As Migraine Awareness Week gets underway, it comes as a reminder to us about how our working environment affects our health and wellbeing. According to a report by the Work Foundation it’s estimated that migraines alone equate to 11.4 workdays lost per person and cost the UK economy £8.8 billion per year in lost productivity.

Health implications

Poor office lighting frequently comes up as a complaint in the workplace and there is growing evidence to suggest that it can have negative health implications – bright lighting such as traditional fluorescent strips can cause glare, resulting in eye strain and concentration difficulties, particularly if they flicker. This can activate migraines.

Lighting is key

A multidisciplinary team of experts from the Healthy Building Program at the Harvard TH Chan School of Public Health have defined nine foundations of a healthy building – unsurprisingly lighting is listed as a key component of this. The perfect solution would be to fill your workspace with plenty of natural light, however where this isn’t possible, replacing legacy lighting with modern, low glare LED technology can help to reduce issues associated with poor health.

Human centric lighting

Thankfully, increasing numbers of employers are beginning to understand the importance of health and wellbeing in the work place, with many investing in human-centric lighting systems which can aid health and happiness in the workplace. Allowing for lighting to be flexible and task suited (for example, adjustable LEDs) can eliminate glare on computer screens and therefore ease eye strain and headaches.

“At Greenlite, when we think about office space, our key objective is, how can we use efficient lighting technology to improve our people’s working lives, and build a more valuable business in every way” says Bob Hall, Managing Director of Greenlite Lighting Solutions.

“Many firms still use archaic office spaces. Lights have no individual switches, nor any ability to lower or control lighting levels. Not only are such facilities unkind and unpleasant to work in, they have a direct, negative impact on employee health, productivity and happiness. By giving employees more control over their working environment, individuals can tailor the lighting to suit their mood or task, resulting in a healthier and happier workforce.”

To find out how Greenlite Group can enable your business to benefit from human-centric lighting, call 0844 880 2116.

https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2018/04/180427144727.htm