Possible health effects of residential lighting design - Possibili effetti sulla salute del lighting design residenziale

Over the last two centuries, two processes have taken place, which has had a profound impact on societies in industrialised countries and also on people’s exposure to light. On the one hand, there has been a progressive shift of workers from the outdoors of the countryside to the indoors of factories in industry and offices in the service sector. With the recent spread of smart working, the tertiary sector has also partially moved to indoor residential spaces. On the other hand, artificial light has begun to replace natural light in working spaces and residential interiors, at night but also during the day, when the latter is not available for urban, architectural, geographical, geo-morphological or climatic reasons, or due to the setting of the sun, in a society that never sleeps. In fact, human beings no longer live according to natural light cycles and often engage in work or social activities well after the sun goes down. There is extensive research in the field of neurophysiology that has demonstrated the importance of proper management of light and colour for human health, yet this management is virtually absent in the practice of building design. Today, there is also scientific evidence gained in recent years concerning the risks to human health that can be caused by a dysregulation of the circadian system resulting from inadequate lighting in interiors.