Workers in offices with windows get more and better sleep at night and are more physically active than those in windowless offices, a new study has revealed.
Sleep experts have known that exposure to light helps regulate people's sleep-wake cycle, or circadian rhythm, and in turn can improve their mood, productivity, alertness and health.
Researchers wanted to find out whether employees exposed to natural sunlight had any advantages over those working under artificial lighting, looked at 49 day-shift office workers, 27 in windowless workplaces and 22 workplaces with windows, Fox News reported.
Study's lead author Ivy Cheung, a doctoral candidate in the Interdepartmental Neuroscience program at Northwestern University in Chicago, Illinois, said that the extent to which daylight exposure impacts office workers is remarkable.
Workers with windows were exposed to 173 percent more white light while they were at work than their colleagues working in other offices.
According to the study, their sleep logs showed that they slept an average of 46 minutes more per night and had better scores on measures for sleep quality, sleep disturbances and daytime sleepiness.
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Workers who worked in offices without windows scored much lower on measures such as physical problems and vitality.
The study was conducted by Interdepartmental Neuroscience program at Northwestern University in Chicago.