Right Lighting for the Right Mood
And the God said, “Let there be light.” As soon as the light emerged, the void and darkness of the earth vanished. And this is the impact, light has on our lives. In more particular terms, light is the natural agent that stimulates sight and makes things observable. And what actually differentiates the day from the night is “light.” Since ages, people have intended their lives around the light. Be it the earliest form of lighting through fire, then using animal fat, oil lamps, candles, or gas lamps, people developed artificial lighting to facilitate their day to day living. And with the formal invention of electric bulb, darkness left its dominion forever.
How Light Affects People?
Light certainly affects the mental and emotional well-being of any person. You can easily notice that you feel energized and lethargic around the same time every day. Yes, and the credit goes to your circadian rhythm which is essentially a 24-hour internal clock running in your brain that cycles between drowsiness and attentiveness at regular intervals. Circadian rhythm can also be referred to physical, mental, and behavioral changes that follow a daily cycle. Your circadian rhythm is controlled by a part of your brain, Hypothalamus. However, it gets also affected by outside factors of lightness and darkness. A good example of a light-related circadian rhythm is sleeping at night and being awake during the day.
What Happens When You Don’t Receive Adequate Light?
Considering the fact that excessive exposure to the sun rays can be harmful to the skin; yet the right exposure does have many health benefits, including meeting of most of our Vitamin D needs. Without adequate sunlight exposure, an individual’s serotonin level – a hormone that is released by the brain during daytime and is associated with boosting mood and staying focused – can dip low. And low level of serotonin is related with a higher risk of seasonal affective disorder (SAD). SAD is a kind of depression that is caused by changing seasons. Any individual is more likely to experience SAD in the winters when the days are shorter and the nights are longer.
Having said that, one question that pops up in our mind is, what happens in regions where there is no fixed daylight or night? Since lightness and darkness definitely influence our circadian rhythm, it is necessary to mention that people living on the Earth’s north Polar Regions get certainly affected by it. If we look at the statistics, it is quite evident that people who remain in darkness much longer than the required duration tends to get into depression, or become prone to diseases. Generally, people at higher altitudes, like Nordic region where the sun hardly shines, are more vulnerable to panic attacks, depression, and in extreme cases, some of them also become suicidal.
Why Light is Necessary for Human Beings?
Mood boost isn’t the only rationale behind getting better amount of sunlight, but health benefits like strengthening of bones, treating skin conditions and others as well. Exposure to sunlight can help people to overcome non-seasonal depression, pre-menstrual dysphoric disorder, and anxiety-related disorders too. Sunlight is definitely essential for the well-being of human beings. However, with the advent of artificial indoor lighting that we have today in homes and office spaces, light could be impacting us in ways that we don’t fully understand.
Choosing the Right Lighting for Indoor Areas
Early civilizations probably went to bed soon after darkness and would start their day with the break of dawn. Fast forward to today and we can simulate daylight the whole night and the dreamy evening sunlight throughout the day. In just over 50 years, things have changed so much that we are surrounded by electrical and electronic devices that emit some form of light at all times, even at night, changing our sleep pattern, psyche, and affecting our mood. Undoubtedly, electricity-based lighting has already changed our lives in ways evolution never projected.
Therefore, we must consider a host of factors in mind when we choose lighting for indoor spaces. These considerations include the sort of brightness you need, whether to use bulbs or tube light, how energy efficient they are, and so on.
There are various options of LED lighting, capable of emitting lights of different colors, in the market. In fact, with a single luminaire, you can enjoy the dual benefit of low power consumption and long-lasting illumination. Lighting can also be designed according to the specific requirement of the dwellers, whether the space requires task lighting, accent lighting or ambient lighting. Illumination isn’t as simple and straightforward as plugging just about any light-bulb into a socket and turning the switch on. A proper lighting can go a long way in improving the quality of your life, well-being, and the tasks you do. So, choose the right light for your needs. Happy shopping!