In addition to rest, fresh air and a good diet, sunlight, or heliotherapy, was considered vitally important in the treatment of tuberculosis. Amongst its benefits, heliotherapy was noted for its ability to build up the general health of patients and therefore their resistance to further infection. Through an increase in their exposure to light patients would benefit from the increased levels of vitamin D absorbed by the skin, which in turn increases the body's ability to fight off infection. With better overall health it was thought that patient's would be more likely to recover from the disease. It not only acted as a curative measure but also as a means to prevent cross contamination and reactivation between patients within the sanatorium. The design and architecture of Stannington, was thus, a means of capitalising on effective sunlight therapy for patients and also as a means of creating a more hygienic environment with radiation from the sun, both ultraviolet and infrared, being utilised to kill any lingering bacteria.

There are numerous views on the effectiveness of heliotherapy as a treatment for tuberculosis, whether it benefitted those with pulmonary more than those with extra-pulmonary variations of the disease; however, there is evidence of the success of artificial sunlight therapy in the treatment of tuberculosis of the skin.

The use of artificial sunlight, or phototherapy, became popular in the early 1900's with the invention of an artificial lamp developed to mimic the beneficial effects of sunlight to treat lupus vulgaris (skin TB). This was known as the Finsen-Reyn Lamp. Utilising ultraviolet light this artificial lamp could be used all year round and allowed the rays to be concentrated on the affected area for more accurate healing. The curative effect of artificial light was put down to the ultraviolet radiation killing the bacteria. Finsen won the Nobel Prize for Medicine in 1903 for his discovery. The Finsen-Rey lamp, alongside mercury vapour, carbon and tungsten-arc lamps made up a large artificial sunlight department at Stannington which opened in 1926.

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