Circadian Lighting and Health (ANFA)

A lecture for architects and designers making a case most of the profession has not yet absorbed. Light is a biological signal, not only a visual one, and buildings are therefore prescribing something to everyone inside them whether or not anyone intended it.

The science is Dr Panda's own. He discovered that melanopsin, a blue light sensing protein produced by a small subset of retinal ganglion cells, plays an indispensable role in aligning circadian rhythms to ambient lighting, a pathway entirely separate from the rods and cones that produce vision. Subsequent characterisation in human post mortem retina, and with drug like molecules that selectively inhibit melanopsin, established how much the quality, intensity and timing of light matter. For sustaining rhythm, for mood, for alleviating mental health problems, and even for health outcomes in hospitals.

The design implications are concrete. Daylight access, spectrum and intensity through the day, and what to do about evening light in homes, schools, offices and wards.