Biologically Aware Lighting

Innovative research leading the way to better health | A Comic Book

Spectral Lighting System

A spectrally tunable, research grade lighting system in the new Cincinnati Critical Care building Neonatal Intensive Care Unit rooms capable of mimicing daylight.

Space and Physics

The origin of light, its’ visible colors and their interacion with the eyes gives us color perception. Light, however, doesn’t penetrate the body only through the eyes but also through non-visual light sensing proteins found in the skin, fat cells and brain .

Sun Coupled Health and Wellness

There non-visual light sensing proteins that are crutial for human health. These proteins can be found in many parts of the body which requires a natural spectral composition of light for normal function.

Healthy Lighting Design

Light and its importance for human health have been a consideration in health care practice.

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NICU Lighting Design

Spectral Lighting System | Lighting to improve human health

Spectral Lighting System

Cincinnati Children’s Hospital Medical Center has developed the world’s first full-spectrum biologically aware lighting system in the new neonatal intensive care unit (NICU).

The lighting system is designed to produce crucial elements of daylight, which regulate many bodily functions including healthy growth and development.

Your NICU room lighting is pre-programmed to ensure the highest quality lighting for your baby’s health!

So why is this lighting important for our health?

Our body uses information from the day’s 24-hour cycle of light and dark to control important functions like body temperature, sleep and wake times, hormone activity, and eating and digestion.

The control center for these rhythms is located in the brain but receives its information from our eyes and skin.

This is why it is important for our body to be exposed to bright light during the day and total darkness at night, in a pattern that repeats each day.

When humans are inside for long periods, like in a hospital, it is important to maintain this pattern to help keep them healthy.

We call this pattern cycled lighting.

Cycled lighting in the NICU leads to shorter hospital stays for babies and families.

Babies in the NICU who experience cycled lighting, gain weight and grow faster, sleep better, and start to develop their circadian rhythms sooner.

The spectral lights are cycled lights that contain wavelengths (colors) of light that more closely resemble the wavelengths in sunlight.

When the sun is higher in the sky, the lights are more full-spectrum like the sky.

The lighting is measured and monitored by a team at Cincinnati Children’s to ensure the highest quality environment for your baby.

New Research into human light-sensitive opsins, however, brings forth a question regarding the developing fetus.

Is there light in the womb?

Some people think it is dark and quiet.

But that's not the case!

Thanks to the mother’s own circadian rhythm as well as the environment,

a baby’s circadian rhythm starts to form during the second trimester.

But when the baby is born prematurely, the circadian rhythm is thrown off balance

Traditional NICU lighting design has done little to address this lost circadian information either using complete darkness or bright artificial lighting in patient rooms.

the average length of stay in the NICU is about one month. So having a space designed to provide the best care possible is crucial.

The unique spectral lighting system at Cincinnati Children’s builds on discoveries about how light affects human development.

It optimizes the quality, quantity and color of light newborns receive during those delicate days in the NICU

So, they can go home sooner, healthy and happy!

There’s still so much to learn and discover but we’re off to a promising start!

There’s still so much to learn and discover but we’re off to a promising start. Now let’s talk about

Space and Physics

the sun

At the center of the solar system is the sun. A hot glowing ball of star that our planet has orbited around it for billions of years.

It is as hot as 27 million degrees fahrenheit

It takes one year to orbit around the sun

A year takes 365 days. And it takes 24 hours for the earth to rotate around its axis - that makes up a day! In outer space, the sun appears white but it shines a rainbow of all visible colors. It is a source of energy that sustains all life on Earth.

According to NASA, “Electromagnetic energy travels in waves and spans a broad spectrum from very long radio waves to very short gamma rays.”

But humans can only see a small portion of this
electromagnetic spectrum. The eye can detect
wavelengths from 380 to 780 nanometers.

This section of the spectrum is otherwise known as ‘visible light’

Throughout the day as the earth rotates:

The sky is rich in violet and blue just before
sunrise and sunset with very low light

The sky appears blue during the day with the most light at noon. After sunset, there is very little light and very little color except for the stars and the moon.

Sun Coupled Health and Wellness

When Light Hit and object....

it bounces back and enters our eyes, which contain photoreceptors in the retina.

The retina is connected to the brain which helps us process light information through varying wavelengths.

