Light is more than
what you see
Good light not only ensures that we see better and can be more easily recognised. It also has effects that go above and beyond
the visual aspect.
Innovative Human Centric Lighting concepts and solutions from OSRAM Lighting Solutions achieve a balance between visual comfort, biological effect and emotional perception to support people in their architectural-functional surroundings. Coordinated to the time of day and specific visual tasks, our HCL solutions have an activating, relaxing or neutral effect. We work with both artificial light and natural light and the intelligent combination of both.
A fundamental principle: natural light is the best light. Our HCL artificial light solutions approach this ideal as closely as possible – and are therefore the perfect supplement and enhancement for natural daylight and modern daylight systems from OSRAM Lighting Solutions.
Greater concentration and creativity due to biologically effective light
Light impacts on how we feel and work. If it is biologically effective it can also have a stimulating or relaxing effect. Warm light with a higher red component has a relaxing effect. Light with larger blue components or higher colour temperatures are biologically activating. (This however must not be confused with damaging UV light contained in the spectral distribution of sunlight).
Compared to warm light, light with a distinct blue component more easily impacts the activating centres of our brain and the control centre for our inner clock. In this way it increases alertness, attention and the ability to concentrate. The biological effect is strongest when light is emitted from a wide-area source and from above, as with sunlight.
Chronobiology & circadian rhythm
The lifestyle of people in Western societies is increasingly distancing itself from the framework conditions that determine our biological clock.
Chronobiology analyses the time-based organisation of psychological processes and the repeated behaviour patterns of organisms. Chronobiological research has become increasingly important in past years because our method of living increasingly runs counter to our biological clock (the circadian rhythm or sleeping/waking cycle).
The reason for this is that people increasingly spend more time indoors where the brightness level is seldom higher than 500 lux. Outdoors, luminous intensity is between 8,000 and 100,000 lux. A continuous light deficit can lead to sleeping and eating disorders, lack of energy and depression.
Circadian rhythm & chronotypes
Chronotypes are categories of people that because of their inner biological clock have physical characteristics to differing extents, e.g. hormone levels, body temperature, sleeping and waking phases and performance capability at different times of the day. The activity cycles of the main groups (see diagram) are shifted by around 2 hours.
With "social jetlag" - the inner sleep/waking rhythm is not correlated to society-based time schedules. The consequence is hindrance of the performance capability due to chronic sleeping deficits, insufficient sleeping quality and daytime fatigue.
