March 8, 2005 – An American study1 suggests that patients who have undergone surgery recover better in a sunny room and cost less in pain relievers.
The experiment was conducted from March to August 2003 at Montefiore Medical Center at the University of Pittsburgh with 89 patients who had undergone spinal cord surgery. Of these, 44 were placed in a sunny room, located on the west side, and 45 in a room on the east side, overlooked by an adjacent building providing shade. All the rooms were the same size, painted in the same colors and furnished identically.
According to the light measurements taken at the beginning of the morning as well as in the middle of the afternoon, the subjects of the first group were exposed to 46% more light than the others.
Results: For each of the first five days of convalescence spent in hospital, patients in sunny rooms had, on average, used 22% less pain relievers than those in shaded rooms. This decrease resulted in a significant reduction of 21% in drug costs.
In other good news, the study shows that due to light exposure, the most marked reduction in the need for pain relievers occurred in the youngest patients: research shows that they tend to have the most. need, since the effect of pain relievers increases with age.
Having more lighting would also have allowed patients on the west side to experience less stress.
To explain their results, the researchers hypothesize that the secretion of serotonin by the brain could be stimulated by exposure to light. This hormone is known to play a role in inhibiting pain.
The authors want more research to be done to clarify the amount of light required for optimal results.
However, they say they are convinced that decision-makers and architects responsible for building a hospital should consider the potential therapeutic benefits of a building before erecting it.
A most interesting consideration that the Quebec government should perhaps consider with as much application as it did to choose the final site of the future Center hospitalier de l’Université de Montréal (CHUM).
Martin LaSalle – PasseportSanté.net
1. Walch JM, Rabin BS, Day R, Williams JM, Choi K, Kang JD, The Effect of Sunligth on Postoperative Analgesic Medication Use: A Prospective Study of Patients Undergoing Spinal Surgery, Psychosomatic Medicine, January-February 2005, Vol. 67, No 1, 156-163.
