The pandemic forced everyone to work from home, and after almost two years it has taken a toll on the mental and physical health of professionals across the world. Now, as some are returning to their workspaces, there is still a large percentage of the workforce for whom working from home might become a permanent thing. Locked indoors with limited access to nature is one of the biggest complaints of work-from-home professionals. This is causing mental health issues for a large number of professionals as they struggle with anxiety or depression. ‘Biophilic lighting’ has evolved as an impactful way of addressing fatigue and work-from-home health.
Biophilic Lighting
Good dynamic and diffuse light conditions is a primary facet of biophilic design and is used to convey an expression of time and movement and affect the mood accordingly. Lighting has long been used to set the mood in a room and elicit differing psychological responses. Research has shown the benefits of daylight on performance, mood, well-being, and more. Workspaces with good daylight have been associated with higher productivity, whereas sales have been higher in daylit stores. According to Nicklas & Bailey, 1996, quality daylight has been reported to induce positive moods among students attending school as compared to ones attending school with average daylight.
How does Biophilic Lighting help work-from-home life?
Remote working is placing a great strain on eye health as professionals don’t have time to take recommended breaks from their screens. This constant exposure to artificial lighting and extended indoor time is causing a lot of damage both physically and psychologically. The idea of biophilic lighting is to provide lighting that changes over time to replicate nature, stimulating the eye and holding attention in a manner that creates a positive psychological response and helps in maintaining circadian rhythm.
How to create Biophilic Lighting conditions for your Home Office?
- To create natural biophilic conditions in your home office, ensure that daylight enters your room or workspace from multiple angles, ensuring direct sunlight.
- For your work area, luminance ratios between task and immediate surroundings should not exceed ten to one.
- Ambient diffuse lighting on walls and ceilings provide a calm backdrop to the visual scene that will help you de-stress and concentrate on the work.
- Dynamic lighting conditions can help transition between indoor and outdoor spaces and will ensure that fatigue does not set in.
