Light + Health

Lumenique’s Kevin Willmorth recently published a blog post questioning the use of the term “humancentric lighting” and raising concerns about how it is being marketed and applied. Without mincing words, his post begins: I do not use, like, or support, the term “Human-Centric Lighting” or HCL, and the marketing of it. Nor am I convinced [...]

In 2016, the American Medical Association (AMA) announced guidelines encouraging restrictions on the spectral properties of outdoor and roadway lighting, based on CSAPH Report 2-A-16 from their Council on Science and Public Health. The Illuminating Engineering Society recently completed a review of the report and guidelines and issued Position Statement PS-09-17, joining with the International [...]

A new study from the Lighting Research Center (LRC) at Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute found that office workers who receive a robust dose of circadian-effective light in the morning, from electric lighting or daylight, experience better sleep and lower levels of depression and stress, than those who spend their mornings in dim or low light levels. [...]

I wrote this news piece for the May issue of tED Magazine. Reprinted with permission. The Lighting Research Center (LRC) at Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute recently released a circadian stimulus (CS) calculator. Based on the CS metric, this tool can aid lighting professionals to select light sources and light levels that will increase the potential for [...]

The Light and Health Institute will be held on September 26-27, 2017 at the Lighting Research Center (LRC) in Troy, NY. This two-day, hands-on seminar for industry professionals will cover the latest research as it can be applied, and the knowledge necessary to improve modern living environments with circadian-effective lighting to support human health and [...]

Researchers have discovered that pulsing light reduces toxic proteins associated with Alzheimer’s disease in laboratory mice, raising hopes of future application to humans. Click here to learn more.

UK-based lighting publication LUX is becoming a must-read magazine for me along with LD+A. The magazine recently awarded 2016 Person of the Year to Professor Russell Foster. Foster’s team at Oxford University discovered the eye’s third type of photosensitive cell, which connects to the circadian system. This discovery created the possibility of practical circadian lighting. [...]

The Lighting Research Center (LRC) at Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute has recently released a free open-access circadian stimulus (CS) calculator to help lighting professionals select light sources and light levels that will increase the potential for circadian-effective light exposure in architectural spaces, utilizing the CS metric. Developed by LRC researchers, the CS metric is a new [...]

In this visual presentation, the Lighting Research Center’s Mariana Figueiro discusses the aging eye’s response to light and what lighting practitioners should do about it. Check it out here.