We’ve all heard about the power of good lighting when it comes to looking your best – but did you know being in the presence of ‘the right light’ can have a real effect on how you feel?
While lighting by itself is unlikely to have a strong effect on one’s health, it is undeniably one of several factors that combine to create a healthy environment for you to live, work, learn, shop and heal. Light impacts human health and performance by enabling the performance of visual tasks, controlling your body’s circadian system, affecting mood and perception, and by triggering critical chemical reactions in the body.
Here are some of the other positive effects that lighting can have on your health:
It can make you feel happier
It’s no coincidence many people cite ‘the winter blues’ in the darker months of the year. The drop-off in daylight during autumn and winter directly affects mood, and conversely both positive and negative emotions can be amplified by bright lighting – depending on how you are feeling to begin with. Essentially, bright light intensifies one’s emotional reaction to stimuli or a situation, and it can be used in targeted ways in different environments to make you feel a certain way.
It can improve your concentration
It is common knowledge that you need lighting to see things, and it stands to reason that better lighting quality can help you focus so your eyes don’t tire. Adequate light is especially essential in environments where concentration is key – such as offices, factories, warehouses and schools.
How improved lighting in schools can help your children
It can improve your overall wellbeing + quality of life
Receiving the right light at the right time helps us achieve better sleep, health, and sense of well-being. When our normal sleeping cycles are disrupted by being exposed to bright lights late into the night (like on night shift) our overall sense of wellbeing declines. Tailoring light to our primitive needs helps us accomplish what we want with greater comfort and in better health.
It can make you more productive
A brightly lit environment can also affect how much you get done in your day! Darker environments tend to slow people down and make them sleepy, whereas brighter environments can help people perk up and get ready for the work ahead. Blue light has also been proven to help encourage productive spurts in the human brain, as its hue suppresses the sleep-inducing hormone melatonin. Another reason why we are often encouraged to put down our devices before bed to aid sleep!
If you want to improve the lighting quality in your business, school or work environment – we’re here to help! Contact Integrated Lighting on: at info@integratedoutcomes.com.au
For more information head to www.integratedoutcomes.com.au