This helps us to see and detect images, movements, and colors

Photo Receptors for vision

there are two types of photoreceptors for vision:

Our opsins also play a role in this process. Which leads us to...

and each opsin is activated by different colors, or wavelengths.

What are OPSINS?

Opsins are specialized proteins in our cells that detect light.

There are many opsins but our story is about opsins 3, 4, and 5.

We have known for a long time that opsins are found in the eye (visual opsins), but new research has also discovered opsins in our skin, fat cells and the brain (non-visual opsins).

In humans, there are three non-visual opsins that detect light through pathways other than the eyes.

Thats why it's important to get the full color spectrum in our indoor lighting.

Without them, we are more prone to diseases like myopia and obesity.

Opsin 5 is found in a region of the brain
called the hypothalamus.

Violet light detected by Opsin 5 neurons regulates body temperature.

Hypothalamic opsin 5 neurons and opsin 3 fat cells communicate back and forth to maintain energy balance, or homeostasis.

These are fat cells that store energy molecules our bodies need to function and
maintain body temperature.

OPSIN 3 makes them sensitive to light. when blue light is detected by fat cells, the energy molecule storage is changed.

Via the
neuroendocrine
system

In the skin, opsin 5 is found in cells that surround the hair follicles. These cells detect light to regulate
the skin’s circadian clock which ensures the skin is prepared for the different demands of night and day

Myopia

At Cincinnati Children’s, Dr. Richard Lang leads a research team that has shown Opsin 5 is required for eye development. This may be why preterm infants under conventional artificial lighting are more likely to develop eye problems.

Further research shows a link between lack of violet light indoors and myopia*

*Myopia: nearsightedness; or close objects appear clearly but far ones don’t

Currently, there are 2.5 billion people with myopia. This is predicted
to reach 5 billion!

In Summary

#Violet light stimulation of OPN5 in the retina supports
normal eye growth.

# Studies show that 1-2 hours per week of outdoor light
exposure can reduce the risk of developing myopia.

# Cincinnati Children’s is testing whether electric lights that
produce violet light can prevent myopia.

#Many studies suggest that spending this amount of time outside each day has general benefits for health and wellness.

We expect that time outside at dawn and dusk would be especially beneficial!

History of Healthcare Lighting Design

It’s an ongoing exploration of how light affects human development

1856

Florence Nightingale

Pioneered modern nursing practices, observed and documented the health benefits of sunlight.

1956

Jaundice

Sister Jean Ward observed babies’ skin changed color when the yellow tint of jaundice* disappeared exposed to sunlight.

At first, the staff disregarded her but soon confirmed that she was right after they had found bilirubin* levels had decreased when exposed to sunlight

*Jaundice: yellow skin caused by buildup of bilirubin

*Bilirubin: a yellow-ish pigment made during the breakdown of red blood cells

1958

photo- therapy

Inspired by the effect of sunlight on infants, Dr. Richard Cremer developed the first photo-therapy using blue fluorescent tubes to mimic sunlight. This procedure is still used today though the colors and lighting have advanced.

Currently, this procedure is still used today though the lighting has advanced

2001

Action Spectrum of Opsin 4

Dr. George Brainard and team were the first to map the action spectrum of Opsin 4.

F Blue Light was found to be most effective to naturally suppress melatonin.

The Nighttime Hormone!

2016

Melatonin Supression

Following the discovery that blue light naturally suppresses melatonin for daytime alertness and metabolism, researchers installed one of the first circadian lighting systems onboard the international space station.

Now Astronauts won't be jet-lagged

2017

Circadian Clock

Jeffrey Hall, Michael Rosbash, and Michael Young received a nobel prize in physiology and medicine for their discovery of molecular mechanisms that control circadian rhythms from day to night.

Basically how the internal clock and biological rhytms guide human life

2020

The first full spectrum lighting system

Cincinnati Children’s Hospital Medical Center has developed in the world’s first full-spectrum biologically aware lighting system in the new neonatal intensive care unit (NICU).

The lights automatically follow the natural progression of the sun from dawn to midday to dusk. The system generates crucial elements of daylight; absent in standard light sources.

2022

The Science of Light Center

The Science of Light Center is founded. It is a multidisciplinary center bringing together designers, engineers, biologist, clinicians and others to connect basic discoveries on light sensing pathways to the practice of medicine and to promote the application of this novel research to benefit patients and the general population.