Lighting is not just about illuminating a certain space or making sure that you see something. It’s also about creating an ambiance that dictates your mood and affects your emotions and psychology.
Little do people know that lighting has a huge effect on a person’s mood. This is because we are visual beings. And everything that we see has stimuli on our body, specifically on our personality and emotions.
But how can this take effect on ourselves? And how can lighting specifically affect our mood?
Read on to know more.
Bright light can heighten your emotions
One of the most popular and common factors where lighting can affect your mood is bright light.
Most likely, you have experienced positive and negative emotions when you’re in an area that has bright light. But the thing is, you experience these feelings in a more intense condition.
We tend to see things in a more enhanced way when there is a lot of light that enters our eyes, or in this case, the area. This is why we usually overreact to the things happening around us when there are extreme levels of bright light.
We can either feel very happy because we can see everything in deep detail or perhaps feel so awkward that we become body conscious because people can see our physical imperfections due to the bright light.
Blue light makes us energetic
Being exposed to blue light in day time makes us feel more alive and energetic. It can even make us more alert and hyper due to its natural soothing and exhilarating color.
In fact, a certain study confirms that people exposed to high-energy blue light with a short wavelength were actually more productive than people who weren’t exposed to it.
These people became capable of completing cognitive tasks faster and more accurately compared to the control group of the study who weren’t exposed to blue light.
Furthermore, the blue light didn’t just boost their alertness when they were exposed, but for half an hour more after their blue light exposure.
Sleep deprivation
Blue light can undoubtedly make us feel more energetic during the day. However, this also means that this can make it harder for you to sleep during the nighttime.
Being exposed to blue light, such as from your laptop, smartphone, or tablet a few hours before bedtime has a negative effect on your daily sleeping cycle.
This suppresses your body’s production of melatonin, which is the hormone responsible for making you feel sleepy. This means that it becomes harder for you to sleep.
Sleep deprivation has a huge detrimental effect on your physical, psychological, and emotional health.
This also impairs judgment and heightens stress levels which leads to higher blood pressure. So, although blue light is a great thing in the morning, it’s best to keep away from it when darkness creeps in.
Natural light makes you happier
There is a reason why we associate sunshine with joy and happiness. And although this is because of how culture made us feel this way, it actually has scientific and factual explanations.
Note that catching even a few rays of sunlight at daytime, specifically in the morning during sunrise, makes a whole world of difference. Not only does this activate the production of happy hormones in your body. But this also gives you the much-needed Vitamin D.
You feel more alive and optimistic about life because the sun shines through you. Perhaps this is the result of millions of years of evolution and our exposure to the sun. But nonetheless, sunshine, or in this case, natural light, actually makes us happier.
According to studies, office employees who had windows near their desks were healthier, were more motivated, and had more sleep compared to those that didn’t have direct access to natural light.
People who also can see natural light mostly throughout the day also had a greater sense of overall wellbeing.
Natural light has become an important part of human life that it helps our bodies stick to their natural circadian rhythm, which is common amongst all animals, including us humans. This helps us know when we should feel alert and when we should feel sleepy.
Natural light gets rid of depression
Natural light is an effective proven tool against depression as it helps reduce its symptoms. Multiple studies have already proven that around a month of increased sunlight exposure gets rid of Vitamin D deficiency, which ultimately gets rid of depression. Increasing outdoor time and getting enough sunlight makes you feel happier.
However, if you don’t have direct sunlight in your office or workspace where you spend most of your time of the day, then it’s best for you to mimic natural outdoor light.
This can be done by having a LED strip 5630 installed in your office room to create a more soothing ambiance.
There are many choices out there. You just need to make sure you buy one from a reputable manufacturer that has an FBA freight forwarder option so you can receive the parcel fast and in one piece.
Light affects your appetite
Light can also affect how much you eat and how fast you finish eating. What’s more, is that it can even dictate what kind of food you’re in the mood for.
You are most likely going to eat slower and eat less food if the place you are eating in has softer and dim lighting, just like the one you find in fine dining restaurants.
But the catch is that you might order unhealthy food in dark-lit restaurants because you aren’t that conscious of what you’re eating. Meanwhile, brightly lit restaurants such as fast food make you eat faster and eat more because of the bright lighting that makes you feel more energetic.
Aside from lighting, there are also other factors that can affect your appetite in relation to the amount of light you get.
The things around you can affect your mood such as having a hand sanitizer near you. You become more confident about eating more because you get a feeling of cleanliness. And just like lighting, it can affect your decisions and feelings at that specific time.
Conclusion
With all this being said, one can easily see how much of an effect lighting has when it comes to how we live our daily lives. Because of this, it is important that we know the kind of lighting we should have in our office, room, or house so that we can live harmoniously with it and make our lives more comfortable and happier.
