Salutogenic effects of the environment: review of health protective effects of nature and daylight.

Both nature and daylight have been found to positively influence health. These findings were, however, found in two separate research domains. This paper presents an overview of effects found for daylight and nature on health and the health-related concepts stress, mood, and executive functioning and self-regulation. Because of the overlap in effects found and the co-occurrence of both phenomena, the paper points to the need to consider daylight factors when investigating effects of nature and vice versa. Furthermore, the existence of possibly shared underlying mechanisms is discussed and the need to unify the research paradigms and dependent variables used between the two research fields. Last, in view of the beneficial effects of both phenomena on health, our objective is to raise awareness amongst the general public, designers, and health practitioners to use these naturally available phenomena to their full potential.