Most people realize that they feel gloomy after several dismal, rainy days. Did you know, however, that good lighting can affect the way we learn? The need for better lighting seems to be connected to the advance of technology. Humans used to spend more time out of doors in natural lighting. Now, however, we are becoming a culture that stays inside most of the time. Human Centric lighting, or lighting to optimize human performance, is used in workplaces and now studies have shown that optimum lighting influences learning.

It seems that higher illumination, and warmer-colored illumination, lead to higher academic performance when compared with the efforts of students under standard lighting. This is true in the college lecture hall and in the kindergarten class. It appears that school lighting may be as important as technology in determining the quality of our children’s education.

Good lighting has been shown to positively influence the social behavior of children, and may be connected to their physical health as well. Studies seem to indicate the influence of lighting on blood pressure, growth levels and even on circadian rhythms. “Tunable” lighting may also acelerate healing and prevent or slow some chronic diseases.

Speaking of Circadian Rhythms, experiments have shown that sleepiness is a deterrent to learning ability. Optimum lighting may help students remain alert during the day and so improve their “sleepiness” at bedtime.