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Light up the mood:
Fighting melancholy with interior lighting this January
By Matthew Currington, Technical Director, The Lighting Superstore
January can be a bleak month for many as the festive season ends and people face cold, dark days. The 15th of January has been dubbed Blue Monday – which is considered the most depressing day of the year.
Lighting plays a huge role in shaping the atmosphere of our homes – and it can often impact our mood and mindset. In the cold and dark of January, creating a cosy and strategically lit home can help fight away the blues.
This Blue Monday, I explore four ways your interior lighting could stave off feelings of melancholy.
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Create layers of lighting
By blending ambient, task and accent lighting throughout your home, you create a multi-layered lighting setup that effectively combats feelings of low mood.
Ambient lighting, including lamps, overhead fixtures and wall sconces, will create a gentle glow in all corners of your home, preventing any lurking gloominess and making your home feel bright and inviting.
Task lighting enhances productivity, especially while working from home. Improved productivity contributes to overall feelings of satisfaction and contentment, creating a positive cycle between mood and efficiency.
Accent lighting is designed to highlight attractive architectural features of your home, including decorative artworks and plants. This added focus brings out the beauty of these features, elevating your appreciation for your home’s design and décor, ultimately enhancing your mood.
Invest in smart lighting
Smart lighting is a growing industry, and for good reason. It makes our lives easier through automation and it has opened up a rainbow of colour in interior lighting. Whatever your mood, there is a colour to match it or perhaps detract from it.
Automated dimming features also allow us to sync interior lights with circadian rhythms, dimming slowly in the evening leading up to bedtime and brightening slowly in the morning with your daily wake-up alarm.
Lighting Superstore
This signals your body to wind down and enter a restful state before bedtime, leading to better sleep and, of course, better sleep leads to better moods.
Create cosy corners
In colder months, having an ambient and cosy corner to tuck up in will make the dark and cold evenings exciting, rather than dreary. Use table lamps and standing lamps with diffused, warm and gentle lighting to create intimate spaces of comfort and security.
Spending time in these nooks will encourage relaxation and introspection allowing you to unwind, recharge and escape from any negativity associated with your day.
Enhance natural light exposure
Exposure to natural light improves mood while lack of exposure to light has the opposite effect causing depressive moods and insomnia. Insomnia won’t help poor mood either, as lack of sleep often causes low mood.
So, it is important to capitalise on the few hours of light in the day by opening all blinds and curtains in your home as soon as you wake up.
Keep windows unobstructed by house plants and other window décor to get all the natural light in and remember to situate sofas and dining tables in front of large windows. This will enhance natural light exposure while relaxing or eating breakfast at the start of your day, setting you off on the right foot.
Matthew Currington, Technical Director
