How Lighting Influences Your Productivity, Plus Five Lighting Tips for Your Home Office
Productivity can be a pain when working from home. After all, we deserve an ice cream cone break after writing one page, right?
Whether you’re a hard worker, a task avoider, or your average joe worker, we all want to improve our productivity while working from home.
The key to productivity is having a space solely for work. If you have a home office at your residence in San Diego, that’s even better.
The aesthetic of your office can surprisingly affect the quality of your work and the productivity of your efforts. One thing that really makes a difference in productivity is the correct use of home office lighting.
Does lighting really make a difference in productivity? Absolutely.
Poor Lighting is an Energy Drain
Need to be productive at home? Don’t underestimate the power of lighting. Lighting has an impact on our levels of attentiveness, alertness, and wakefulness.
Would you want to work in a dimly lit room? Of course not, you’d get sleepy and groggy in no time at all. That’s not how or where you want to get your important work done. Not all light is good light for productivity, but we’ll say that any light is better than the dark.
Unfortunately, the lights used in offices are usually fluorescent, headache-inducing, and just too bright.
Luckily you have a home office where you can control your decorations and lighting. Many workers aren’t happy with their office lighting, and you don’t have to be one of them.
The More the Merrier
If you have the space, get a collection of different lights that you can use to create different moods and energies in your home.
When buying lights, look for fixtures that go well together, yet all serve a separate purpose. Having various lights, deemed task-oriented lights, will truly help your productivity.
Layers of lighting is preferred anyway for aesthetic purposes; productivity is just a beautiful bonus.
Recessed lighting, a desk lamp, and shelf lighting is the perfect way to highlight your home office space.
Five Tips for Perfect Home Office Lighting in San Diego
Best Location for Your Vocation
Lighting is all about location, location, location. If you’re working at a desk and you only have a floor lamp across the room, your workspace might not be well lit.
The best way to fill your room with cheery light is by having several different sources of light. Having a variety of ambiance will give you options of brightness, depending on what you’re working on.
Recessed lighting is our favorite when it comes to ceiling lights, especially when you can adjust the dimness. We don’t want it too dim, but it can be useful for moments where your eyes need a break from the golden light.
If you have bookshelves or a desk, look into installing lights right into the furniture for a modern and fresh look.
You can set up your lighting in a task-oriented manner. Perhaps you have a light for when you’re writing at your desk, and another when making calls from the armchair. It really does make a difference.
Lampshades
Lampshades scatter light so that you’re not under a direct source. The fluorescent lights that beam down in offices are so tiring and unconducive to productivity. Bright and direct light is a sure way to get a headache by the end of the day.
Stay stylish by adding some different types of ambiance. Not only will the right lampshade dissipate light to protect you from the glow of the bulb, but it will also add a necessary vibe to your office space and is the perfect space to get creative with design.
Shades Up
Having natural light encompass a room is so much less abrasive than a bunch of beaming lights. Just open up the blinds and curtains and let the light pour in.
Natural light is the number one way lighting can increase productivity for yourself in your home office. It was found to reduce headaches and eyestrain in an office setting by 84%.
If you live on a busy street and find yourself distracted, use a light sheer shade so that the sun can still shine in without the added hustle and bustle.
Have Back-Ups
Keep an extra supply of light bulbs in your storage for those long nights burning the midnight oil.
Picture this: you’re hot on the tails of your next big idea, writing more frivolously with each additional line, and boom, darkness.
As you stumble to the other lights, the ones you forgot to replace the bulbs in when they went out, you lose your train of thought. Light bulbs don’t burn out all that often, but when they do you want to be prepared.
Don’t interrupt your groove by having to stop, look around, and maybe even shop for new bulbs. Have them stored and ready to go when you find yourself in that dark pickle.
Remember that different lights will need specific wattages, so have a variety on hand for your needs.
No Bright Lights
Fluorescent lights are the worst! They don’t make us feel good and they certainly don’t make us look good. For your home office, keep the fluorescents at bay.
Fluorescents aren’t the only bright lights. Ceiling lights can be helpful to productivity with the right fixture, but sometimes they can remain too bright.
Recessed lighting is the way to go on this one, or as we said before, a nice lampshade on your previously blinding bulbs.
On to the Next One
Finished with your San Diego home office lighting? We can help with lighting and design in your bedroom, common rooms, kitchens, and more.
There’s more where that came from too. At Lighting Distinctions, we have everything you require for your indoor and outdoor lighting needs.