Change Your Lighting to Get More Done
The light in your work space could boost your productivity
If you ask sleep experts, blue light is the Vlad the Impaler of productivity. Blue light = less sleep = getting less done. (Poor blue light. It’s so misunderstood.) According to many studies, though, blue light isn’t all bad. In fact, it’s pretty dang good for your productivity during waking working hours.
I eat all my frogs between 6 am and 7 am on weekday mornings. During this time in the summer, I have two lighting options — the lamps in my living room (warm reddish, orangish lights) or the rising sun out the window (usually a cooler sun-peeking-from-behind-the-clouds white light.
I very much prefer the white light over the red. But, I didn’t know until now that I was choosing a lighting option that would help me devour those frogs more like funnel cakes at a county fair than french fries on Angelina Jolie’s plate. Simply? Your lighting can change your productivity.
How to measure lighting
A study published in the Journal of Circadian Rhythms by Peter R Mills, Susannah C. Tomkins, and Luc JM Schlangen explored the effect of high correlated color temperature office lighting on employee wellbeing and work performance. They found that “The recent discovery of ‘non-visual’ retinal receptors has confirmed an anatomical basis for the non-image forming, biological effects of light and has stimulated interest in the use of light to enhance wellbeing in the corporate setting.”
See, lighting is measured by its temperature — in Kelvin (K). It’s the number that is associated with the light emitted when an object is heated to a certain temperature. The light emitted by a candle is somewhere around 2,000 Kelvin while the light that you get from a blue sky can be around 10,000 Kelvin. Check out this chart below from Inline Electric for a good visual idea of the range of light.
I don’t know about you, but before I started learning about all of this, I really didn’t know there were that many different types of light. Now that I know, I can see that my lamps are operating at about 2,000K and that lovely sky out my window is about 5,000K.
So, what does it matter what color my lights are? Great question.
Lighting and productivity
One of the biggest ways lighting can impact productivity is that it can regulate your circadian rhythm. Most people don’t realize that our circadian rhythms are more than just our sleep/wake cycle. Circadian rhythms are physical, emotional, and mental – and they all follow a 24-hour period. Additionally, when your circadian rhythms are off? Your body is more susceptible to stress. Yeppers.
And what does lighting have to do with a 24-hour cycle? Well, look at the photo above. Notice that the daytime-looking light has more Kelvins (that sounds weird) than the sunset/candlelight-looking light. That’s because our bodies are wired to get things done during the daytime and to chill the heck out in the evening.
So, if you’re doing your work at noon under a light that looks like candlelight? Your body is going to be seriously confused. And it’s likely that you might be a little sleepier and/or unfocused because of it.
Final thoughts
Lighting is not something I think about a lot (or, at least it wasn’t until I started learning about it). But apparently, it’s a huge thing. Redder light tells our bodies that it’s rest time. Bluer light tells our bodies that it’s GO TIME. I don’t know about you all, but I am all about a quick transition into go time and as much of it as I can get.
Small changes can make a huge impact long-term. Lighting included. I don’t know about y’all, but I’m going to Home Depot.
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Thank you for reading!
Love,
Michelle
This makes sense, but as a keen photographer I'd add something else you might not have thought of. High Kelvin light, like old-fashioned fluorescents, makes people look ill. I have no idea what's on the US market, but in Europe, "warm white" is nicer than cold white for anywhere exccept the morgue, and still good to work by. Or daylight is good, of course.