Benefits of a Four-Season Room in Winter
Four-season rooms are a great addition to any house. They provide an extra room where you can read a book or watch television surrounded by nature without dealing with the bugs and potentially nasty weather that you’d get from sitting outside.
They are also aesthetically pleasing and can add a significant amount of value to your house when you decide to sell it. Due to their numerous benefits, four-season sunrooms are increasingly being built with new houses or added onto existing ones. However, while many homeowners are choosing to get sunrooms for their practical value, many are unaware of the significant health benefits a sunroom can also provide.
One unfortunate reality of modern society is that we are spending less and less time outside. From working in an office to spending our free time watching television or surfing the internet, more and more of our time is spent indoors. The result of this shift has been that we are exposed to far less sunlight than our parents and grandparents were, and significantly less than our ancestors did hundreds of years ago!
A growing amount of research is showing that this decrease in the amount of sunlight we receive each day is having a dramatically negative impact on our overall health. One report by Forbes Magazine investigated the issue and found numerous studies that reported negative health issues resulting from a lack of sunlight.
One of the most serious consequences of a lack of sunlight is a disruption of sleeping patterns. Our internal clock uses sunlight to help itself stay regulated, so a lack of sunlight can cause us to have lower-quality sleep and have a harder time staying awake during the day. According to the Forbes article, lack of quality sleep caused a number of other ailments, including physical pain and illness. In addition, the productivity of workers decreased when they lacked access to enough sunlight each day.
Sunlight can also have a significant impact on your overall mood and productivity. According to an article in Psychology today, sunshine has been frequently associated with improved mood, while a lack of sunshine typically results in a feeling of lethargy and sometimes even mild depression. Since your state of mind and your ability and desire to be productive are linked, it stands to reason that an individual that is unhappy due to a lack of sunlight will also be significantly less productive than they would otherwise be. This is something that both employees and employers are concerned about.
It is clear from these studies that getting enough sunlight every day is an important part of staying physically and mentally healthy. While it is certainly important to be outside as much as we can, all the studies above found that getting sunlight through a window is an acceptable alternative. Homeowners with sunrooms are already enjoying the benefits that sunlight provides even if they aren’t aware of it. If you happen to have a sunroom yourself, try to make a point to spend more time during daylight hours. Instead of reading a book or surfing the internet in your living room or bedroom, get a comfortable couch or recliner for your sunroom and get the benefits of sunlight while you relax!
If you don’t have a sunroom but have been considering building one, now is a perfect time! With winter already upon us, it can sometimes be too cold to venture outside for more than a few minutes unless it is absolutely necessary. However, with a warm and insulated sunroom, you can get the benefits of exposure to sunlight without also exposing yourself to the frigid temperatures