TUV School
Dynamic lighting in a school. Effects on sleepiness, attention and sleep in 8-10 year old children.A lighting system was installed in the classroom of 13 pupils (4th grade), with the classroom of 14 pupils (3rd grade) as control condition. The installation allowed for semi-manual switching between 4 conditions, light intensities ranging from 309 - 976 lux and color temperatures from 2700 - 6500 K. Sleepiness, attention and sleep were measured before and four weeks after the installation using the Pictorial Sleepiness Scale based on Cartoon Faces, the d2-test of attention and the Children Sleep Habit Questionnaire.
Results
Overall the pupils reported less subjective sleepiness at post-test compared to baseline (F =4.71, p=.041), with a trend towards an interaction effect between test day and class (F =4.05, p=.056). Further analyses revealed less sleepiness at post-test compared to baseline in the test class (8.9% improvement, p=.006) but not in the control class (0.2% improvement, p=.917). There were no effects of the intervention with respect to attention or sleep.
Source: I.W. Saxvig2, S. Pallesen1,2, B. Bjorvatn1,2, 1 Norwegian Competence Center for Sleep Disorders, Haukeland University Hospital, Norway 2 University of Bergen, Norway
Segment: Education
Place: Hemsedal, Norway
Time: Study conducted in January and February 2014
Research institution: UiB, Haukeland University Hospitaland the Norwegian Competence Centre for sleep disorders.