Review of Health Effects of Indoor Lighting

It is inevitable to conclude that the type and the amount of light that you are exposed to during the day is very effective on your health and wellbeing. Obviously, the best lighting that you can have is the sunlight. However, during the bigger part of your day, you are exposed to the artificial, indoor lighting. This sort of lighting can have negative effects on your health and here are some of the things that are obviously influenced by this sort of lighting:

 

Natural sunlight

Skin

With natural sunlight, skin gets affected, develops the protection and it becomes tanned. This cannot happen with the indoor lighting and your skin can suffer from such lighting. Indoor lighting is usually blue lighting, especially the kind that comes from the computer screen. This type of lighting is not especially harmful, but it definitely dulls the skin, makes it look pale and prematurely aging. However, this is a problem that can be easily solved with skin lotions.

Eyes

The most logical conclusion is that your eyes are very sensitive to light. Especially if you are exposing them to the light of the computer screen for too long. The effects that indoor lighting can have on your eyes range from simple tiring effects to the long term damage. The worst you can do is to force your eyes to be strained all the time under the insufficient amount of light while, like when you are reading in the dark. Also, beware of the flickering lights as they are really tiring to your retina. Also, too much of a direct light can hurt your eyes and even cause long term damage.

Daily Cycle

The way you sleep, eat and live within the 24 hour time is called circadian cycle. This is very important cycle to nourish and maintain healthy as any disruption can have many bad consequences on your health. When it comes to indoor lighting, it can easily happen that they keep you awake and thus interfere with the natural circadian cycle of your body. Therefore, this lighting should be used carefully in that regard.

Mood Disorders

The lack of natural lighting causes certain hormones to be on a very low level which then leads to depression and different seasonal mood disorders. However, the scientists have determined that the certain, carefully planned treatments with artificial lights can help with seasonal depression and actually soothe the symptoms significantly. This way of treating the seasonal depression is called light therapy and it has been shown to be very effective.

With all this information about the influences of indoor lighting, it is obvious that you should pay special attention to the fact what sort of lights you choose for your home and office and how you place them. You need different types of lights and lighting for different areas of your home like beautiful chandeliers or practical floor lamps. , You really shouldn’t save on high quality lights as they influence your health significantly. It is not a luxury to buy good and well-designed lighting, it is a luxury not to buy it and gamble with the health of your eyes, skin, hormonal level and possibility of depression. Therefore, consulting experts before installing the lights and choosing the bulbs is highly recommendable.