Lighting for Health: on Human-Centric Lighting
Using Advanced LEDs to Achieve Lighting Design that Promotes Human Health, Productivity, and Rest
Abstract:
Light—from the sun and artificial light sources—profoundly effects our body’s circadian system. Light is a key factor in human productivity, alertness, sleep quality, and health. And, as we are learning, “poor” lighting can have unfavorable effects on health and well-being. A lighting revolution is happening as awareness of human-centric lighting (HCL) has emerged in recent years.
The HCL approach focuses on designing lighting for workplaces, public spaces, and homes that support circadian function. HCL lighting schemes can be challenging to achieve indoors, however. In the daytime, cool blue-toned light (e.g., 5000 K) helps with alertness and wakefulness; in the evenings, warm light with an orange spectrum (e.g., 2700 K) helps our bodies wind down for a good night’s sleep.
LED lighting offers many benefits, including low power use and long bulb life. However, the color profile of most standard LEDs makes it difficult to strike the right balance of color tone and brightness to provide a comfortable and productive office or work environment.
How can architects, lighting designers, and building owners balance the need for artificial illumination indoors and at night with concerns for human well-being and productivity? The answer is human-centric lighting (HCL), a new, holistic approach developed in the last decade. HCL encompasses the science of circadian lighting to mimic the effect on our biological clock of natural daytime/nighttime light cycles, along with broader considerations for building occupants’ productivity, mood, and comfort.
Newly developed LED technology now enables lighting schemes that better support human circadian function. Breakthrough products such as the Luminus Salud™ LED are helping designers meet new Well Building Standards and achieve HCL designs that balance functional and circadian factors.
This White Paper Explores:
- Why light quality profoundly affects humans and how electrical lighting can cause
- health problems and impact productivity
- Circadian lighting and the new science of human-centric lighting
- How to measure and define the characteristics of light, such as color temperature
- (CCT) and brightness (illuminance, or lux)
- The ideal lighting characteristics for human activity, safety, and health
- How to apply human-centric approaches to lighting design schemes
- LED technology that makes HCL possible and new solutions to optimize lighting for
- human activity