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False Economies
Circadian lighting is much too expensive for a hospital – the NHS has zero cash for extras.
Of course, it depends on what you mean by circadian lighting.
My definition is simple – daylight boosted by artificial sources that deliver enough brightness during the day to set the body clock, dim enough in the evening to encourage the body to get ready for sleep and dark enough at night to switch off.
It also depends what you mean by expensive.
What’s really expensive is spending a minute longer in the hospital than you need to.
Every day costs $3,000 in the USA – State-by-State Breakdown – Average Cost of Hospital Stays in the U.S. – around £2,300 in the UK for elective surgery – Hospital Beds: Costs.
So anything we can do to send people home sooner is a win-win.
What’s that got to do with lights?
There’s a direct link between light exposure and length of stay in a range of healthcare settings, from neonatal intensive care and maternity units, paediatric to acute psychiatric units – A light/dark cycle in the NICU accelerates body weight gain and shortens time to discharge in preterm infants, Effects of adjustable dynamic bedroom lighting in a maternity ward, Let there be blue-depleted light: in-patient dark therapy, circadian rhythms and length of stay, Sleep patterns as a predictor for length of stay in a psychiatric intensive care unit, Objective Sleep Characteristics and Factors Associated With Sleep Duration and Waking During Pediatric Hospitalization.
Interventions, like circadian rhythm therapy (basically encouraging patients to take care of their body clocks) that help patients get their sleep patterns back on track, can even reduce the risk of readmission, too – Sleep and activity patterns in older patients discharged from the hospital.
So next time you hear the argument ‘it’s too expensive’, pose the question – compared to what?
Experience economy – notes from IALD Valencia
Three hours to the airport, one hour to park and ride, two hours to trundle through scanners, a pat-down body search and the duty-free assault on the senses, one hour on the runway, two hours in a cramped seat by the loos (I refuse to pay extra to choose where I’ll sit), one hour rattling on the underground into the heat of the city. And the same coming home, with another two hours flight delay thrown in for good measure.
What strange impulse drives almost 400 otherwise sensible human beings to burn 22 hours in transit (and a dozen trees) to pile into an airless conference room on the other side of the continent (and for many, much further afield) for just 28 waking hours on site?
Beyond the obvious delights of warm smiles and heated conversations and swimming in a new sea – and delicious balmy evenings with generous and convivial hosts, I for one find the analogue experience of being in the room is the best – if not the only way – to get sense of trends and concerns.
I noted a tension between the high-octane appeal of spectacular and monumental installations and AI-fuelled acceleration and impassioned pleas for a more reflective pace, to take a lifecycle view and reconnect with the ancient embodied cycles of the natural world before we burn out.
Also, between the delightful meanderings of philosophical discourse and a sobering reminder that the implacable and insatiable crocodiles of global digital consumer brands are snapping at our complacent and unsuspecting heels.
Finally, between established brands with hard-won pride in the ancient craft of designing with light and a pressing need to make room for new voices and build a viable career path for the next generation,
Impressed as ever by the IALD team, navigating competing interests and technical glitches with energy, grace and calm. The sector may be steering some choppy waters, but I for one feel it’s in good hands.
Gambling on blue light
You’re constantly taking risks, from speaking up in a meeting to jumping a traffic light.
But your sensitivity to negative feedback falls steadily over the day, while reward-driven behaviours go up, especially for men – so you’re more likely to gamble for higher stakes as the sun goes down – Risk taking for potential losses but not gains increases with time of day.
This fascinating new paper suggests that exposure to blue-enriched light reduces your sensitivity to loss, again, men are the most strongly-affected – Circadian photoreception influences loss aversion.
So, if you’re going to step out of your comfort zone, do it in the afternoon.
But steer clear of that brightly-lit casino if you want to stay on top.
Eyes on the prize
Countdown to the big run in Whitstable, and I’m worried I won’t stay the course.
I know it’s mind over matter.
So I’m using this visual search strategy used by the most experienced trail runners in the world.
They spend most of their time with a wide gaze, keeping a general view, alternating with close targets to keep up the pace – Where you look and how far you go: The relationship between attentional styles and running performance.
Sports Vision Training is a fascinating field of research that suggests that training the gaze can help to prevent injury, improve performance and mobility at any age – Role of Sport Vision in Performance: Systematic Review, including helping children with developmental coordination disorder to learn to catch a ball – Gaze training supports self-organization of movement coordination in children with developmental coordination disorder.
Got me thinking that some imaginative use of light, pattern and projection could be a useful tool for the brilliant sports health professionals out there – Role of Sport Vision in Performance: Systematic Review.
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