The Philadelphia Children's Hospital installed a circadian rhythm lamp to set the sleep-awakening cycle for patients.
The hospital's medical behavior department's lighting changes color and intensity over the course of a day to reset the patient's circadian rhythm.
These lights have a low-intensity warm color temperature in the early morning, a cool color temperature in the morning, a high intensity in the afternoon, and a low-intensity warm color temperature in the evening.
It is specifically designed to buffer the hospital's interference with the patient's normal sleep-wake cycle. In the hospital, the day is usually not bright enough, or not dark enough at night, suppressing the natural pattern of the human body. Therefore, the patient's rhythm is often disrupted in the medical environment.
Maintaining regular sleep--the awakening cycle is seen as an important clinical tool in the medical behavior department that treats children with medical problems who also have potential behavioral conditions such as depression, anxiety, and autism.
Senior project manager Mary Alcaraz said that children can also color the LED lights on their bed, which can be a "positive distraction" effect.
The hospital did not describe the luminaire as a so-called "people-oriented lighting" and did not participate in scientific research on the color effect.
Last month, a study concluded that proper lighting in nursing homes can improve sleep, mood and behavior in people with Alzheimer's disease.
