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How Lighting Affects Your Mood And Ways To Maximise The Benefits

By / April 17th, 2024 / There are currently 0 comments

Your home is one of the few places where you can control your mood, atmosphere, and ambience; it is perfect for relaxing after a long day at work.

Certain lighting colours can affect your mood, and at Dusk Lighting, we explain the benefits of coloured and natural lighting and share some lighting tips to help boost your mood.

Table of contents

Benefits of coloured lighting

Mood lighting through the use of different coloured lighting can positively impact your physical and psychological health. Changing the colour of your lighting can help you control the atmosphere of any room in your home. Whether you use dimmable lighting or smart LED colour-changing lights, there are several benefits to changing your lighting colour.

Adding mood lighting to your home can help provide several health benefits; some of these include: 

  • Improved relaxation
  • Improved sleep
  • Improved productivity

Mood lighting also allows you to create the perfect atmosphere for activities, such as studying or relaxing. 

Different lighting colours provide various benefits and you will find that certain lighting is suited towards different situations. To ensure your home lighting is suited to your space, we have broken down the different types of colour lighting and their benefits.

Which lighting colour is best?

Orange

Orange lighting is best suited for rooms where you need to work or study, as this can help bring out your creativity. The colour orange represents energy and endurance, making it perfect for those who need to settle down and finish tasks. Orange lighting helps:

  • Positive impact on mood
  • Increases energy levels
  • Improves cognitive function
  • Makes you more alert
  • Normalises your circadian rhythm 

Green

Adding green lighting to your home can vastly improve your concentration and focus, making it an ideal option for areas of work or study. Green lighting can also boost your motivation, helping you finish projects to the best possible standard. Green light is said to help with: 

  • Reduce eye strain
  • Reduce migraines 
  • Regulate circadian rhythm
  • Assists with seasonal affective disorder (SAD)

Blue

Blue is often associated with improved alertness, and being exposed to blue lighting in environments where you need to be attentive and awake is useful. This makes blue lighting perfect in spaces like home offices or studies. Blue lighting can help boost mood and alleviate symptoms of seasonal affective disorder (SAD). Other benefits of blue lighting include: 

  • Increased productivity
  • Enhanced mood

Purple

Purple lighting is suitable for various rooms in your home. It is linked to spark creativity and relaxation, making it a great option for illuminating office spaces or living rooms. Your bedroom is another excellent choice for incorporating purple lighting, helping you unwind and improving your sleep preparation. Purple lighting is said to assist with:

  • Inspire creative ideas
  • Softer shades of purple lighting can evoke a sense of relaxation
  • Claims that purple is a balancing colour that can help promote emotional stability

Pink

Pink is the perfect colour for helping you calm down and stay relaxed. Suitable for rooms such as the living room or bedroom, pink lighting is the perfect colour for evenings. Whether you are just getting home from work or want a relaxing night in, pink lighting is a fantastic option. Pink lighting is also great for: 

  • Enhanced focus and concentration
  • Reducing anxiety and stress
  • Promotion of restful sleep

Yellow

Yellow is associated with happiness and joy, helping people feel more energised. Yellow is a great colour for boosting your mood, providing a warmer glow to any room and promoting positivity. Other benefits of yellow lighting include: 

  • Improved concentration and focus 
  • Visual comfort and warmth
  • Mood enhancement
  • Stress reduction and relaxation

What colour light is best for mood?

For those who often work from home, installing yellow, orange, blue or green lighting is a fantastic choice for improving productivity and energy levels. Orange and yellow lighting are great options to help energise you on an early work morning, boost your motivation throughout the day, and improve your alertness and concentration.

Green lighting can significantly reduce eye strain for those who constantly work with a screen, and blue lighting helps to increase productivity. If you are struggling to come up with ideas for work, installing purple lighting in your office space can help you relax and inspire creativity.

Why does lighting affect mood?

To understand why it affects our mood, we must first understand the effect of lighting on our bodies. Circadian rhythms are 24-hour cycles that regulate the body’s internal clock, helping it to carry out essential functions at certain times. The body’s circadian rhythm is naturally aligned with day and night; however, certain factors, such as travelling, work or increased exposure to artificial lighting, can disrupt it.

Our circadian rhythms need periods of darkness to function efficiently, so exposure to artificial light after darkness can impact the body’s ability to carry out its necessary functions. If you are often exposed to artificial light after hours, this could cause fatigue and drowsiness during the day.

What are the physiological effects of light?

As mentioned above, exposure to artificial light after dark can disrupt your circadian rhythm, which can have various physiological effects. An irregular circadian rhythm can lead to sleep deprivation, stress and difficulty focusing or performing demanding tasks. Sleep deprivation can make it more difficult to manage your emotions, which can lead to mental health difficulties such as depression and anxiety.

