natural lighting benefits for your home and business

Over the past 100 years since electric lighting became the norm, humans have shifted from natural circadian lighting to stagnant, artificial light. Many people live and work indoors with fixed lighting and bright computer screens. As a result, most of us don’t receive the natural stimuli we need to maintain proper health and sleep soundly at night.

Ketra, which was recently acquired by Lutron Electronics, offers natural lighting solutions that provide the highest-quality transitional light to create stimulating commercial and residential environments. Ketra bulbs flawlessly emulate daylight from cool and bright in the morning to clear and blue at midday to soft and warm in the evening.

AVDG partners with both Ketra and Lutron to deliver a superior lighting experience to our Chicago customers. Let’s explore the aesthetic, biological and productivity benefits of natural lighting for your home and business.

aesthetic benefits of natural lighting

Natural light is ever-changing. This offers beauty and versatility with which cold, static lighting can’t compare. Consider these aesthetic reasons to upgrade to natural lighting:

• natural light looks and feels right: Your body is naturally attuned to the changes that light undergoes throughout the day. The automatic temperature adjustment of natural light looks right as it matches the sun’s intensity from morning to afternoon to evening.
• natural light fits any occasion: Ketra bulbs are customizable, so you can alter the lighting for any moment. Whether you’re working, entertaining or relaxing, you can brighten or dim the lights based on your activity.
• natural light makes any finish or texture look its best: Furniture, artwork and paint colors look drastically different when viewed under various light sources. With natural lighting, you can make your kitchen counters, living room walls and accent pillows look more vibrant.
• natural light creates a palette of moods: Ketra LEDs have the unique ability to provide colored lighting for entertaining. With a full spectrum of whites, pastels and saturated colors available from a single light source, you can create whatever mood you want without bringing in special light fixtures.

biological benefits of natural lighting

Illuminating a home or business with temperature-changing bulbs is more than just aesthetically pleasing. Bringing natural light into the indoor environment also influences our circadian rhythm, the physical, mental and behavioral changes that follow a daily cycle based primarily on lighting. Sleeping at night, being awake during the day and feeling drowsy after lunch are all natural parts of the circadian rhythm.

When you spend most of your time indoors, natural lighting is the key to maintaining ideal sleep/wake cycles. Consider these ways in which Ketra LEDs keep your circadian rhythm balanced for optimal health and wellness where you live and work:

• natural light helps you feel alert and sleepy at the proper times: Exposure to natural lighting throughout the day makes you feel more alert in the morning and afternoon and better prepared to wind down for bed at night. It’s a technique NASA uses to help astronauts get more restful sleep while in space.
• natural light stimulates speedier recovery: Hospitals were the first place to incorporate circadian lighting to give patients a sense of night and day. Doctors have been astounded by the faster healing times and shorter hospital stays of patients following surgery and other procedures when they experience bright lighting during the day and dim lighting in the evening.
• natural light plays a role in aging: The same gene that regulates your body’s circadian rhythm is also associated with aging. When lighting caters to your body’s natural internal clock, this gene retains robust circadian control. Interrupting your natural sleep/wake cycle may decay your circadian rhythm, which could play a role in aging more quickly.
• natural light decreases health risks: When your tamper with your circadian rhythm, you are more likely to develop health problems. For instance, people who work night shifts have an increased risk of diabetes.
• natural light reduces jetlag: Travelers experience jetlag when their circadian rhythms don’t align with the destination time zone. Treating yourself to bright morning light three days in a row before an upcoming flight reduces jetlag for travel eastward. With customizable Ketra LEDs, bright light treatment is easy to administer at home.

productivity benefits of natural lighting

Whether in a classroom or work setting, natural lighting is tremendously beneficial for keeping people focused and happy. If you run a business, consider how Ketra bulbs can help you reach your goals:

• Natural light inspires: There’s nothing motivational about studying or working under cold fluorescent lights. Natural, dynamic lighting is designed to encourage innovation and creativity, allowing students or employees to produce their very best work.
• Natural light boosts morale: The human body responds positively to natural light. Not only does this have a physical healing effect, but it also helps keep people happy by mimicking the look and feel of being outdoors.
• Natural light creates a feeling of community: A single building can convey different feelings in separate rooms by merely changing the lighting. Picture a brightly lit work area to maximize productivity and a dim lounge/break room for employees to relax with soft, warm light. Transitioning between different areas of the building with their corresponding sensible light creates a feeling of community, as if the office was a small city instead of a standalone building.

other benefits and features of ketra lighting

Natural light provides numerous benefits, but the customizable, “smart” characteristics of Ketra LEDs help you make the most of what natural lighting has to offer.

• highly dimmable: Most LEDs don’t dim well, but Ketra bulbs can achieve nightlight-level dimming. This provides a suitable backdrop for watching movies and offers a faint glow for hallways and stairs at night.
• easy to install and use: All you need to take advantage of natural lighting is one or more Ketra bulbs and a wireless controller. Screw the bulbs into your existing fixtures in one room or, ideally, the entire building. Upgradable wall keypads and computer software give you more options for controlling the lights. With the mobile app, you can manage all interior and exterior Ketra bulbs with a tap of the screen.
• home automation integration: If you already utilize some smart home features or security systems, Ketra bulbs fit right in. You can also incorporate them with your Amazon Echo or other Alexa-enabled devices to control the lights with your voice.

AVDG is dedicated to improving our clients’ experience at home and work, which includes providing exceptional lighting solutions. Our partnerships with Ketra and Lutron make us well-equipped to upgrade your building with the best natural lighting and automation solutions available today. To learn more about incorporating natural light into your home or business, or to request a demo, please contact AVDG today at 888-505-1922.