The Right Light
The right lighting can make all the difference in how tired you are at the end of your working day. Overhead florescent lights found in most big offices often have a lot of glare, can give people headaches and be one of the causes of 'sick building syndrome'.
Natural Light
If you worked in a company office with little natural daylight you may have suffered from SAD (seasonally affected depression). Now that you are working from home, you are free to choose your ideal lighting. You may even be able to have a lot of natural light flooding in through your windows. However it is often best to have the window behind you for two reasons -
· so that the light falls on your work instead of producing a lot of glare
· if you face the window you may find yourself getting distracted by what is going on outside
Another solution is to have adjustable venetian blinds so that you can control the amount of sunlight coming into the room, depending on the time of day and the season of the year.
Overhead Lighting
Although you need some overhead lighting, just having an overhead light isn't enough. This is especially true if your office is in a basement or garage with little natural light. You will also need to have some task lighting so that you will be able to work efficiently depending. Different types of bulbs give different kinds of light, from a warm yellow, to a cool white, and some are better for certain tasks than others. Even if you are use to a certain type of light, why not experiment to see what really works best for your work situation. And whatever type you choose make sure that glare is reduced to a minimum.
· Incandescent bulbs usually give a yellow type of light although other cooler whites are available
· Florescent bulbs are now available as energy saving compacts but often don't work with dimmer switches. They are good for both task orientated and overhead lighting and are available in a wide range of whites
· Halogen bulbs are great for task lighting but usually need special light fixtures
· Full spectrum daylight bulbs are as near as you can get to natural daylight and are especially useful for graphic artists and people who suffer from SAD
Task Lighting
A simple way of creating task lighting is to use table lamps or desk lights, which can be angled precisely and changed as you need. This can be a very economical way of lighting your work space and with today's choice of lamp styles you can be as modern or retro as you like.
If you are designing your office from scratch, consider putting in track and spot lighting so that you can vary the amount of light for the different tasks you need. However this can be an expensive option for a small business just starting out.
Floor Lighting
Many people also like to have adjustable floor lamps so that they can create uplighting or downlighting as required. Uplighting can help to create good indirect lighting without glare which is what you want in an office.
Remember good lighting can make all the difference to your work environment. So make sure that you can vary the type of lighting in your home office and reduce the glare and strain on your eyes.