How Lighting Affects Your Mood
The lighting in your house plays a very important role in your daily life. However, because lighting is not a tangible object, most people don’t really pay enough attention to it. Lighting can actually affect your mood in more ways than you might realise. In commercial settings, there’s a considerable amount of emphasis on the lighting. Business organisations hire interior designers so that the lighting within the organisation doesn’t disrupt moods or affect productivity in the workplace.
It doesn’t matter where you work, lighting is going to affect you in one way or another. Generating the right atmosphere is next to impossible. This is one of the main reasons why professional interior designers spend years studying different lighting sources in different environments. If you are thinking of renovating your commercial or residential space, you will need to visit a lighting contractor. Amonson Lighting in Melbourne is one of the most highly reputable shops that currently sells a wide variety of different lighting solutions. Here are just some of the different ways by which lighting can affect you.
It Affects the Mood
Lighting has a drastic impact on a person’s mood throughout the course of the day. When most people wake up in the morning, the first thing that they do is open the curtains slightly. That’s because natural lighting has a soothing and calming effect on a person’s mood. However, a serious lack of lighting in any room can cause mild depression. Serotonin, the chemical in the brain that causes the soothing effect, is drastically reduced when you are in a dark environment, whereas daylight causes a spike in serotonin production. Ever found yourself in a productivity slump? Take a walk outside for around 15 minutes and you are guaranteed to feel a lot better!
Productivity and Concentration
All of the places where brain stimulation is required, such as schools and offices, are quite brightly lit. A combination of yellow and white lights are used across the ceiling, and there are usually lamps on tables as well. Fluorescent lights are also often used. However, exposure to sharp, white lighting can cause your mood to take a dive. Researchers have found that using “warmer” lights is generally a much better idea and helps establish a “creative space.”
Your Sleep Cycles
Like every other mammal, humans also have a biological oscillator that moves in every 24 hours. That “oscillator” is driven by daylight. That is why you wake up naturally in the morning (despite being tired), and feel like going to sleep in the night. If you keep the lights dim in the bedroom, it’s going to trick your mind into thinking that night has fallen, and thus, it’ll make you drowsy. It is also one of the reasons why you shouldn’t use bright electronic devices like laptops and mobile phones before you are about to fall asleep. It can affect your circadian rhythms, and make it difficult for you to wake up or go to sleep at the right times. It also affects the quality of sleep.