{"id":4275,"date":"2019-07-03T12:24:14","date_gmt":"2019-07-03T19:24:14","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.alconlighting.com\/blog\/?p=4275"},"modified":"2021-10-19T14:49:33","modified_gmt":"2021-10-19T21:49:33","slug":"effects-of-light-color-intensity-mind-body","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.alconlighting.com\/blog\/lighting-design\/effects-of-light-color-intensity-mind-body\/","title":{"rendered":"The Effects of Light Color and Intensity on Your Mind and Body"},"content":{"rendered":"

Are misconceptions about sunlight affecting the way you live?\u00a0If so, maybe they start with what color you think sunlight is.\u00a0Contrary to popular belief, sunlight is not yellow. It\u2019s blue. And it\u2019s the bright\u00a0blue<\/em>\u00a0hue of daylight \u2013 not yellow \u2013 that helps you wake up and go about your day. Here\u2019s how.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

When blue sunlight arrives in the morning, it triggers a sharp rise in blood pressure and the production of cortisol, a natural steroid. At the same time, it tells your body to stop secreting melatonin, the hormone that helps you sleep.<\/span><\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

Blue light keeps working throughout the day to increase one’s ability to focus, enhance reaction times and elevate mood. By the time sunset arrives, you\u2019re slowing down not only because you\u2019re tired, but also because that energizing blue light is slowly fading away, becoming warmer and losing intensity.<\/span><\/p>\n

Yellow,\u00a0warmer light color (2500K-2700K), on the other hand,\u00a0cues\u00a0warmth and relaxation. But that\u2019s not because yellow light comes from the sun. My theory is that the origins of this pattern date back to our earliest ancestors, who both for warmth and safety from predators, made sure to light a fire at night. For hundreds of thousands of years, fire was, and in some parts of the world still is, a nighttime necessity. That\u2019s why yellow light may be responsible for triggering feelings of warmth and relaxation in comparison to cool, blue-ish light.\u00a0\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

This pattern, which co-existed harmoniously until humans started lighting up the night artificially, was responsible for the proper functioning of our biological clocks or Circadian Rythym. Brighter gets you up; less bright calms you down.\u00a0\u00a0Excessive artificial lighting of the nighttime sky led to the\u00a0creation of the Dark-sky Movement,\u00a0a\u00a0push to reduce light pollution which includes legislation dating back to the\u00a01950s. “The advantages of reducing light pollution include an increased number of stars visible at night, reducing the effects of electric light on the environment, and improving the well-being, health\u00a0and safety\u00a0of both people and wildlife.”[1]<\/a>\u00a0The study of the role\u00a0darkness plays in the\u00a0lives of living organism is called Scotobiology.\u00a0 Interrupting nighttime darkness with artificial light has\u00a0effects\u00a0on most organisms; “changing their food gathering and feeding habits, their mating and reproduction, migration (birds and insects) and social behavior.”\u00a0<\/sup><\/span><\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

Sunlight (with a color temperature of around 6500 Kelvin) also plays a major role in regulating many human biological responses.\u00a0For example, research shows that our highest feelings of alertness hit around 1o am. If you’re not well-engaged on your job by then, you may be missing an opportunity to do your best work. Using the wrong color temperature of light in an office setting may be responsible for triggering feelings of sleep and relaxation as opposed to alertness and productivity. Research also indicates that we experience our greatest cardiovascular efficiency and muscle strength around 5 pm.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

If you find your body wildly out of sync with the light-dark cycle, consider if your constant exposure to blue light at night, primarily via electronics or Cool White (4000K-6500K) LED and fluorescent lights, is throwing off your internal clock and disrupting your sleep patterns.\u00a0 <\/span><\/div>\n

What does this mean\u00a0for how you live with light?<\/strong><\/span><\/h3>\n

Of course, there\u2019s nothing you can do about when the sun rises or sets. However, you can become better attuned to this cycle by waking early to take advantage of the invigorating benefits of sunlight, then letting your body wind down naturally at night.<\/span><\/p>\n

Today\u2019s\u00a0LED color tuning system<\/a>\u00a0allows users to control the color of light anytime after installation. Color tuning<\/a> affords the ability to attune lighting to individual preferences or specific application needs. For example, the user can set the LED light fixture to follow the sun\u2019s natural east-to-west course throughout the day or choose from standard presets (i.e., dawn, morning, midday, afternoon and evening).\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

