FOCUS LIGHTING
Over four million years of
evolution, the cycle of day and
night has shaped human beings.
The 24-hour recurring pattern of
light and dark stimulates our body’s
processes and determines when we
sleep and when we wake. Natural
light triggers hormonal changes
within the body, telling us when to
be alert and when to feel drowsy.
This daily cycle is known as our
circadian rhythm.
In today’s modern world, we spend far
less of our time outside in natural light.
Instead we spend up to 90 per cent of
our time indoors, where we rely heavily
on artificial light. In today’s 24/7 work
culture we continually battle against our
body’s natural circadian rhythm.
Scientists have coined a new phrase
for the symptoms of persistently fighting
against our circadian instincts: ‘social
jet lag’, which was investigated as
part of the Nobel Prize-winning team
in 2017. When we fly over time zones
we experience the negative e ects
of disrupting our circadian rhythms.
Battling against our body clocks as part
of our daily routine has a detrimental
e ect on our ability to function over a
32 DECEMBER/JANUARY 2020
longer period of time.
Social jet lag causes sleep disruption,
digestive disorders and a reduced
attention span, but most importantly,
it reduces cognitive performance.
According to a recent study, workers
exposed to natural daylight are 18
per cent more productive, while poor
lighting in a working environment
includes reduced productivity and
more human error. Studies have
demonstrated that higher-quality
artificial lighting which replicates natural
light can have the same biological e ect
on the body as sunlight, improving
employees’ moods, wellbeing and
relationship to their workspace.
Employees are noticing the impact
that light can have on their health and
performance. A recent white paper by
workplace consultancy firm Baker Stuart
stated that 70 per cent of employees
are unhappy with the lighting in their
workplace, while a Raconteur study
found that only 57 per cent are satisfied
with the light levels in their workplace.
There’s a clear need to listen to the
feedback from sta and counteract
the negative e ects of poor lighting on
people.
Breakthrough technology has now
been harnessed to mimic the colour
changes and intensity of natural light
and stimulate the hormonal changes in
the body in the same way as the sun. Socalled
‘human-centric’ lights aim to do
just this. The blue-white light produced
by LEDs stimulate alertness while
the dimmer warm-white light option
cause levels of the ‘sleep hormone’
melatonin to rise. A study by the Stress
Management Society demonstrated the
positive impact of Luctra’s LED lighting
technology on wellbeing, sleep and
mental health, for example. The study
participants reported that their overall
quality of life increased by eight per cent.
IT’S PERSONAL
Lighting in workplaces is o en provided
at the same uniform level for all
employees. However, di erent people
have di erent needs. Someone in their
mid-50s requires twice as much light
to see to the same level as someone in
their mid-20s. Also, natural circadian
rhythms vary from person to person,
which is why some of us are night
owls while others are morning people.
Lighting tailored to our individual needs
is much more beneficial for us, in the
same way that we all benefit from
having our own adjustable ergonomic
chair.
One solution is to provide task lighting
for each workstation, giving each
employee control over the lighting levels
in their immediate workspace. Table and
floor lamps enable each user to adjust
their lighting exposure according to their
own personal needs via a touch panel.
A free app o ered by Luctra calculates
the optimum lighting sequence for the
user based on five questions about
their daily habits. The app transmits the
settings directly to the lamp and then
automatically varies the intensity and
colour of light throughout the day.
The latest lights are also an economic
solution. State-of-the-art LED sources
are e icient and maintenance-free. In
addition, a mix of desk and floor lamps
can be used to illuminate single desks
or a bank of desks, providing the
flexibility to only use the lights where
people are working – reducing energy
wastage.
It’s also possible to light entire rooms
with flexible floorstanding lights, which
o er a much more flexible and coste
ective solution in the long term. Not
only do floorstanding products remove
the need for expensive overhead lighting
infrastructure, such as suspended
ceilings, cabling and switches, the
lights can be moved to wherever
they are needed, for example when
the organisation needs to revise its
floorplans and desking layouts.
Various room lighting options are
available to provide a flexible alternative.
Some products now come with light
intensity and presence sensors, enabling
them to automatically adjust the lighting
to the requirements of the room and
turn o the light when it’s not needed.
This further minimises costs.
The Amsterdam o ice of international
property giant CBRE trialled humancentric
lighting systems in 2017, in
spite of the fact that their existing o ice
lighting met the normal requirements for
workspaces. The results were notable,
with 76 per cent of employees reporting
feeling happier, 50 per cent feeling
healthier, and work accuracy increasing
by 12 per cent.
In the deep midwinter with daylight at a premium, human-centric lighting solutions can help
employees stay alert and productive, says Sam Rylands, Marketing Manager at Durable UK