Glass is an essential material in homes because it makes up various windows, including skylights. One of the earliest skylights dates as far back as 17th-century Paris. Architects installed a massive dome skylight atop the Hall aux blés. Later on, this same type of structure appeared in 1830s Versailles, where a skylight ran down the entire gallery length. Since then, the skylight has only risen in popularity. But it’s so much more than just an aesthetically pleasing piece of architecture. There are actually quite a few benefits to adding skylights to your home that you may not have realized. We’ll cover them here.

Healthier Circadian Rhythm

Simply put, our circadian rhythm is an internal process that regulates our sleep schedule. It’s essentially what helps us sleep at night and feel rested in the morning. The amount of sun that our bodies receive partially dictates this cycle.

If you’ve ever noticed that you feel more fatigued during the winter, it’s partially because your body isn’t receiving enough sunlight and thinks it’s time to sleep. When you have a skylight installed in your bedroom, the natural comings and goings of the sun and the moon help coax you to sleep and gently wake you up. This improves your circadian rhythm, providing you with fuller, healthier sleep.

Lower Energy Bills

The sun moves throughout the day, which means it can’t evenly light the home through traditional windows. This means that even when it’s sunny out, turning on the lights is sometimes unavoidable. However, the sun remains high in the sky for a long time. Your skylight can provide nice illumination for longer than side-facing windows as a result. Also, using your skylights can help you light the home and capitalize on natural light. The less you have to use your electricity, the less you have to pay for your monthly energy bill. While it may not seem like much, over time, you’ll start to save more and more. This adds up to quite a bit in the end.

Solar Heating

Just as you save on your electricity bill, you can also save on your heating bill using skylights. As mentioned, the sun stays well over the horizon for most of the day, evenly lighting your home if you use skylights. With that light also comes heat that naturally warms up the interior of your home by quite a few degrees. This allows you to reduce how much you use your HVAC system, saving you a considerable amount on your heating bills during the fall and winter.

Mental Health Benefits

Sunlight naturally increases the amount of serotonin—the happy hormone—your brain produces. This is especially important for people who spend lots of time indoors, such as remote workers or those who tend to experience seasonal affective disorder (SAD). SAD occurs most often in winter since the body experiences the least amount of sun exposure. In fact, some areas of the world experience so little sunlight that people take Vitamin D supplements. Skylights help ensure that no matter how much time you have to spend indoors, you always have exposure to a healthy amount of sunlight.

Physical Health Benefits

Aside from the mental benefits that sunlight provides, skylights can also help you reap the physical benefits of sunlight. When the sun hits your skin, it turns into a chemical called D3, which transforms into active vitamin D when processed through your liver. Active vitamin D is the main vitamin that helps your body regulate and produce calcium, which strengthens your bones. Sitting near traditional windows can help you absorb more vitamin D throughout the day, but only to a certain extent. Skylights provide an even amount of sunlight throughout the room, making sunlight and vitamin D more accessible to your body.

Ventilation and Circulation

If you’ve ever sat in a closed-off room for an extended period and noticed yourself getting a random headache, it may be because you’re breathing in your own carbon dioxide. Exhaling naturally causes carbon dioxide to build up, which is why ventilation paired with air circulation is so vital. You could open a window to allow fresh air to enter, but skylights do it even better. When you open your skylight, not only are you allowing fresh air to enter the room, but you’re also letting the hot air exit the room. This is because hot air rises. And without a place to go, it accumulates.

Solar Powered Convenience

As mentioned, skylights will have direct exposure to the sun for a vast majority of the day, and you can use that to your advantage! Due to the wonders of technology, solar-powered skylights allow you to automatically open and close them. You can also roll the blinds up and down automatically by harnessing the power of the sun. Pair this with the money that skylights will already save you, and the installation will pay for itself!

Larger Rooms

There’s a myth that only white walls help your room seem more spacious. It’s true that white helps, but only to a certain degree. It’s actually light colors that best help a room seem larger, as the real goal is to eliminate shadows. White-colored walls can accentuate shadows. But no matter what color walls you have, skylights can help decrease the appearance of shadows in the room. A skylight can make a room seem larger and more open by evenly lighting otherwise dark spaces and corners. Plus, it also gives you more wall space you can leave open to make the room seem even bigger. Alternatively, you can use the extra space to decorate.

Lighting With Privacy

Despite all the benefits sunlight offers, you may still hesitate to pull back those curtains and open up those windows for fear of prying eyes. If you want to reap all the benefits of sunlight without losing your privacy, skylights are the way to go! Unless someone’s on your roof, you can leave your skylights open all day, every day, without worrying about unwanted eyes looking into your home.

If the benefits of installing skylights have inspired you to add this architectural wonder to your home, contact Conde Roofing & Construction today! We’re professional roof and skylight installers with Velux Skylight certification and full insurance coverage. Let us be the ones to meet and exceed your expectations of what a roofing company should be.

9 Benefits of Adding Skylights to Your Home