You can also minimize your exposure to blue light at night by changing the kind of lights you have in certain areas of your home.\u00a0\u00a0Consider using Warm White (2500K-2700K) LED lights in your bedroom or living room with a dimmer intensity.<\/span><\/p>\n

Lighting designers recommend using these warmer\u00a0tones in bedrooms and living rooms in the evening, while restricting cooler, blue-ish lights to workspaces such as kitchens and home offices.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>Pay attention, too, to the sleep experts who advise you to turn off your computer, smart phone, tablet and video games a couple of hours before you want to go to sleep, as electronics have become infamous for emitting enervating blue light that keeps people wide awake. One way Apple and Android devices have circumvented this problem on their devices is through the \u201cNight Shift\u201d setting. \u201cNight Shift\u201d replaces the harsh blue light that electronics emit during the day with a warmer yellow light more conducive to slumber.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

If all else fails, find a safe place where you can light a small fire. Then bask in the warm yellow glow it gives off until you finally relax enough to go to sleep!<\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Our relation to light as humans is complex. Though many of the effects of light on our biology are still unknown, there are several we know and understand. Light also plays a major role in regulating human biological responses, including our internal body clock or circadian rhythm.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":5081,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_lmt_disableupdate":"","_lmt_disable":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[352,349,180],"tags":[],"thb-sponsors":[],"ppma_author":[773],"yoast_head":"\nThe Effects of Light Color and Intensity on Your Mind and Body — Insights<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.alconlighting.com\/blog\/lighting-design\/effects-of-light-color-intensity-mind-body\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"The Effects of Light Color and Intensity on Your Mind and Body\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Our relation to light as humans is complex. Though many of the effects of light on our biology are still unknown, there are several we know and understand. 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This quest to share his knowledge was the impetus for David to create Insights, Alcon Lighting\u2019s blog and resource center for helping the reader understand lighting and its application to space.","sameAs":["https:\/\/www.alconlighting.com","https:\/\/www.linkedin.com\/in\/david-p-hakimi\/","https:\/\/twitter.com\/https:\/\/twitter.com\/Itspaedae"],"url":"https:\/\/www.alconlighting.com\/blog\/author\/admin\/"}]}},"modified_by":"David Hakimi","authors":[{"term_id":773,"user_id":1,"is_guest":0,"slug":"admin","display_name":"David Hakimi","avatar_url":{"url":"https:\/\/www.alconlighting.com\/cdn-cgi\/image\/fit=contain,format=webp,quality=80,width=90\/https:\/\/www.alconlighting.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/08\/David-Hakimi-Alcon-Lighting-Inc.-1-1-90x90.png","url2x":"https:\/\/www.alconlighting.com\/cdn-cgi\/image\/fit=contain,format=webp,quality=80,width=180\/https:\/\/www.alconlighting.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/08\/David-Hakimi-Alcon-Lighting-Inc.-1-1-180x180.png"},"first_name":"David","last_name":"Hakimi","user_url":"https:\/\/www.alconlighting.com","description":"Alcon Lighting creative director and co-founder David Hakimi works to improve lighting through research, development and education. David strives for efficiency in lighting, affording architects, lighting designers and engineers the ability to maximize LED lighting design and application. \r\n\r\nDavid is a graduate of the University of California, Los Angeles, where he received a Bachelors in history. David also studied lighting design at IES in Los Angeles. He traces his and Alcon Lighting\u2019s commitment to innovation, accountability, quality and value to lessons learned from his father, Mike Hakimi, a lighting craftsman, salesman and consultant in Southern California for more than four decades.\r\n\r\nToday\u2019s lighting for commercial use requires a deep, complete understanding of smart lighting systems and controls. David takes pride in his lighting, energy controls and design knowledge. He is driven by the desire to share his insights into lighting specification and application. This quest to share his knowledge was the impetus for David to create Insights, Alcon Lighting\u2019s blog and resource center for helping the reader understand lighting and its application to space."}],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.alconlighting.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4275"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.alconlighting.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.alconlighting.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.alconlighting.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.alconlighting.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=4275"}],"version-history":[{"count":55,"href":"https:\/\/www.alconlighting.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4275\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":6235,"href":"https:\/\/www.alconlighting.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4275\/revisions\/6235"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.alconlighting.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/5081"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.alconlighting.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=4275"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.alconlighting.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=4275"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.alconlighting.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=4275"},{"taxonomy":"thb-sponsors","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.alconlighting.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/thb-sponsors?post=4275"},{"taxonomy":"author","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.alconlighting.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/ppma_author?post=4275"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}