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6 lighting hacks for healthier,more productive workplaces

It’s summer and there is light all around us — we take it for granted till those dark winter months come together. The sheer lack of sun can be depressing. Every year we experience this longing for summer,craving those long,bright days when we feel energetic and in a fantastic mood. The good thing is,we’ve again passed the longest day of 2015,but the good news is that the perfect artificial lighting in your office can help you through. Good lighting creates pleasant working conditions in a practical and atmospheric way. Satisfaction and efficiency will improve if you be sure you have enough daylight ingestion and a well-lit office area. Artificial lighting that does not just help you view,but also meets your biological lighting needs,is the future of office lighting. Here are six light hacks to keep you healthy and alert through those dark winter days.

1 Create atmospheres where your ideas can develop

We’re all attracted to light,and there isn’t any other medium that’s as big an impact on our bodies and minds as light. Both daylight and artificial light play an integral role in our health and wellbeing. Increasingly,companies face the question of how they can improve staff wellbeing and generate a dynamic,creative and motivating atmosphere. The design of the office area plays a vital role,as evidenced by a study from Germany’s Fraunhofer Institute for Industrial Engineering. The research indicates that in businesses with a high standard of interior design,productivity can increase by up to 36 percent. Who wouldn’t like to see their efficiency skyrocket? Additionally,comprehensive research from the Light Right Consortium,came to the conclusion that light increases productivity. Only around 70 percent of the interviewees said that working at workstations with purely downward lighting was comfortable. In contrast,91 per cent saw a light setting with direct/indirect light and a high quantity of vertical lit surfaces pleasing. Furthermore,if the desk light is individually controllable,people feel motivated and operate with greater accuracy. TIP: Create a light atmosphere with indirect and direct lighting. Avoid having just downwards-directed illumination.

2 Light for individuals,not just tasks

Lighting is often just regarded as a requirement to enable us to see,but actually it has many more qualities than the obvious ones. We should move away from just thinking of light for jobs and concentrate on creating light settings for individuals. Today,most men and women work indoors,and spends nearly the entire day indoors,in an unnaturally dark atmosphere. Our light intake is responsible for feeling and sleeping well,and affects our productivity. When there is a lack of natural light to help us tell the time of day,then our circadian rhythm (body clock) loses its pace,with tiredness and listlessness because of this. We always find ourselves surrounded by light. It is a lot more than just illumination. It arouses,attracts,enables communication,sets a mood,and has psychological qualities. If this knowledge transcends into our built environment,pleasant atmospheres are made. Think of a visit to a theater,a restaurant,or nightclub. These experiences are shaped by light. Good lighting accentuates the mood and desirability of spaces,consequently contributing to people’s sense of wellbeing. Every building and space expresses and communicates an identity,and at times also a corporate value. Good lighting should be a part of this,because what other element can enhance an atmosphere as much as light can? TIP: Create a mixture of different lighting. This will guarantee flexible change of light atmosphere. Use illumination that affirms a space’s identity

3 From homo sapiens to homo officunus

In the world today,we spend many hours working in biotopes — environment made by humans. Instead of trying to adapt ourselves to our own creations,we should adapt these biotopes to our own needs. Adequate light is one of those needs. Here are a few guidelines: Take the biological quality of light into consideration. It affects our sleep-wake cycle and this has a big influence on the health and productivity. Adapt the light to the daytime and year,as well concerning the individual needs of the consumer. Vertical surface illumination,preferably on large wall surfaces,is vital to create a sense of space and depth. Additionally,it gives a visual resting stage for the eyes and provides a pleasant atmosphere to the working environment. Too often,office surroundings are insufficiently lit,not just from the perspective of biological light needs but also from an architectural one,where the space feels smaller because of insufficient lighting. The chart below shows how office workers assessed their working environments — revealing which aspects are important to them and how satisfied they are with every facet. As you can see,lighting is rated the most important of all of the aspects mentioned,but there is loads of space for it to improve.

4 Get the best spot in the house

Are you based at a co-working space? Choosing the ideal spot in the house can go a long way. Pick a place with a great deal of daylight. It is advised that around three percent daylight reaches a person’s working area. However,in the majority of offices this isn’t the case. Daylight provides an emotional quality to some space and the possibility to look out is an added bonus. If you can,choose a spot near the window. But make sure there is sun shading to stop harsh reflections on your computer screen. About 80 percent of information is taken in through our eyes. Unlike rods and cones,these cells don’t contribute directly to our sight; they’re nevertheless light dependent and help to regulate our circadian rhythm. So light isn’t simply a requirement for viewing,but is also an important zeitgeber (timer) and a regulator for our own bodies. Unfortunately,we often don’t get the light intake we really need,especially during the darker period of the year,resulting in the winter blues or seasonal affective disorder (SAD) — a type of depression linked to a lack of light. It leaves people feeling moody and lacking energy. In a workplace setting,light treatment makes people feel more awake and energized. It is found that an illumination that goes up to 2000 lux in the working area in the morning and the afternoon,reduces the physiological reaction of anxiety and provides an energising effect to the body. In contrast,most working areas are lit to a standard 500 lux. If you would like to check the amount of lux at your desk, download a lux meter program. It’s not very precise,but it gives you an idea on how little light we really have indoors. Not only is a higher quantity of light required,but also the colour temperature of the light plays a role. At noon the sky’s colour is a really trendy 10000K but at sunset it is a far warmer 2000K. Additionally light should reflect indirectly into the eyes from large surfaces,like walls and ceilings. TIP: Attempt to grab enough daylight at any time of the year. You should have at least half an hour of daylight a day

6 Light,java,action!

A deadline and stilla great deal of work beforehand,no time to sleep! As light can disrupt your sleeping pattern,it can also boost your activity. In case you have followed the above-mentioned advice for biologically effective lighting than you’re already on the right path. If you will need to pull an all-nighter,increase the light intensity and also the quantity of bluish white light in the room. Almost done with your job? Change the atmosphere to warm,low-intensity lighting,which will calm you down. You might also have experienced that if you work late on a computer or pill it is difficult to sleep afterwards. The cause of this is that the high blue content of the backlit displays. So use this light hack consciously. There are some applications you can install that correlate the screen’s brightness and colour,to the daylight of your location. F.lux,by way of instance,works on most systems,or the Twilight program reduces the amount of blue light on your Android phone. TIP: Have different lamp types and colour temperatures in your working area. Warm light sources in your desk can be combined with general and indirect lighting with different colour temperatures,such as 3500K and 5000K.