There are many elements that come together to create the perfect environment for working from home. With many of us and the ones we love having to adjust to working from home in the past year due to the ongoing pandemic, this has meant adapting to a new working style. One that doesn’t involve a commute.

Although it may have felt new and different to begin with, the novelty has likely worn off slightly after months of living and working in the same space. Much of it is out of our control, but one element of our work-from-home life we can control is the lighting in our home office. Whether that be its own room, a dedicated corner or your favourite spot on the sofa, here are three types of lighting that can make or break your home-working life.

1. Natural lighting When considering where in the house you will work from and where you will place your desk, try to locate your workspace near a window. A study has shown that getting enough natural sunlight can improve not only your mental health but also your cognitive efficiency. This means that situating your workstation near to a window can improve concentration, reduce stress, and even allow you to switch off more easily once the working day is over.

2. Task lighting Some areas of your workspace may need more lighting than others, particularly if you need a concentrated light source to help you carry out certain tasks. Your lighting needs may also change throughout the day requiring you to use a desk lamp to illuminate your keyboard once the sun starts to set in the late afternoon.

3. Ambient lighting Ambient lighting refers to the overall lighting of the room, you might even call it the ‘big light’ or the ceiling light. You need your overall lighting solution to compensate for varying degrees of sunlight which you might get during the day and depending on the weather outside and the location of your window in relation to the sun as it moves across the sky. If you don't have a lot of natural light, then artificial lights are even more important when considering workspace lighting. Many home office set-ups have ambient lighting that includes overhead or recessed lights, but it's a mistake to think that those will be enough. Existing ambient lighting is not designed to act as functional lighting for a home office, and it's necessary to add additional sources.

Optician and business developer for Europe at VisionDirect.co.uk, Yannick Roth, warns that as natural light dwindles in the daytime, inadequate lighting will be putting excess strain on the eyes, “Poor lighting may do more than just harm your eye health, it can also result in headaches, lethargy, irritability, and in turn, impact your productivity and lower your morale.”

So while the ways in which we work, live and thrive in the post-pandemic future are likely to take a slightly different path to what we once considered “normal”, it’s important to ensure that we continue to set ourselves up for success at work and at home, even when they’re one and the same.

Sources:

1. The London Economic.
2. Independent.
3. Easier.
4. The Spruce.