Effect of Natural Sunlight on Sleep Problems and Sleep Quality of the Elderly Staying in the Nursing Home

Abstract

This study was designed as an intervention study to determine the effect of light therapy on sleep problems and sleep quality of elderly people. The study sample was composed of a total of 61 elderly persons from Social Security Institution Narlıdere Municipal Nursing Home, 30 in the test group and 31 in the control group. Those 65 years and older, not diagnosed with major depression, not exercising regularly, not having sun allergy, not using sleeping pills, independent in activities of daily living, and having bad sleep quality were included in the study. The Pittsburgh Sleep Quality Index, the Demographic Data Form, and the Follow-up Form for Elderly were used for data collection, whereas the Pittsburgh Sleep Quality Index was used for sample selection. It was found that exposure to direct sunlight between 8 AM and 10 AM for 5 days seems to be effective in increasing the global sleep quality score (P < .001). In light of the findings in this study, it is suggested that allocating living places in the institution's architectural setting and providing social opportunities for elderly persons to get direct sunlight exposure can help increase the sleep quality of older adults.

Exposure to greenspaces could reduce the high global burden of pain

“…Sunlight exposure could lead to a change in pain through non-vitamin D pathways, including the release of beta-endorphins (Holick, 2016) and melatonin (Zhu et al, 2017), or indeed changes in the microbiome (Waterhouse et al, 2019). Furthermore, sunlight exposure (Düzgün and Durmaz Akyol, 2017) and vitamin D supplementation (Jamilian et al, 2019) have led to improved sleep including for people with chronic pain specifically (Huang et al, 2013). Vitamin D supplementation has also resulted in reduced inflammation and improvements in depression (Jamilian et al, 2019), which may in turn contribute to improved pain outcomes.…”

Validation of the geriatric sleep questionnaire

“…Deprivation of exposure to natural daylight contributes significantly to the desynchronization of the circadian rhythm of sleep [81]. Inversely, it was found that institutionalized older people exposed to natural daylight can substantially improve their sleep quality [82]. In this study, there were no differences according to gender as in another research [83].…”

Introduction

“…Additionally, inadequate daylit buildings might have an impact on the sleep quality. Düzgün and Durmaz (2017) determined the effect of light therapy on sleep problems and slept quality of elderly people (N = 61, from Social Security Institution Narlıdere Municipal Nursing Home, Turkey). The authors highlighted that the exposure to direct sunlight between 8 AM and 10 AM for 5 days seems to be effective in increasing the sleep quality.…”