When it comes to healthy homes, lighting is not something that often comes to mind but homeowners should be aware that lighting can have a substantial impact on your entire family.
Same as when the original invention of the light globe made candles and lanterns irrelevant, we are in the era where LED Lighting has overcome traditional incandescent lighting and sky rocketed us towards a more efficient future. With these technological advancements it’s no wonder that the benefits of old tradition lighting sources have long been forgotten. To understand how you should light your home your first need to understand a bit of science and look at the oldest and still best source of light from the sun.
While many people don’t think about the benefits of natural light – everyone has experience those days where they spend all day in bed, blinds closed with limited exposure to natural light. It will make you feel tired grumpy and even make you struggle to get out of bed the next day. The Benefits of natural light on human bodies are numerous, we work better, we feel better, we even think better but the most important aspect of natural light is how it regulates our circadian rhythm (our body cycles and how well we sleep at night). A substantial impact on these aspects is caused by the different sunlight wave length during the day that can been seen though the colour of the sky, sun set, mid-day to sun rise. We see these changes because sunlight passes through more air at sunset and sunrise than during the day. More atmosphere means more molecules to scatter the violet and blue light away from your eyes. If the path is long enough, all of the blue and violet light scatters out of your line of sight. The other colours continue on their way to your eyes. This is why sunsets are often yellow, orange, and red.
The body’s natural reaction to these different wave lengths (colours) is to feel energised by the blue colours often seen in the middle of the day. This keeps us active encouraged to enjoy outdoor activities and often the reason we are told NOT to use our mobiles before we sleep at night. Have you ever wondered why people feel happier during the longer daylight summer months? The sun set colours that are often, yellow, orange and red that we see at the end of the day help the body to relax and prepare for sleep. So now that we understand this, what does this have to do with lighting my home?
A common question is what “coloured” LED’s or globes should I purchase from my local hardware? While there may be slight energy efficiency benefits from choosing white or blue coloured LEDs we suggest customers take a look at history, remember the incandescent globe, candle light and the best common light source is the sun. We suggest that artificial lighting should only be used in warm relaxing colour, particularly in bedrooms, lounge rooms or any other location the body should relax. With products offered by Solatube Australia such as the Brighten up Daylighting system you are able to enjoy all aspect of the natural light that will keep you feeling energised during the day, relaxed during the afternoons till that time when you will use the warm led lighting.
So next time you come out of a movie having no idea what time it is, or stay in bed all day and feeling worse at the end of the day or next time you flick the switch to turn on a light in your home. Think about the effects natural light and the wrong colour of LED may have on your family.
Feeling inspired to add daylight to your life? Call us or your local premier Solatube dealer – such as Skylights Sydney – to discuss your options today!