Lighting linked to happiness, confidence and motivation

New research from Philips Lighting reveals that our social lives, attitudes and motivation are directly affected by lighting, particularly in homes.

The company surveyed 1000 Australian customers to discover the impact of well-lit spaces and found that 95% of respondents consider a light, bright home to be integral to positive family life.

Around 19% (or 1 in 5) believe that their homes are currently too dark or lack the mood lighting required to create atmosphere. Around 26% linked a personal lack of confidence with a belief that their home interior was not as well designed as it could be.

Philips says that a well-lit space when working from home could even cause people to be more creative and to have a sharper mind.

Backing the research findings is psychologist at The Positivity Institute, Belinda Williams. Williams is an expert in the field and explains the link between lighting and wellbeing.

“Meaningful relationships, purposefulness and personal accomplishments are three key ingredients to wellbeing. As the Philips Lighting research shows, an environment that is comfortable and ambient increases our ability and confidence to engage in tasks and develop tangible relationships with others.

“Lighting benefits many aspects of our physiology; this happens as light is a fundamental ingredient in the regulation of our circadian rhythm. Equally, the perceived comfort and quality of light can impact mood. The ability to adjust lighting depending on demands of activities enhances a sense of control over the environment, which has been demonstrated to support performance and wellbeing.”

Poor lighting was identified as a key barrier against entertaining by over 12% of those questioned with over 40% wanting to entertain more or start inviting people over. The results found that lighting is just as important as size when considering attending someone else’s home for a social occasion. Nearly a third of respondents (31%) would be put off going to someone else’s home if it was dark and dingy.

Well over half (58%) consider a beautiful home to be of integral importance to their overall lifestyle and this figure is practically identical between males and females.

Almost two-thirds (60%) consider a stylish home to be as important in life as how you communicate in social situations. Almost a quarter (23%)* feel it is as key as having a good job or your grooming/beauty regime (25%)*.

To demonstrate the huge impact lighting may have on a space — and on the lives of those who live there — Joe Snell undertook a challenge with Philips Lighting to transform three properties in Tamworth, coined the ‘City of Lights’ for having the first street lights in Australia in 1888.

Snell said, “Lighting is a huge part of our lives whether we realise it or not. It is an incredibly powerful tool to transform a living space, which is what we wanted to show by dramatically changing three homes in Tamworth, the ‘City of Lights’. Having a beautiful home, for 80%* of the nation, comes down to your own piece of mind and feeling happy in your own space. It is this happiness and confidence which takes you through other elements of life such as work, family life and socialising. It also impacts how you use your space at home.

The research also highlighted the importance of lighting for those who work at home either all the time or occasionally, which is around 70% of home owners. Good lighting is not only as important as having Wi-Fi, it is also shown to boost creativity (for 22%), increase positivity (41%), improve mindset (39%) and help you feel more awake (44%).

David Procter from Philips Lighting Australia said, “We are on a journey to take light beyond illumination, making people safer, happier and more productive, and as our research has shown, there is more to lighting than most people realise — it is integral to how we live our lives at home and our happiness.

“The world is moving fast and our second generation of HUE lighting is paving the way to make connected lighting in the home accessible for households and families across the country. Additionally, our range of Philips LED globes gives quality white light that can last up to 15,000 hours and reduce energy consumption by up to 80%,” said Procter.

“In the Tamworth properties we used a mixture of Philips LED Lighting, which is hugely energy efficient, along with the second generation of HUE lighting, which is a type of connected lighting that opens up home automation to everyone. We had a lot of fun playing around with voice activation on a smartphone to change the HUE 2.0 lights! You don’t even need an electrician to install it, you can set it up yourself, it’s really straightforward and not too expensive,” said Snell.