Dr Becky Spelman, Psychologist and Founder at Private Therapy Clinic, spoke about the psychological effects of lighting, saying: “Psychologically, lighting can influence mood and mental well-being. Natural light has been shown to improve our mood, energy levels, and productivity, as it helps to regulate circadian rhythms. 

In contrast, artificial lighting, particularly harsh or dim lighting, can make us feel fatigued, irritable, and less focused. Try to find a healthy balance between natural and artificial lighting.”

Benefits of natural lighting

Natural light is a fantastic way to illuminate your home during the day, reducing the need for unnecessary electricity. While natural light is a great alternative light source, it also brings many health benefits.

Vitamin D boost

Boosted Vitamin D is the main benefit of natural lighting on the human body, and sunlight is one of the main sources we take in this vitamin. Vitamin D is essential for bone development, helping the body absorb the sufficient amount of calcium it needs. A deficiency of vitamin D has often been linked to obesity and depression, highlighting the importance of using natural lighting.

Psychological health and mood

Exposure to natural lighting is also a great way to improve psychological health and mood by reducing stress and agitation levels. Depression and anxiety are often linked with a lack of daylight, so taking in as much natural lighting as you can is crucial.

Enhanced productivity

Natural lighting is also a great way to boost productivity, vital for those who often work from home. Increased exposure to natural light helps to improve overall focus and work efficiency, resulting in a productivity boost.

Better sleeping habits 

Sleeping patterns can also significantly improve from exposure to natural lighting, as it helps to realign the body’s circadian rhythm. By ensuring you get sufficient exposure to sunlight daily, your sleeping pattern receives a huge positive boost.

How to maximise natural lighting

Natural lighting has many health benefits and is a great alternative for lighting during the summer, so how exactly can you maximise the amount of natural lighting in your home?

  1. Add more mirrors and reflective surfaces 

Adding more mirrors or mirrored objects to your interior is one of the best ways to maximise natural lighting. The light will bounce around the room and light up dark areas. Mirrors are a fantastic choice for smaller rooms, as they give the illusion that the space is doubled, making your room feel bigger.

  1. Install mirrored lighting fixtures 

Installing metallic or mirrored lighting fixtures can have the same effect as adding more mirrors to your home. The key to adding more metallic lighting fixtures is to find the right balance, as you don’t want your room to look too bright and shiny.

  1. Regularly clean your windows 

A more practical way of maximising natural lighting in your home includes regularly cleaning your windows and opening curtains or shades fully. 

  1. Paint walls with bright tones

Using brighter-coloured paint or wallpaper to help reflect light around your room can be an effective way to increase the natural light within your home. Decorating with bright tones, or white can assist natural light coming in from windows and bouncing around the space. 

Lighting tips for boosting your mood

Interior lighting tips

Adopting layered lighting is a great way to achieve an ambient atmosphere in any room of your home. Combining ambient, task and accent lighting generates a balanced and inviting atmosphere. Layered lighting provides greater depth to your interior, creating a more aesthetically pleasing and dynamic space by incorporating various lighting techniques.

Warm minimalism is one method for integrating a simplistic style and relaxing ambience into your home. It combines minimalistic styles with warm tones and organic textures.

Natural tones such as taupe, beige and wood are ideal for incorporating warm minimalism into your home, helping to create relaxing spaces. Warm minimalism is perfect for rooms such as the living room or bedroom, where you can relax after a long day.

Exterior lighting tips

When adding lighting fixtures to your exterior, you need to decide on the kind of atmosphere you would like to install. Fitting LED lighting to the exterior of your property will enable you to change the colour of your outside lights to suit the aesthetic you want to achieve.

To create an ambient setting, opting for lighting fixtures such as spotlights and wall lights will help to illuminate your garden gently. Soft lighting will ensure that you generate a relaxing ambience, making your garden a wonderful place to relax.

Adding exterior lights that match your interior decor will ensure a natural flow from the inside out that looks easy on the eye. Installing lighting fixtures next to prominent garden features, such as a hot tub or seating area, will help create an ambient setting perfect for you and your guests to relax.

Find the perfect lighting for your home at Dusk Lighting

Knowing how different coloured lighting can affect your mood enables you to find the perfect addition to your interior to help boost your mood. By following our interior and exterior lighting tips, you can create a relaxing and ambient home that is ideal for relaxing after a long day.

Why not start illuminating your home by browsing our full range of outdoor and garden lighting, or upgrade your interior by shopping our living room or bedroom lighting range?

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