What is good lighting for the best feng shui for your home and workplace?

Light is key to life and good lighting is essential for optimum feng shui for homes and workplaces. The lighting technology has changed dramatically with the invention of LED lights which is now a dominant type for homes and workplaces. At the same time, the dangers of LED lighting have been highlighted by recent research. It’s time-consuming to keep well informed and abreast of all the different viewpoints out there as new LED technologies develop.

So what kind of lighting is good for feng shui?

Zaha Hadid – books lamps Seoul

Full spectrum lighting

The term “full spectrum lighting” this term refers to a balance of colour temperature within a light source which tries to simulate daylight. All light sources are made up from the full-colour spectrum just with varying degrees of a number of colours which make up the colour spectrum. The simplest way to see the colour spectrum is to use a crystal from a chandelier holding it up to sunlight, as the sunlight passes through the crystal the light bends opening up showing the colour spectrum which results with a rainbow effect on a surface, usually we notice this on a wall in the room.

When you purchase a light bulb which states “Full Spectrum or Day Light” this simply relates to the light bulb manufactures opinion or their interpretation of a balance of colour within the light bulb they feel matches daylight.

This is a kind of miss-leading concept as daylight changes throughout the course of the day with various colour temperatures being produced naturally, showing a multitude of colour temperatures reflecting varying degrees of the colours which make up light, or the full spectrum of light.

This relates to Human Centric Lighting or otherwise know as Tenable White Lighting, there has been a great deal of research and development in this field to understand how light affects humans and how we react to light, how light affects our circadian rhythm, and the effect this has on how our body producing the sleep hormone melatonin. At night your body needs to produce melatonin to sleep better and during the day you need to tell your body to be active and alert. If your bathroom has a bright blue light or white light it’s best to minimise it when brushing your teeth before bed. Orange or red light doesn’t affect melatonin production.

Melatonin production is linked to cellular repair, memory consolidation and information processing during the night. Melatonin production is affected by
1) light and
2) electro-smog.
So sleep in total darkness and switch off your wifi for the night.

There are undergoing case studies and others which have been completed that delve into this topic, looking at the actual effects in care homes with patients who have dementia, in hospital patient rooms, in working environments without any natural daylight, and many others. All the research points towards very positive outcomes.

If you’re choosing LED – choose a full spectrum LED lighting with CRI values greater than 90

LED light sources provide the technology to best simulate or mimic daylight, there is a lack of IR light which does have a great advantage in some areas for example galleries and museums prefer this light source as it will not fade or damage artefacts due to the lack of IR light within the LED.

Watch this video below about the dangers of LED lightbulbs from Dr Alexander Wunsch where he talks about the importance of light for the production of ATP in our bodies. ATP is also produced simply by eating food and breathing air (but only 1/3 of total ATP production), and there are many case studies on this in the sports training filed to maximize training programs for Olympic and professional athletes. If ATP stopped being produced in the body one would die in 15 seconds.

We do get IR light from the sun or daylight on a daily basis even if we don’t go outside we will gain some through the natural light which passes through windows.

When lighting your own home you mentioned you’re quite light sensitive, I would recommend looking using at indirect light sources which reflect and bounce light around a room. This will provide a softer approach to lighting preventing direct light flash to the eye from an open light source, for example, a recessed downlight which provides direct illumination downwards.

When it comes to selecting a light source either LED, Halogen, or Fluorescent this is something you can choose based on your feelings of what’s best for you. The incandescent light bulb has become a thing of the past in the UK, Canada, and Australia as these countries have banned them. (I’m sure there are more countries to the list)

The amount of artificial light we receive in a single day really depends on our personal circumstances, such as what part of the world we live in with available daylight hours, to how many lights we leave on in our home once the sun goes down.

Szkoła Białołęka Warsaw – Decorum Architekci – book lamps

LED

High CRI (Colour Rendering Index) 90+ CRI LED Lighting

It’s highly recommended to choose a full spectrum LED lighting with CRI values greater than 90. This means the colour accuracy and reproduction of these LEDs is nearly perfect making them an excellent choice for homes and workplaces as well as retail, art galleries, museums, and so on.

What is the colour rendering index (CRI)?

CRI is a measure of a light source’s ability to show object colours “realistically” or “naturally” compared to a familiar reference source, either incandescent light or daylight. CRI is calculated from the differences in the chromaticities of eight CIE standard colour samples (CIE 1995) when illuminated by a light source and by a reference illuminant of the same correlated colour temperature (CCT); the smaller the average difference in chromaticities, the higher the CRI. A CRI of 100 represents the maximum value. Lower CRI values indicate that some colours may appear unnatural when illuminated by the lamp. Incandescent lamps have a CRI above 95. Cool white fluorescent lamps have a CRI of 62, however fluorescent lamps containing rare-earth phosphors are available with CRI values of 80 and above.

Lighting for reading

Dr Alexander Wunsch says “If you have to read in the evening or at night time, my personal favourite light source for reading tasks is a low-voltage incandescent halogen lamp, which is operated on a DC transformer. Direct current will eliminate all the dirty electricity and it will eliminate all the flicker. There are transformers available where you can adjust the output between 6 volts and 12 volts. As long as it’s direct current, there is no flicker, there is no dirty electricity, and you are able to dim the halogen lamp into a colour temperature which is comparable to candlelight even. This is the softest, the healthiest electric light you can get at the moment.”

Light and creativity

A 2013 study done by psychologists at the University of Stuttgart and Hohenheim in Germany found that dim lighting can improve creativity. Researchers suggest that “Darkness creates a feeling of freedom, triggering a risky exploratory processing style”.