Getting Lighting Right In Care Settings
Ever emerged from hospital, care home or hospice feeling groggy and drained? Aside from the odd hours we often keep there and the emotions that inevitably surround experiences in these facilities, the harsh artificial light plays a considerable part in why.
In a place of healing and rest, such as hospitals or care homes, there’s a reason we have an instinct to wheel a patient out into the sunshine on brighter days. Both patient and carer feel better. That’s because sunlight triggers us on an cellular level, giving us the ideal balance for health, mental positivity, biological stimuli and more. LINK
Yes, science is increasingly aware that natural sunlight actually improves our health and wellbeing. But we can’t live our lives outdoors – not everyone is mobile, the weather isn’t always kind and we are no longer a society that only functions during daylight hours – we rely on artificial light. In fact, many individuals in the care system will spend 100% of their time under artificial light and, furthermore, may never rest in total darkness (since caregivers working through the night need light to work by and most machines have LED indicators). Those working night shifts will also experience this prolonged exposure to artificial light and the excess of stimulating blue that is hidden within it.
As a further element of this, not being able to see change in the light throughout the day exacerbates the problems. There have been several studies noting this in dementia patients in particular. LINK
So what?
Well, our nervous systems, circadian rhythms and regenerating cells need nurture. Especially when we are not at our strongest. Instead, they are being forced to exist under cheap, harsh light with an impoverished spectrum – which is what is currently in place in every single health facility in the world (except the ones where RAY Lighting has been installed!). This is not an overstatement.
The fact is virtually all LED lights are designed around a blue chip. ‘Not mine’ I hear you say. ‘Mine’s yellow’ I hear you say. Well, not exactly… Every single LED chip out there is currently built around a blue chip. Phosphor is then layered over to hide that very cold light output and give it the colour temperatures we see – but the blue is still there in the substrate. The only lights that are different are BlueBalance™, Full Spectrum lights with outputs that have a smooth curve – ie no nasty spikes, or jarring gaps in the spectrum. Interestingly, due to its 400-500 nm wavelength, blue light has actually been found to penetrate closed eyelids!
Overstimulating, blue-based bulbs cause excess cortisol production and make it hard to switch off, impacting our sleep/wake cycles and sending wrong signals to every part of your body – from the mitochondria in the gut to the growth cells in our eyes LINK.
Of course, artificial light, especially excess blue light, also disrupts sleep – a vital player in the healing process. When we sleep, our body goes through crucial restorative processes, triggering repairing cells, regenerating tissues, and producing growth factors that help in healing wounds, fixing damaged tissues, and boosting our immune system. If our circadian rhythm is not in balance, neither are we.
It’s crucial that the lighting in hospital and care home interiors are Full Spectrum, BlueBalance™ and Flicker Free – for the wellbeing of patients, staff and visitors. Implementing a simple switch over to improve the quality of light output in patient rooms and social areas is a key step to calming nervous systems and allowing circadian rhythms to re-set.
Excess blue content in LED bulbs is a problem the health industry needs to be more aware of. The tide is turning, though. Innovative consultants, such as Fed3 Projects who often operate in this sector, can make a significant difference. We caught up with Director and co-founder, James Downey, who recently specified RAY Lighting into two Hamberley Care care home sites in Cambridge & Enfield,
“Naturally, we want to improve quality of life and ease the burden where we can. We have that responsibility. For these RAY applications, the areas where we have focused the lighting budget are predominantly basement day spaces – a dining area, activity room, cinema and resident corridor – areas that wouldn’t otherwise see sunlight at all. It’s instantly clear it looks good. The idea, of course, is that it will also feel good.”
It helps that RAY Lighting is designed to be modular. It’s click lock components can be quickly switched out as technology changes or should the use of a room change and require a different lighting application. This serves to future-proof but also avoids costly installation up front.
