Healthy Home Lighting
In the winter months, one of the hardest things to adjust to is the darker days. Do you tend to feel blah during the winter months? Do you suffer of Seasonal Affective Disorder? It’s no surprise that many people do. The lack of clear skies letting the sun shine through is a challenge.
During periods of insufficient daylight, the need for indoor light sources is crucial for creating healthy home lighting. Scientific studies show that we need at least two hours of warm light exposure per day to function normally.
We can’t control Mother Nature, however, we can control our indoor lighting.
In my previous post Home Lighting for Your Health & Well-Being I covered the importance of having layers of light in your home. In this post I will go into more depth in educating you on understanding the importance of selecting the right bulbs ( which I’ll refer to as Lamps)
Lamps are evaluated for their Spectral Power Distribution (SPD). The components that determine the SPD are Color temperature, Color Rendering Index, and Light Intensity. Altogether, this determines the overall color appearance of the light being distributed from the lamp. In comparison, Natural Daylight has a broad, flat SPD and is considered the best quality for health & well-being.
The brightness of a lamp is measured in Lumens. Lumen is the measure of brightness from a light source. An example of a lumen is the 13 lumens of a candle and the 1,200 lumens of a 100 watt light bulb. Daylight is roughly 50,000-100,000 lumens.
The Color Temperature of a lamp is measured in the Kelvin (K) scale. Kelvin is a unit of measurement used to describe the hue of a specific light source. The higher the Kelvin value of the light source, the closer the light's color output will be to actual sunlight. Lamps with an output of 3500K or lower on the scale will have an amber hue.
This is a personal preference and plays into the colors used in your decorating. I prefer a lower Kelvin (Color Temperature) in my home around 2800 K because it is appropriate for my warm color palette. If your furnishings & wall colors are cooler such as blues, whites & grays then you will want to choose a lamp with a Kelvin (Color Temperature) over 3500.
Once you decide on the appropriate Kelvin (Color Temperature) for your home stay consistent throughout. Otherwise your lighting will not give your home a cohesive feeling.
A major factor to creating healthy home lighting is understanding how brightness & color temperature make YOU feel.
The chart below will help guide you in choosing color temperature….
What to look for when you’re shopping for lamps.
When you're shopping for lamps, compare lumens to be sure you're getting the amount of light, or level of brightness, you want. The Lighting Facts Label will help. The new label, shown here, makes it easy to compare brightness, color, life, and estimated operating cost for the year. Take time to read the label just like you would food labels. Your interior lighting plays a huge role in how you feel. Choose wisely to create healthy home lighting in your home. Keep in mind that insufficient light and over-illuminations can both be undesirable. Choose a variety of lumen options for the various fixtures. Use higher lumen lamps in your general light fixtures and lower lumen lamps in your accent & ambient fixtures.
Keep track of which lamps you use in each fixture & be consistent with the lamp you replace it with.
A perfect example of this is Ten Chimneys in Wisconsin, the home of the stage actor & actress, Alfred Lunt & Lynn Fontanne. As stage actors they knew the importance of lighting. If you have the chance to visit, the docent will show you a handwritten list on the inside of a kitchen cupboard of Alfred’s chosen lamps for every fixture in the home. It was an eye opener to me. The list is maintained & implemented by the college students that work there. The effect is an impeccably well lit home.
I have since made my own list and highly recommend you do to once you have perfected the lighting that feels healthy for your well-being.
Select Lamps with Care
Be selective about the quality of lamps you purchase. The 4 residential types of lamps are Incandescent, Halogen, LED (Light Emitting Diodes) & CFL (Compact Fluorescent) . There are pros & cons to all of them however my preference for healthy home lighting is Halogen or LED.
Halogen that has the full-spectrum (light that covers the full—or almost full—spectrum of light, from infrared to near-ultraviolet) is my first preference. Full-spectrum light helps most people perceive color better. Some experts even claim that because full-spectrum light simulates the effects of sunlight and its UV rays, it can have a positive impact on your mood and energy levels. Full-spectrum lighting also helps to create a more comfortable reading and studying environment.
The downside to Halogen is that it does get warm to the touch. Also, the life is not as long as LED. However, if you dim them which I highly recommend, the lamp (bulb) will be slightly cooler and dimming will extend the life. We have recessed halogen lamps in our kitchen that we dim when not in cooking or cleaning mode. By doing so it was 12 years after our renovation before we replaced our first lamp.
LED (Light Emitting Diodes) have come a long way in the last decade. They provide a clean, healthy light that stays cool to the touch. These are offered in a wide variety of color temperatures. The downside is that the warmer tones or lower Kelvin seem to have a slightly green cast to them. I prefer using the higher Kelvin with a cool white tone in a home that has cooler tones in the furnishings & fabrics.
I have never been a fan of CFL’s (Compact Fluorescent). The lighting they provide is unflattering to humans & furnishings. You might notice that even retail stores have been moving away from them & using LED to encourage shoppers to linger longer. CFL’s are not dimmable which to me is a huge downside. To top it off, they contain mercury which is toxic and the vapors have been linked to neurological problems, kidney failure, tremors and insomnia. If you break a CFL, the EPA recommends that you have a kit on hand to safely dispose of the fragments. You should also discard of any linens, clothing or rugs that it comes into contact with because if you wash these items the mercury can contaminate your local water supply. You should also open your windows, close the door to the room it was broken in, turn off the air conditioning or furnace and take any living creature out of your home for at least 15 minutes.
I’m exhausted just thinking about it!
One broken CFL may seem insignificant however an estimated 670 million CFL’s are being improperly disposed of in the US each year and ending up in landfills. It’s just a matter of time before the mercury starts to contaminate our water supply. They should be disposed of at a location such as Home Depot who has a collection bin for them. I have no idea where they go from there. Hopefully, I’ve talked you out of CFL’s!
Light is everywhere around us shaping our lives. It should be enabling us to see and providing us with energy to feel & function well. Be conscientious of your lighting choices. Don’t take it for granted by purchasing the cheapest lamps you can find at your local Big Box store.
The main objective is to use the charts to guide you in choosing the best option for your home & well-being.
You spend a lot of time in your home. Devote the time & money into creating a lighting environment that brings out the best in you.
If you need more direction on getting started consider my Local or Online Design Services! I’m here to guide you!
