Anyone going to this?

Symposium Light, Performance and Quality of Life is on Thursday, 8 November 2007 in Eindhoven, the Netherlands:

Introduction

The ancient Greek already referred to the wholesome effects of the (sun)light on mankind. Ever since the industrialization, more and more people are devoid of bright daylight for a large part of the day. With the ongoing industrialization and the current information-society the number of persons that spent al large part of the day indoors further increases.

The light in these buildings is, also due to the modern trend of small windows and low lighting-levels, notably lower than the biological need for light of people. Also the energy crisis in the early seventies has been an influence on driving back sufficient light, as a result sometimes reducing the level of light inside buildings to nearly " biological darkness".

Rediscovery of light in relation to health.

The past 15 to 20 years light has returned to the full attention of the scientific community. Particularly visible light that reaches the retina of the human eye brings about a number of biological effects. The fact that light, besides a necessity to see, also regulates biological functions, has lead to research programs at different institutes and universities. The questions with which these centres occupy themselves are among others:

* Which bio-mechanisms are influenced by light that falls on the eye?

* What possibilities are there to use light for curative and preventive means?

In the end the increasing social importance of research and applications of light on health, have lead to the foundation of the "Stichting Onderzoek Licht & Gezondheid", the Light & Health Research Foundation (SOLG).

The Light & Health Research Foundation is based at Eindhoven, University of Technology