Open those heavy curtains and pull up your blinds! According to a recent study, letting sunlight into your home will not only make things less dreary, but it will also kill bacteria lurking in the rooms of your home.
Researchers at the University of Oregon set up a study on dusty, dollhouse-sized rooms to compare what happens in rooms exposed to light through ordinary glass, rooms exposed only to UV light, and rooms kept in the dark. After 90 days, the team collected dust samples from the rooms to determine the types of bacteria present.
What they discovered reveals that our grandmothers were right all along. Rooms exposed to sunlight have fewer germs. The study found that rooms exposed to natural sunlight contained about half as many viable bacteria (bacteria capable of growing) as rooms kept in the dark. Kevin Van Den Wymelenberg, co-author of the study, explains, “Until now, daylighting [illuminating a building with natural light] was about visual comfort or general health. But now we can say that daylighting influences air quality.”
I don’t know about you, but for me, there’s nothing worse than relaxing or working in a dark and dreary room. In case you need a reason to open those curtains, now you know how rooms exposed to sunlight can have a positive impact on your health!
