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Most of us know that scrolling before bed disturbs our sleep and that a SAD lamp may lift our spirits in winter. But, far beyond our wake/sleep cycle, our circadian rhythm — or internal body clock — governs everything from hormone release and temperature regulation to digestion, gut bacteria and immune response.
And it’s becoming clear that the lights we live under may be upsetting the balance. In the past couple of decades, we’ve switched from incandescent halogen lighting to energy-saving LEDs. A report by the House of Lords Science and Technology Committee published in 2023 cites artificial lighting as a “hidden pollutant” and identifies the invisible LED “flicker” as an issue for many people — it overstimulates our brains. Plus, LEDs are primarily made from blue light, which affects our circadian rhythm. “Just because we can invade the night, doesn’t mean we should,” says Russell Foster, professor of circadian neuroscience and the head of department of ophthalmology at Oxford.
“In the 1800s, most of us lived by natural light. Now we’ve become cave dwellers again”
Forward-thinking lighting brand, Ray, may hold the key, pioneering “human-centric” lighting in the UK. Ray’s circadian-friendly lighting systems eliminate “the flicker factor” and are built around horticultural-standard LED chips, minimising blue light and making them the closest bulbs to sunlight on the market. “If the plants think it’s the Sun, it must be good for us too,” says co-founder Simon McCune.
Foster agrees — “the default should be to make them [bulbs] as close to sunlight as possible,” he says. “In the 1800s, some 95 per cent of the population lived — to a large extent — outside, or by natural light. And within 250 years or so, we’ve become cave dwellers again.” The simple fix, both McCune and Foster agree, is to get outside. “It is dawn and dusk detection that is so important for photo-entrainment,” says Foster, referring to the process which syncs our biological clock by detecting the changing light through the day.
Download a lux meter app (lux is the measurement for illuminance), on to your phone and you’ll quickly see the huge difference between light rays outside, which are well over 10,000, even in the shade, and inside — next to a window is about 4,000 while a well-lit room in the daytime is about 1,000.
For an inside-dwelling generation, then, lighting is vital. Interior experts have long understood its power in a visual sense — that warm feeling when you walk into a space with “good lighting”. But, as Alice B Davies, co-founder of online interiors destination Salon, explains, “the importance of lighting goes far beyond the visual — it’s a biological and physiological imperative. Alongside designing spaces which maximise natural light — vital for our circadian rhythm and overall wellbeing — I work closely with lighting designer Simone Adler to prioritise biological lighting, installing the right bulbs, balancing lighting in a space, brightening for morning, dimming for evening, bulb colour — every detail.”
This is where Ray comes in. “We make full colour spectrum lighting,” says McCune. “It means you see things as they should be seen under sunlight.” This is measured in CRI — colour resolution index. Halogen bulbs are 100, the LED standard is about 80 — Ray’s bulbs are 98. The company has also eliminated that troublesome flicker.
For something so foundational, the research into light is surprisingly minimal. “Scientists are only beginning to scratch the surface,” says Foster. . There is a complex blend of rays in sunshine that we haven’t come close to replicating artificially — nature still does it best. Georgina Lucas
Ray lighting is available at the-salon.com, from £11.95
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