"What light through yonder window breaks?" Romeo asks in the second act of Shakespeare's "Romeo and Juliet."
Perhaps it is the light of the glow of good health and the brightness of eye of the well-rested. At least, that's what a recent survey suggests the legendary lover was referring to.
The research, presented last week at the annual meeting of the Associated Professional Sleep Societies, was based on a study of 49 day-shift windowed and windowless workers.
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Those with windows got 173 percent more white light at work than non-windowed workers.
The well-lit employees slept 46 minutes more a night than those without windows.
Whether it's the light, the rest, or a combination of both, the windowed workers were more physically active during the day and reported having a higher quality of life than their four-walls-surround-me peers.
They didn't get as sleepy during the day (no, duh) and reported fewer "sleep disturbances" at night.
This window into the workplace was provided by doctoral candidate Ivy Cheung, in the interdepartmental neuroscience program at Northwestern University in Chicago.
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Dan Cook
Dan Cook is a journalist and communications consultant based in Portland, OR. During his journalism career he has been a reporter and editor for a variety of media companies, including American Lawyer Media, BusinessWeek, Newhouse Newspapers, Knight-Ridder, Time Inc., and Reuters. He specializes in health care and insurance related coverage for BenefitsPRO.
