Research by Innolux Bright Light Therapy

Effects of poor lighting
Find yourself feeling low and wrestling to get a good night’s sleep at home? Struggle to stay awake at your desk? Or lack the motivation to go to the gym? It might not be your fault. New research has found millions of us are victims of poor lighting – which can wreak havoc with our health, mood and job performance. Light is not just important for our sight – it also helps regulate our body clock and many aspects of our health.

Advantages of bright light exposure
Exposure to bright light helps us to regulate our sleep, boosts our mood and even raises our productivity levels.(1) However most of us are severely ‘light deprived’ because levels of brightness in our homes as well as workplaces aren’t high enough to help regulate our body clock. In fact, less than five per cent of daylight filters into the average building. As a result, millions of us struggle to stay alert – and battle through the day feeling sluggish, disgruntled and unmotivated.

Influences on our food choices
In fact the new research by Innolux Bright Light Therapy(2), found that instead of our home being a place of sanctity, the light quality is too poor to support us and so could affect how healthy our food choices are and whether we are motivate enough to go to the gym.

When asked about the impact of a dim or poorly-lit in our homes and workplaces(3):
• 69 per cent of respondents said it affected their energy level
• 64 per cent said it worsened their mood
• 62 per cent saw a drop in motivation
• 55 per cent suffered disrupted sleep
• 50 per cent reported struggling to stay alert
• 52 per cent said it led to them eating more food, particularly carbs and sugary snacks
• 32 per cent felt sluggish
• 31 per cent said it affected their work output

More healthy, thanks to bright light
An environment with bright natural light, not only helped us stay motivated(4), it also helped us to look after our health. The survey found 44 per cent of people felt more energised(5), which gave them the inclination to exercise after work and also eat more healthily(6). For example, many people snack on carbohydrate-containing foods in an unconscious effort to boost their mood, researchers at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology found.(7)

Longing for carbohydrates
Indeed, carb cravers reported being less depressed just 20 minutes after a snack.(8) That’s because carbohydrates help the body make the ‘feel-good’ hormone serotonin.(9) Meanwhile researchers at the Sleep Disorders Center at Northwestern Memorial Hospital in the US found light can also affect our metabolism and how efficiently our bodies use food.(10)

Effects on sleep quality
Lighting can also hugely affect the quality of our sleep. For example, a study published in the Journal of Clinical Sleep Medicine (11) found employees with windows in their offices got a 46 minutes more shut-eye per night than their colleagues starved of daylight. And a lack of sleep has a knock-on effect on brain function.

Less than five per cent of daylight in buildings
What’s more, of the 1,000 people surveyed around the UK, a third said they felt sluggish and lethargic all year round at work. And nearly 60 per cent of those questioned blamed either a lack of good quality light in the office or not enough exposure to daylight. But with less than five per cent of daylight filtering into the average home and 50 per cent of us having no exposure to daylight in the workplace, what can we do?

Use of bright light therapy
Experts are increasingly recommending the use of bright light therapy – i.e. a desktop light box such as those used for Seasonal Affective Disorder (SAD). Light therapy involves sitting or working near a light therapy device that emits bright light. This mimics natural outdoor light, compensating for lack of it in e.g. a dimly-lit office.

How do bright light devices work?
Bright light devices work by delivering daylight or light of specific wavelengths to the back of the eye (retina) to help keep the circadian and other rhythms relating to the body clock stable. They are most effective between 6 and 10am – when we are naturally supposed to be exposed to daylight, with the mornings before work being particularly important highlighting just how important bright light therapy in the home is.(12)

For treatment of SAD and other conditions
However 50 per cent of people surveyed by Innolux Bright Light Therapy had never heard of it as a treatment(13) – and a further 25 per cent were unsure what it entailed.(14) Bright light therapy is best known for treating seasonal affective disorder (SAD) and other conditions such as jet lag, sleep disorders, adjusting to a night-time work schedule, dementia and types of depression that don’t occur seasonally.(15)

Measurement in lux
The amount of light is measured in lux, the international unit of illuminance. One lux corresponds to the volume of light produced by one candle measured one metre away. On a normal summer’s day, the volume of sunlight is around 50,000-100,000 lux outdoors.(16) In our home and offices, the volume of light is just 300-500 lux so there is a great need for light therapy devices in both our home and office environments.(17) And by November, the illuminance can drop to 500 lux outdoors(18), whereas the illuminance produced by normal indoor lighting is 10-100 lux. This is 1,000 times less than the volume of natural light on an average summer day.

Biological clock and sleep
Chireal Shallow, independent psychologist and expert on body clocks and sleep, said: ‘There are now a host of products on the market that can expose us to the bright light our bodies so desperately need to function properly. And if you’re time pushed, there are devices that can give you a sufficient hit in as little as 15 minutes. I like the Innolux range, a Finnish brand that has just launched in the UK. Its devices don’t look like the traditional clunky light boxes or sad lamps but stylishly designed to be naturally incorporated into your home to give you year round benefits. And with this range, there’s also no need to look at the light directly. This means you can carry on with your everyday activities such as reading, eating, working or watching TV while taking advantage of bright light therapy.’

Innolux brand
Innolux is a unique range of Bright Light Therapy devices with a compelling story. Founded by innovator, architect and engineer Jukka Jokiniemi in Finland, which has even less hours of sunlight than the UK, he has developed these bestselling light therapy devices despite being diagnosed with an incurable eye condition in his early career that would leave him blind.

Good light for everyone
His condition led Jukka Jokiniemi to pursue his dream of delivering good light for everyone; a way to fight against the darkness closing in due to going blind. Now Innolux delivers bright light therapy working with the most talented Finnish designers as well as bright light specialists, to become a leading provider of lighting solutions. In Finland, where winters are both long and dark, light is considered as a precious source of well-being. On the technical side, the advances in scientific research on the positive effects of light and light therapy are fully taken in practice with their lighting product ranges.