LIGHT AND HEALTH
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LIVE HEALTHIER WITH LIGHT
across the UK feel that the lockdown has negatively impacted their mental health. The loss of structure and disrupted routines have left employees with negative physical symptoms similar to jet lag: disturbed sleep, appetite, energy, and mood. This new innovative system helps employees cope with the situation, and transform their “work from home” (WFH) experience: • Employees can better structure their day for optimal performance. Through the detailed analysis of an individual’s biological clock, the user can better organize their day and choose when to do physical activities, high cognitive tasks, and when to switch off for better sleep, and energy the next day. • Employees can create healthier habits for better mental wellbeing. By prompting employees to go outside more often, to sit closer to windows, or get away from screens at night, employees will be more alert, sleep and feel better. • Employees can choose the optimal working space in their homes for optimal productivity. Through the app’s instant feedback on lighting environments’ impact on energy levels, employees can better choose their home desk setting (place in the room and additional artificial lighting) to be more alert and productive.
Figure 2: Sleep and circadian patterns changed during the lockdown (LYS data on chronotype distribution).
Database and Lockdown Case Study With more than 1bn distinct sensor data items recorded, LYS holds the largest database on human light intake in the world. Data is gathered ethically and in a way that complies with the GDPR creating value for both people and the industry partners across lighting, architecture and research. LYS also publishes articles and studies to raise awareness about the connection between light and personal health. Looking at the side effects of lockdown, they published a case study looking at the changes in users’ habits before and during the initial lockdown in relation to sleep, energy levels and light intake. The case study gave fascinating insights into how – and why – the pandemic has changed people’s daily routines and affected their wellbeing. During the lockdown, average sleep time increased by almost 35 minutes. At first glance, this seemed like good news. Increased sleep time has a range of benefits: from better mood and concentration to a stronger immune system [4]. However, although sleep quantity increased, the data did not show a statistically significant 38
Figure 3: Light Diet comparison of two weeks
improvement in perceived energy levels throughout the day.
According to the data, people spent more time indoors. Whilst this might seem straightforward, it could be easy to forget the knock-on effects. Indeed, data revealed diminished morning light exposure. Overall, people were not getting outdoors during the day and spent 14% less time outside
during the lockdown. People seemed to be working more in front of screens in the evenings and on average receiving 47% more harmful blue light at night. The latter data point also showcases the difficulty in switching-off at the end of the day, revealing the loss of structure and routine induced by the lockdown. Moreover, people’s sleep-wake cycles became more evenly distributed. There was a trend away from early towards late chronotypes. In other words, more people acted like ‘Night Owls’ during lockdown. One explanation could be that remote-working means people settled into their natural rhythms. With no commute and more flexible schedules, people may have had more
© 2021 Luger Research e.U. | LED professional Review (LpR) | Lighting Technologies & Design
Issue 83/Jan-Feb/2021