Aren’t there days when you just can’t seem to concentrate on your latest blog post because you feel too distracted or sleepy? If you have slept your usual number of hours last night, then chances are it’s the light in your work area that is the culprit.

Productivity is not merely about attitude and mindset. But there are external factors too that can help us concentrate better and work more effectively. One of these factors is the importance of working in proper light. But when one is working from home, these external factors usually get ignored. However, by improving our lighting sources around our workspace, we can maximize our concentration, efficiency, mental well-being and productivity. Here are 3 factors related to the use of lighting around your workspace that you should pay attention to:

Use Lighting to Improve Your Wellbeing!

Proper lighting not only helps us see better, it impacts our mood, concentration and productivity levels. The rhythm between light and darkness impact certain important hormones in our body such as cortisol and melatonin. Thus, the lighting we choose to work in, in turn, greatly influence our moods, alertness levels and sleep. So, if you prefer to work in a poorly lit area, you would naturally feel more sleepy and distracted when you are working. On the other hand, bright and harsh lights in your workspace would make you feel stressed and anxious and unable to relax at the end of the day. The long term effects of working in harsh lights are disturbed sleep cycles and out of sync circadian rhythms.  

Make Optimal Use of Daylight

The temperature and hue of lighting are important when it comes to our productivity. Natural daylight is the best light to work in. So, try to part the curtains once you wake up instead of switching on light, so as to fill your room and home with natural light. If possible, try to put your workstation work near a window in your house. This way you would have access to natural light and would feel more energized and alert. This study has found a link between natural daylight and an increase in productivity.
Another benefit of working near the window is that you would stay connected with the outside world and won’t feel very isolated.

Choose Artificial Light Wisely

If you work in the attic or basement, or your job requires you to work at night, it is not possible to access and utilize the daylight. The best thing you can then do is to make use of bulbs and light fixtures that simulate natural light, which means that their color temperature is closer to daylight.

Contrarily, fluorescent lighting is standardized, cheaper and more common in homes and offices. But fluorescent lights happen to be towards the cooler temperature. Working for prolonged hours in florescent lights create mental fog and confusion, increases stress, distorts vision, creates discomfort, induces headaches and a decrease in productivity. But fluorescent light with warmer hues tend to improve mood, concentration and productivity.

Mix and Match Lighting to Improve Concentration and Productivity

Try to make optimal use of natural light in your work hours and workspace. This means utilizing the initial hours of the day for doing your work. However, when daylight dims, transition towards artificial light.
If you need to illuminate your space with artificial light, go for a combination of cooler and warmer shades. The cooler shades of light will help you do work that is of brief duration and require more concentration and mental and visual alertness.

 Furthermore, opt for a combination of direct and indirect lights at your work desk. Desk lamps are great for tasks that require attending to finer and minute details. Besides improving visual details, a desk lamp improves focus and concentration. Furthermore, desk lamps are also great for creating a personalized workspace. However, don’t rely solely on a desk lamp to fulfill your lighting needs. If your entire room is dark and only the desk is illuminated through the help of a desk lamp, your mind would find difficult to switch your gaze between the room and your desk. You would not only end up straining your eye muscles, but would start having a headache.  A desk lamp comprising an LED bulb, and adjustable brightness is best, as you can adjust the amount of light you need during your tasks.

Furthermore, an overhead light in illuminating the entire room, so you need it in your room to eliminate dark corners. Just ensure that the overhead light is not directly above your workstation, otherwise, it would create a harsh glare and may lead to headache and visual fatigue. That’s why it’s beneficial to have indirect lighting sources in your work area because it would illuminate your workspace, without creating a harsh glare and shadows.

To Sum Up

Our productivity is greatly impacted by certain external factors. We can control these factors to improve our productivity and mental outlook. For instance, the light we work in plays an important role in our focus and productivity. In this respect, natural light is the best source of light to work in as compared to artificial lights. Likewise, warmer tones and hues of artificial light are better for our mental health and clarity, where as whiter and cooler tones of artificial light are good for concentrating for shorter tasks requiring mental presence and concentration. Likewise, table lamps are great for your workspace, but you need overhead lights and indirect lights in your workspace as well. Alternating among different light sources wisely will help you in improving your focus and concentration, thereby improving your productivity and mental wellbeing.