Nonvisual Effects of Led Coloured Ambient Lighting on Well-Being and Cardiac Reactivity: Preliminary Findings

This study examined the immediate nonvisual effects of ambient lighting colours and illuminance on momentary wellbeing and physiology during daytime. As reported in recent literature, the effects of lighting extend beyond comfort and safety issues. Illuminance level and ambient colours appear to have differing effects on perception and to some degree on physiological parameters. In the present study, LED lighting was used in a mock-up office to expose 37 participants to two levels of illuminance, being 45 lx and 195 lx on the eye, and four ambient colour combinations, being Red-Green, Red-Blue, Green-Blue, Red-Green-Blue. Overall, the results showed interactions between lighting condition and illuminance levels on the currently investigated subjective and objective parameters. The expected arousing impact of colour combinations with a blue component was only partially observed in the current study. The results may have implications for future office design in which coloured lighting takes a central role.

[1]  J. Veitch.  PRINCIPLES OF HEALTHY LIGHTING: HIGHLIGHTS OF CIE TC 6-11'S FORTHCOMING REPORT , 2002 .

[2]  H Noguchi,et al.  Effect of illuminance and color temperature on lowering of physiological activity. , 1999, Applied human science : journal of physiological anthropology.

[3]  D. Dijk,et al.  Daytime exposure to bright light, as compared to dim light, decreases sleepiness and improves psychomotor vigilance performance. , 2003, Sleep.

[4]  C. Cajochen.  Alerting effects of light. , 2007, Sleep medicine reviews.

[5]  G. Brainard,et al.  Action Spectrum for Melatonin Regulation in Humans: Evidence for a Novel Circadian Photoreceptor , 2001, The Journal of Neuroscience.

[6]  J Licinio,et al.  Cardiovascular and neuroendocrine adjustment to public speaking and mental arithmetic stressors. , 1997, Psychophysiology.

[7]  K. Goh,et al.  Sick building syndrome: an emerging stress-related disorder? , 1997, International journal of epidemiology.

[8]  R W Backs,et al.  Metabolic and cardiorespiratory measures of mental effort: the effects of level of difficulty in a working memory task. , 1994, International journal of psychophysiology : official journal of the International Organization of Psychophysiology.

[9]  P. Badia,et al.  Immediate effects of different light intensities on body temperature and alertness , 1993, Physiology and Behavior.

[10]  A. Wirz-Justice,et al.  High sensitivity of human melatonin, alertness, thermoregulation, and heart rate to short wavelength light. , 2005, The Journal of clinical endocrinology and metabolism.

[11]  I. Knez.  EFFECTS OF COLOUR OF LIGHT ON NONVISUAL PSYCHOLOGICAL PROCESSES , 2001 .

[12]  G. Newsham,et al.  Windows, view, and office characteristics predict physical and psychological discomfort , 2010 .

[13]  M. Bradley,et al.  Measuring emotion: the Self-Assessment Manikin and the Semantic Differential. , 1994, Journal of behavior therapy and experimental psychiatry.

[14]  Thorbjörn Laike,et al.  The impact of light and colour on psychological mood: a cross-cultural study of indoor work environments , 2006, Ergonomics.

[15]  Joel S. Warm,et al.  Vigilance Requires Hard Mental Work and Is Stressful , 2008, Hum. Factors.

[16]  D. Berson,et al.  Phototransduction by Retinal Ganglion Cells That Set the Circadian Clock , 2002, Science.

[17]  G. Vandewalle,et al.  Brain Responses to Violet, Blue, and Green Monochromatic Light Exposures in Humans: Prominent Role of Blue Light and the Brainstem , 2007, PloS one.

[18]  I. Knez.  Effects of indoor lighting on mood and cognition , 1995 .

[19]  E. F. Colecchia,et al.  Transition from dim to bright light in the morning induces an immediate elevation of cortisol levels. , 2001, The Journal of clinical endocrinology and metabolism.

[20]  F. Scheer,et al.  Light and diurnal cycle affect autonomic cardiac balance in human; possible role for the biological clock , 2004, Autonomic Neuroscience.

[21]  J. Veltman,et al.  Physiological workload reactions to increasing levels of task difficulty. , 1998, Ergonomics.

[22]  Wout J M van Bommel,et al.  Lighting for work: a review of visual and biological effects , 2004 .

[23]  R. Küller,et al.  Melatonin, cortisol, EEG, ECG and subjective comfort in healthy humans: Impact of two fluorescent lamp types at two light intensities , 1993 .

[24]  Hans P A Van Dongen,et al.  Chronic Insomnia and Daytime Functioning: An Ambulatory Assessment , 2007, Behavioral sleep medicine.

[25]  S. Daan,et al.  Time-of-day-dependent effects of bright light exposure on human psychophysiology: comparison of daytime and nighttime exposure. , 2006, American journal of physiology. Regulatory, integrative and comparative physiology.

[26]  P. Torcellini,et al.  A Literature Review of the Effects of Natural Light on Building Occupants , 2002 .