IX. Light (SUNLIGHT HEALS)
Florence Nightingale, 1860Second only to fresh air — need for light
Unsunned rooms degenerate body and mind
Nature turns patients toward light
Light purifies air (not just spirits)
Importance of direct sunlight, not just light
Go where the sun is — carry patient after sun
Healing requires sun exposure
The sun is a painter AND sculptor
IX. Light
📌 KEY PRINCIPLE
"Second only to their need of fresh air is their need of light. After a close room, what hurts them most is a dark room."
Not only light — direct sunlight they want.
🎯 EXAM FOCUS: Physical Effects of Light
"People think the effect is upon the spirits only. This is by no means the case. The sun is not only a painter but a sculptor."
Light has real and tangible effects upon the human body.
🔬 OBSERVATION PROVING LIGHT'S EFFECT
Go into a room where shutters are always shut (in sick room or bedroom there should never be shutters shut). Though uninhabited, you will observe a close, musty smell of corrupt air — air unpurified by sun's rays.
The mustiness of dark rooms and corners is proverbial.
🏥 HOSPITAL CONSTRUCTION PRINCIPLE
Healthy people never remember the difference between bedrooms and sickrooms. To a sleeper in health, view doesn't matter — he's only there at night. But the sick need to see out of window from their beds — to see sky and sunlight.
If not of the very first importance for recovery, at least something very near it.
📌 WITHOUT SUNLIGHT, WE DEGENERATE
"Where there is sun there is thought." Where is the shady side of deep valleys? Cretinism. Where are cellars and unsunned sides of narrow streets? Degeneracy and weakliness of human race — mind and body equally degenerating.
Put the pale withering plant and human being into the sun — each will recover health and spirit.
⚡ INTERESTING OBSERVATION
Almost all patients lie with their faces turned to the light, exactly as plants make their way towards light. Patient may complain it gives him pain "lying on that side." "Then why do you lie on that side?" He does not know — but we do. It is the side towards the window.
Nature is stronger than fashionable physicians who turn patients' faces from light.
📝 Key Takeaways for NCLEX
- Sunlight has real and tangible effects on the body
- Second only to fresh air is the need for light
- Dark rooms and corners are musty and unhealthy
🧠 Mnemonic Summary
- LIGHT RULES: Levels of importance (second to air), Indirect insufficient, Go toward sun, Healing happens, Turn to window
Source: Notes on Nursing: What It Is and What It Is Not, Florence Nightingale, 1860. First American Edition.