. While replacing the wall space, consider using the headers over the block sections as you would do with windows or door units. This follows the fact that glass blocks are not structural for the wall stud system.
Natural light is essential in different aspects of life. While people acknowledge the help of natural light when they are outdoors, it is equally important to admit that there are other reasons why natural light is so important in your home.
