Light Up Your Office For Healthier Working

Light in the office is not something people generally think about. This is because the lights in the office are normally always on and they are not normally something that employees turn on or off themselves. Or instead they might sit next to a window and benefit from the joy of natural light.

But surprisingly, light is incredibly important to how productive employees are. Most office work today is completed on computers or tablets and many may not think anything about having sub-standard lighting because these devices are already lit up.

Going into a meeting room or trying to present something with bad lighting will automatically lead to complaints about not being able to see, but many don’t realise that it is just as bad with your computer or other device.

Why Is Good Lighting Important?

Having good lighting in an office is incredibly important means that employees will be comfortable while working and most importantly, it will help to reduce any unfortunate work related medical problems. Poor lighting can lead to eye strain and even blurred vision, and this will have further effects by causing headaches. A good employee will be less productive if they are in pain.

Dim and harsh lighting can lead to negative health effects

It can also affect their shoulders and neck as they may automatically try to adjust themselves into more unnatural positions to try and be able to see properly. Dim lighting can cause employees to be drowsy or sluggish with their work, negatively impacting their focus.

On the other hand, there is the problem of overly harsh artificial lighting, in particular fluorescent lighting, that can also cause problems. This kind of lighting can lead to eye strain and even more worryingly, fluorescent lights can cause migraines in people. It is quite obvious that an employer would not want to be causing migraines in their employees.

So What is Good Light to Have?

Natural light is widely regarded to be the best kind of light as it is, quite obviously and yet simply, natural. For some people, it is much easier to wake up in the spring and summer when the morning is light and bright than it is to wake up in winter, when the mornings are dark and gloomy.

This has the same effect in the office and a study from Northwestern Medicine and the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign discovered that office workers who have more exposure to natural light will sleep for longer, have better sleep quality and an overall better quality of life compared to those with less light exposure. In fact, employees with windows received 173% more white light exposure and as a result, slept for an average 46 minutes longer per night than employees who did were not exposed to natural light.

By installing natural light, whether by windows or lighting that simulates natural light, in the workplace there is a chance that employees will enjoy a better quality of life both inside and outside of work. Better lighting also makes for happier workers which can result in increased productivity.

While it may not be possible for an individual employee to encourage an office to employ an office wide re-fit of the lighting, it is possible to have more natural lighting at an individual desk. On Opinfo.net we have a small range of Daylight Lamps that have been specially designed to simulate the effects of natural daylight, encouraging productivity in the workplace.

Do You Have Natural Lighting In Your Office?

Do you feel the benefits of natural light or are you stuck with artificial lighting instead? Why not let us know? We’d love to hear from you!