Summary
This review examines how indoor air humidity affects perceived air quality, eye and airway health, work performance, and sleep quality in office and residential environments. Practical implication for building and lighting designers is that optimizing indoor humidity (alongside lighting) may reduce eye strain complaints and improve occupant comfort and productivity.
Key Findings
- Elevated indoor humidity may positively impact perceived indoor air quality, eye symptomatology, and possibly work performance in office environments.
- Humidified indoor air appears to reduce nasal symptoms in patients with obstructive sleep apnea syndrome.
- Both low and high relative humidity favor transmission and survival of influenza virus, though the relationship is complex and virus-type dependent.
- Sensory irritation in eyes and upper airways and perception of 'dry air' are consistently among the top two complaints in office environments.
Categories
Eye Health & Vision: Reviews evidence that low indoor humidity contributes to eye irritation and dryness symptoms, relevant to lighting environment design.
Workplace Performance: Discusses how indoor humidity levels may affect work performance and sensory comfort in office environments.
Sleep & Circadian Health: Reviews effects of indoor humidity on sleep quality, including nasal symptoms in obstructive sleep apnea patients.
Author(s)
R Dumont
Publication Year
2008
Number of Citations
3
Related Publications
Eye Health & Vision
- Diminished pupillary light reflex at high irradiances in melanopsin-knockout mice
- Genetic reactivation of cone photoreceptors restores visual responses in retinitis pigmentosa
- Melanopsin and rodâcone photoreceptors play different roles in mediating pupillary light responses during exposure to continuous light in humans
- Characteristic patterns of dendritic remodeling in early-stage glaucoma: evidence from genetically identified retinal ganglion cell types
- Intrinsically photosensitive melanopsin retinal ganglion cell contributions to the pupillary light reflex and circadian rhythm
Workplace Performance
- Acute alerting effects of light: A systematic literature review
- Effects of artificial dawn and morning blue light on daytime cognitive performance, well-being, cortisol and melatonin levels
- Can light make us bright? Effects of light on cognition and sleep
- Kruithof's rule revisited using LED illumination
- Shining light on memory: Effects of bright light on working memory performance
Sleep & Circadian Health
- Phototransduction by retinal ganglion cells that set the circadian clock
- The mammalian circadian timing system: organization and coordination of central and peripheral clocks
- The twoâprocess model of sleep regulation: a reappraisal
- Melanopsin is required for non-image-forming photic responses in blind mice
- Strange vision: ganglion cells as circadian photoreceptors