CIRCADIAN LIGHTING CONTROL
Rest your body clock and enhance your mood with Human Centric Smart Lighting
Transform your home with Human Centric Lighting
As humans, we have always lived in states of ebb and flow, attuned with nature and the changing seasons. Our ancestors rose with the dawn, relying on their ‘internal clock’ and the stretching rays of the sun to wake them at the right time. They utilised the daylight hours and retired in the evening as the sun slipped away.
Our 21st century, urban lives have changed significantly with the invention of electric light. We are much less reliant on natural light and can perform tasks around the clock with the flick of a switch. We live on streets where lamps shine night long, and in cities that ‘never sleep’. We are awoken by alarms and devices, out of tune with the innate knowledge our bodies hold. Studies have shown that our internal clocks, or our circadian rhythms which govern our sleep/wake cycles are deeply affected by this constant supply of unchanging, artificial light. Conversely, they are regulated by natural daylight.
What is Human Centric Lighting?
Human Centric Lighting or tunable lighting is a lighting concept that puts the focus on people and their needs during the design process. In order to provide healthy light, we concentrate both on the user and the way that they put the given space to use. Introducing systems that imitate natural daylight makes it possible for us to ensure the users’ comfort and well-being.
Circadian lighting refers to lighting that is designed to have a biological impact on the human circadian system. Circadian lighting sends signals to the master clock in the brain, telling our bodies when it is daytime and when it is night and what functions to perform at various times of the day. A healthy circadian rhythm is associated with improved long-term health and helps promote better sleep at night, allowing our brains to repair our bodies as well as our minds.
There’s been quite a bit of talk about human centric, tunable, or circadian lighting and how LEDs can improve productivity in workplaces or make the residents of nursing homes more comfortable. Essentially, circadian lighting involves changing the colour temperature and brightness of lighting at certain times of day to both optimise alertness and stimulate the sleep response. Circadian simply refers to people’s natural 24-hour sleep/wake cycle.
The human centric lighting and circadian lighting is also referred to as tunable lighting for the simple reason that you can fine tune or control the source’s colour or colour temperature output.
Why is Circadian Lighting important?
The goal of circadian or tunable lighting in Melbourne that we focus on is to provide sufficient light signals to the brain to help reinforce the natural light/dark signals we would receive from the sun if we spent more of our time outdoors. A simple mantra to help capture the goal of circadian lighting is, “brighter days and darker nights”. Circadian lighting should provide a strong daytime light signal, telling our brain that it is daytime and to perform all the functions it needs to during the day. At night, we want to reduce that daytime light signal to help our bodies wind down, telling our brain to perform nighttime functions.
As technology improves and we deepen our knowledge of the body and mind, we can create homes and spaces with an increased focus on human-centric, tunable lighting in Melbourne. Beautiful, functional, lighting that is tailored to the occupants needs, while also improving their health and wellness.
Home Areas That Can Benefit
Smart Lighting control can bring elements of circadian rhythm lighting for activity areas that can benefit most from dynamic colour temperature control.
With many modern homes utilising subterranean space such as underground car parks, entry halls, gyms, media rooms and wine cellars, there is limited natural daylight. Circadian lighting can bring the outdoors inside with a natural daylight feel for the middle of the day, and sunset and sunrise colour temperature light for each end of the day and evening.
Arriving home late at night into the car park, smart lighting can activate an automatic path of light at a low glow as you retire home to bed. Smart sensors in hallways and staircases can trigger brilliant lighting automatically in the middle of the day and cosy comfort light later in the evening.
For casual entertaining in media rooms, the light can come on tracking the outdoor light conditions during the day, but for cinema and performance-based viewing, the entertainment controls and room smart light switching can allow you to adapt the space to your preference for the activity too. You have full control.
For the gym, you might appreciate late night lighting for your ‘warm down’ or yoga, or adaption to daylight quality light for energising a bike or weights session. Your smart switch makes it simple.
If you desire better sleep, having your pre-sleep lighting adaptable to a warm cozy, low intensity setting can be beneficial before hitting the pillow. Smart lighting switches allow you to adapt the light for pre-sleep or for brilliant lighting for tasking. So, you can choose in the moment.
This can extend to smart sensors that illuminate your pathway through the walk-in robe and ensuite. Automatic late night, low level warm and cosy light can give you that automatic convenient path and occupancy lighting making it easier to get back to sleep. But if you are off to the airport or extra early for work, the smart switch can allow you to enact more brilliant lighting for choosing cloths and getting ready to your needs in the moment.
Automatic sensor lighting can extend to bedroom hallways to give you automatic colour temperature and intensity for the time of night or day with convenient switch override to other preferences when the activity demands too.
We have a habit of watching TV then going straight to sleep. With controlled lighting, you can create a lighting environment in the hours leading up to bed where the room has more of a candle lit feel to make the transition to sleep more to what your body needs.
For open plan Kitchen/Dining, brilliant lighting for food prep then transforms the space for a candle-lit feel for entertaining.
For home offices, you might like energising light for an early work conference call, brilliant task lighting for working with detailed documents or adaptive lighting for a late-night work session before bed to make it easier to get to sleep.
Circadian Lighting Brochure
Starting a new project but don’t know where to begin?
Controlling your lights in your home is all relatively easy now with smart devices and smart devices / apps. Control your home when you’re in bed or on holidays is all easy with the right home lighting automation system that suits you and your home. GreenStar Technologies and the team at La Lounge are here to help you bring your dream smart home to life.
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