Employees who work in offices with windows sleep more and better at night , are more physically active and have a higher quality of life than those who work in offices without windows, according to a study released at the latest annual meeting of the Association of Associated Professional Sleep Societies .
The investigation included 49 office workers who worked during the day, 22 of them in offices with windows and another 27 in windowless rooms. Those who were located in offices with windows received 173% more exposure to white light during working hours , and slept an average of 46 minutes more per night than those who did their work in rooms without windows. "The extent to which daylight exposure affects office workers is surprising," explains Ivy Cheung of Northwestern University, a co-author of the study. The architectural design of offices should take into account that the well-being of employees may increase with exposure to natural daylight.
