It’s no secret that the lighting in your home or office can have a great influence on your mood. A properly lit office or home space can really make a difference in the efficiency of your work, as well as your general mental well-being. But did you know that lighting can actually also impact your physical health?
As a diurnal species, humans thrive in natural sunlight. A healthy amount of sunlight in the morning can make us feel energised and well rested, on top of helping us get into the groove of things, while a dimmer light in the evenings can help us ease into the night, preparing us for sleep. It is for this reason that light influences our mood so much, and the consequences of not providing your body with a healthy quantity of light at the right intensity at the right time of day may disrupt our internal body clock. This can, according to research presented in the Journal of Clinical Endocrinology & Metabolism, increase the risk of several severe physical ailments, such as type 2 diabetes, high blood pressure, and even cancer.
In order to stay safe, then, we need the right amount of light during the day. How much that is depends on the time of day and our activities. Work or school requires us to stay alert, therefore we need large amounts of light then to keep up that level of alertness. Then, in the evening, when we want to be more relaxed and slowly get ready for bed, we should use dimmer light, which helps our minds slow things down for us, getting us ready to sleep before becoming active again on the next day.