Nathalie Cijntje, a woman who lives in Rotterdam, the Netherlands, has a hard time living in her apartment, why? She is deprived of daylight because of a huge building wrap advertising hanging outside of her building, blocking both view and daylight. Nathalie hasn’t seen daylight inside of her apartment for one and a half months now.
During the day it’s dark, but the advertising is lit up in the evening so it becomes very light in the apartment when it should be dark. She sometimes sleeps somewhere else to escape her overly lit apartment.
To compensate her for the discomfort her landlord gave her a one-time 500 euro discount on her rent. But it doesn’t compensate the inhumane living conditions. Due to the lack of light Nathalie feels depressed, her work suffers under the circumstances, she is moody and lacks focus.
Our expert Marijke Gordijn regarding the topic: It’s unhealthy to be deprived of natural daylight all day. We need at least 1000 Lux during the day for a considerable amount of time (an estimate of light intensity can be obtained by a light measuring app on your phone).
The short-term effects include feeling moody, sleepy and less creative, if it continues the effects will be greater. Long-term daylight deprivation includes a higher risk of cardiovascular diseases, brain diseases such as dementia and sleep disorders. Sleep is essential for your health and wellbeing, if you don’t have a good night rest you often don’t feel fit.