Wall Lights to Lift Your Mood
The effects of lighting on our mood have been known for some time. The lights that you choose to have in your home can, and will, significantly affect the way you and other people feel when in it.
Winter months are always dark and cold, and investing in wall lights can help to ward off those seasonal blues.
But how?
How Lighting Affects Your Mood
We’ve all heard about how poor lighting can cause damage to our eyes – particularly during tasks like reading that force us to strain our focus. Lesser known, however, are the impacts that improper lighting can have on the way we feel emotionally; there are even types of lighting that significantly improve your mood.
There are a number of different ways in which light can alter our mental health and feelings. Believe it or not, insufficient lighting has even been shown to play a part in depression and vitamin D production, while proper lighting is known to improve mood and energy levels.
In office spaces, lighting has been shown to dramatically bolster or impair productivity depending upon the types and styles used. One of the most significant factors affecting mood and motivation is the color temperature of the light that we’re exposed to on a regular basis.
Let’s look at this in more detail.
Making Sense of Variations in Lighting
If you’re unfamiliar with different lighting temperates and colors, they can be quite confusing at first. What do all of the figures mean?
Firstly, the temperature of light is measured in Kelvin (K), which is a numerical figure representing the color that’s emitted from an object when its heated to a high enough temperature – like a light bulb filament. As this temperature increases, the filament changes color.
Lower temperature light sources are often described as ‘warm’, producing red, yellow and orange tones typically associated with relaxation and coziness. Higher temperature lights, or rather, higher Kelvin lights, emit cool light, typically blue or white in color.
- Lower color temperatures (up to 3,000K) are usually red/orange in tone, referred to as warm colors.
- Mid-range color temperatures (3,100K to 4,600K) are in-between lower and higher colors, often appearing a cool white.
- Higher color temperatures (4,600K and up) are referred to as ‘cool’ or ‘daylight’ colors.
The Health Benefits of Light
Many studies have found that sunlight can have a wide range of benefits to our health. Exposure to natural light is particularly beneficial to people who spend most of their time indoors, boosting vitamin D production and improving mood.
Full-spectrum natural light from both the morning and the evening has been proven to decrease depression, as well as boosting happiness, increasing energy levels and accelerating productivty.
How Kelvin Rating Affects Mood
Generally speaking, cooler lighting makes people more productive and alert, which is why it’s best-used in office spaces. If you’re adding wall lights into a study or kitchen where you’ll be required to remain focused, implementing cool lights with lower Kelvin ratings is a good idea.
Not only does light affect productivity, though. Some studies even show that it can affect appetite. Participants were found to eat slower and less when in a room with bright lights, whereas they tended to eat more and more quickly in dimly-lit spaces. That’s certainly something to consider when adding lights to a kitchen space.
Furthermore, lighting has been shown to have a significant effect on circadian rhythms. This means that light can also contribute to alertness in the morning, either stimulating you to get up and go or send you off to sleep.
When adding wall lights into bedrooms you should be mindful of their temperature. Warmer, lower-Kelvin bulbs won’t interfere with sleep, making them more appropriate as night-time mood lights. Cooler tones, on the other hand, may be better suited to task lighting in the bedroom – like reading lamps and makeup mirrors.
What Type of Wall Lights Should I Use?
You can make the most of the benefits of lighting by adding wall fixtures to your home. Available in a range of Kelvin ratings, colors and styles, they’re ideal for adding depth and mood to any room.
Before incorporating any new lights into your home, it’s important to consider why you’ll be adding them. Adding low-Kelvin bulbs to an office space, for example, would be unwise as these are more likely to send people to sleep than stimulate activity.
Using brighter, cooler bulbs in a bedroom or living space, on the other hand, will only make people feel uncomfortable and less relaxed.
To strike the right balance and make sure that you accurately meet your preferences, be sure to think carefully about the type of environment you’re trying to create. Then, find the right wall fixtures for you and pop them in.
Author Profile
- Adam is an in-house technical writer for Scotlight Direct, a website dedicated to providing the latest and most accurate information on lighting topics. With a passion for writing and a deep understanding of various lighting concepts and designs. Adam has been a valuable asset to the team since joining in 2019.
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