The sunlight accompanies our everyday life – it creates a warm light in the morning, which shines with a particularly cold light at noon, and then in the afternoon we feel more soothing tones again. But what if most of our time is in artificially lit spaces e.g. do we spend in offices, shopping malls?

In the morning program of Jazzy Radio, in the facility operation section entitled Millásreggeli Karikacsapás,  János Nagy , Head of Electrical Engineering of the Operations Directorate of B + N Referencia Zrt.

Cold Warm

Well-chosen artificial lights affect our visual comfort, which affects our rhythm of life, our health, our efficiency at work, but even our purchasing decisions.

We can talk about warm, yellowish light up to 2700-3000 Kelvin color temperature, from 3000-3500 we can feel cold, bluish light from Kelvin. While warm lights are relaxing, cold lights, on the contrary, have a stimulating effect.

Practically, the light of the Sun regulates our biorhythm: the warm light of the morning gently prepares our body for daytime activity, when the cold light brightens us, while the warm color of the setting Sun prepares the body for rest. This is why it is important to use lights consciously in different facilities.

“When it was discovered that light can affect our rhythm through the various receptors in the eye, many workplaces began to illuminate with very cold light with a color temperature of up to 4,000 Kelvin to enhance performance,” says János Nagy, who also revealed the surprising result: one would expect that this would increase the efficiency of the workers, but in reality they did not feel so good that their performance had just decreased.

Long-term light effects

From the above, you can see how important our visual comfort at home is, so the right light in the office environment is so accentuated, as many people spend most of their days indoors.

“ Ideally, we need artificial light in the morning and late afternoon, when warm light is more pleasant and better suited to the needs of our body,” concludes János Nagy, who casts his vote for the 3100 Kelvines light sources.

“Most offices have large windows where we can work with lots of natural light. The light of the sun is cold enough during the day to stimulate our body in a natural way. Artificial light is only needed when the sun goes down, but then natural light is already in the warmer range, ”explains the expert.

Lighting also plays an important role in shopping malls – depending on the function of the room, it is recommended to use warm or cold light. 

To enhance the experience, it is essential to use warm lights e.g. in cafes, places where you can sit down, relax. However, if you want to highlight certain products, you might want to illuminate them with eye-catching, cold light.

“The effect of light is lasting on the human body. The cold blue light typical of monitors and mobile devices e.g. inhibits melatonin production. In addition to our rhythm of life, the hormone melatonin also slows down the spread of cancer cells, so it is important that we do not adversely affect their function, ”Nagy emphasizes.

People centered lighting

According to the expert, the future is already present. Standards and practical application of people-centered lighting are already being negotiated by European states. 

The essence of the new type of lighting is that it follows the color temperature of the sunlight, ie it gives warmth in the morning, colder at noon and soft, warm light in the evening.

Maybe the time is not far enough for optimal lighting conditions to accompany our day, balancing the active, productive periods and natural fatigue, which is the basis of recharging rest – wrote fmbusiness.hu.

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