Conference room natural lighting: how important is it?

Do you feel grumpier during the winter months? Sleep better after spending a day in the great outdoors? Or just have more energy when the sun is shining? Natural light (or lack of it) is connected to these feelings and behaviors. That’s because both natural and artificial light affects several systems within the body, including our circadian rhythm, serotonin and melatonin levels, and vitamin D production. And this is why working in a conference room with natural lighting can make a big difference to how you feel and how well you work.

Why is natural light important?

Natural light offers many different health benefits.

It boosts vitamin D

Vitamin D helps strengthen bones and reduces our risk of weight gain and various chronic diseases. Research also suggests getting the right amount of vitamin D every day can give your immune system a boost.

While it’s possible to get vitamin D from some foods (including fatty fish and egg yolks) and some supplements, the best source of vitamin D is sunshine.

Exposing your skin to sunlight — whether outdoors or sitting by a window — gives your body the resources it needs to create vitamin D.

It helps with seasonal depression

Seasonal affective disorder, or SAD, affects 6% of the US population. A further 14% of people suffer from a milder seasonal depression — the winter blues.

As winter approaches, people with SAD have less energy. They struggle to wake up in the morning, eat more, and their concentration levels decrease.

This can all contribute to feelings of sadness and depression that last until the following spring.

Scientists think that one of the reasons people experience SAD, is the lack of natural light exposure during the winter months.

It helps with sleep

Exposure to artificial light — from lightbulbs, computers, and smartphone screens — can disrupt our circadian rhythm. This sleep-wake cycle helps us feel sleepy at bedtime and alert during the daytime.

Exposure to natural light boosts circadian wellness. It helps us drift off quickly and enjoy high-quality sleep, which improves mental and physical performance the following day.

It doesn’t present the same risks as some artificial lighting

Some fluorescent lighting, including compact fluorescent light bulbs (CFLs), have been shown to produce a stress response. Researchers think fluorescent bulbs’ light quality and light temperature affect how people feel.

Why should your conference room lighting design include natural light?

Natural light is clearly crucial to our well-being. But how does this translate to the workplace?

Benefits for your employees

Creating or using conference rooms with lots of natural light has a couple of key benefits for your teams.

It improves mood — and happy workers are more likely to be creative and productive.

It reduces eye strain – which can again positively impact productivity.

It helps people to concentrate – making it easier for them to focus on the task at hand.

It’s also what employees want. According to a survey conducted by Future Workplace, employees said that access to natural light and views of the outdoors was the number one perk they wanted in a workplace.

And it’s not just a nice-to-have. A lack of natural light negatively impacts the employee experience, with 47% of employees saying they felt tired at work and 43% saying they felt gloomy at work because there wasn’t enough natural light.

Benefits for your company

While natural conference room lighting provides clear benefits for your employees, it doesn’t stop there. Companies have a lot to gain from good conference lighting design too.

Reduced energy costs — using spaces with lots of natural light reduces the need for artificial lighting and helps to bring your energy bills down.

Reduced environmental impact — access to natural light means you use less electricity, which is great if your company is keen to reduce its carbon footprint.

Better staff retention — as we saw earlier, employees really care about having natural light at work. Providing these kinds of workspaces can be a big selling point for companies looking to attract new staff or hold onto existing team members.

5 quick tips to include natural light in your conference room design

Want to improve the levels of natural light in your conference rooms? Take a look at these quick tips.

1.       Situate your conference room in the right place

If you can alter your office configuration, try to make maximum use of natural light. This means locating your conference room in a space with lots of windows.

2.       Bring natural light into internal rooms

Even if your conference room sits in the middle of your building, without any or many windows, there are things you can do to introduce more natural light.

Think about installing a skylight or a light tunnel to bring more light through the ceiling.

You could also embrace an open-plan office configuration where wall partitions are taken down or replaced with glass partitions.

3.       Pull back the blinds

While you need to consider room temperature alongside light levels, simply raising the blinds (or getting rid of them if the space allows) will make your conference space lighter and brighter.

4.       Use mirrors

You can use mirrors to reflect light around a space. If your conference room is short on natural light, large, strategically placed mirrors can help to bounce light into even the darkest corners.

5.       Paint walls in pale colors

Just like mirrors, walls can reflect light around a room. But only when you choose the right shade. Pick paint in white and off-white colors to enhance your conference room lighting design.

Want to up team productivity? Pick conference rooms with natural lighting!

Whether you’re short on meeting space in your current office or you’re arranging a get-together for your distributed team, with Smartway2 it’s easy to find a conference room that meets all of your requirements.

We’ll help you and your team find conference rooms with natural light, with the right amount of space, and in the ideal location.

Get a Smartway2 demo to see how our workplace scheduling solution works for modern, agile, and collaborative companies like yours.