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More research on the benefits of daylight for young children

More time outside for baby in the afternoon goes along with more quiet time at night, according to a British study that appeared in the December issue of The Journal of Sleep Research. The Journal of Sleep Research is the publication of a non-profit group called the European Sleep Research Society. The study compared babies who slept well with problem sleepers and found that the good sleepers had been exposed to twice as much natural light between noon and 4 p.m.

The study's author, Dr. Yvonne Harrison of Liverpool John Moores University, said that the worst period for crying babies, beginning around six weeks, was also the time when the body appeared to be establishing circadian rhythms, by regulating the output of the melatonin, a brain chemical that reacts to light.

Using light monitors that could be attached to strollers, the researchers found that the better sleeping children were exposed to twice the intensity of light in the afternoon as the poorer sleepers. There were no differences in exposure in the morning and evening.

The newest studies about the effects of daylight and young children can be found at http://www.edfacilities.org/rl/daylighting.cfm.

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