Is desk work dragging on? We’ve all been there.
Even after a caffeinated beverage, a low-energy workday can be hard to shake. Or maybe you’re all-too-familiar with an afternoon of frequent yawns, fighting the urge to nod off. If this is you on several days of the week, you are not alone. The feeling of fatigue during working hours is very common, with at least 22% of American workers struggling to stay alert during the workday.
Although the primary cause of daily fatigue is inadequate sleep, the work environment matters. Ambient lighting can influence your ability to focus.
Most desk jobs require 8 hours of daily work, but office environments may have limitations that make it hard to stay focused. Low light exposure makes employees less alert. This can present a barrier to engagement and safety, and it directly influences productivity. With more daytime fatigue, more errors are committed, and several markers of mental performance decrease, including:
Studies show that workers with less access to daylight have poorer average sleep and more daytime fatigue. And windowless work environments are associated with lower levels of wellbeing.
Several decades of workplace research in operating office settings and virtual settings link bright indoor illumination to better alertness. This can help employees make fewer mistakes and stay on-task, because light keeps the brain alert and less prone to fatigue.
Architects often design workplaces with a focus on ideal daylight exposures. Their light-filled buildings have demonstrated impressive productivity gains due to reduced absenteeism and improved employee productivity. But not every work environment or home office has ample windows, of course. Unless overhead or lamp lighting is optimized, poor work lighting will add to employee struggles against fatigue.
If a desk job demands high performance, then bright lighting is a great way to stay focused during working hours.
The morning may be best for office workers to experience brighter indoor illumination. With insufficient sleep, we are far slower at achieving mental alertness in the morning. Bright light exposure can help us reach alertness faster.
Studies on this topic sampled mood and vitality hour-by-hour across an entire year and found that brighter light exposures in the mornings were strongly associated with better vigor, although brighter afternoons also helped to some extent.
High light levels that are near the blue end of the spectrum (400-500 nm wavelengths) improve alertness best. These types of lighting are common of daylight LED lighting. Exposure to these lights during the morning may even help us feel a little happier.
LED lights tend to be more efficient and long-lasting than fluorescent tube lights, which have been around since the 1930s. But does this mean workplaces should swap out older lighting? The answer may be yes, because LED lights are far more efficient and longer lasting.
Research has tested how both these types of lights influence brain function. LED comes out on top: Compared to LED lighting, study participants experienced higher levels of daily fatigue in the presence of fluorescent lighting. They also had slightly slower response times on tasks measuring spatial and verbal memory with fluorescent lighting.
Long fluorescent tube lighting is often replaced by compact fluorescent lamps (CFLs), created in 1976. Like any fluorescent light, these emit a rapid flicker. But the newer CFLs flicker at faster rate that is likely imperceptible to the eye.
A remaining area of concern has to do with CFL design flaws. The electric current excites mercury and argon ions within the bulb to emit light, including some UV light. CFLs are tube-shaped and are often tightly coiled to fit into a standard bulb-shape. Those tight turns make their phosphor coating susceptible to cracking. This coating blocks most of the UV light created when current is suppled, so cracks leak more UV light. If the light source is very close to a worker, it could raise their susceptibility to adverse reactions. This is why most CFLs are now sold in double-envelope bulbs, where the tight coil of the CFL tube is enclosed by a second glass or polycarbonate cover.
As Treo’s Global Wellness Researcher, Karlie uses recent research findings to support healthier daily habits. Karlie earned her doctorate in Neuroscience and Behavior and bachelors in Health and Exercise Science.
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