How Tunable Lighting Promotes Wellness
Add convenience and improve your overall wellbeing with intuitive lighting
In 2018, Lutron, the world-renowned lighting control and shade company, acquired Ketra, a brand that changed the performance, range, and intensity of lighting control for good. Together, they are leading the way in innovative lighting technology and tunable lighting control. Read on to learn what this remarkable technology can do for your Darien, CT home.
SEE ALSO: Which Lutron Lighting System Is the Best Solution for Your Home?
What Is Tunable Light?
Most home lighting is designed to produce just one color. You may brighten it or dim it, but the color temperature of typical LED and fluorescent light sources remains the same.
Visible light, however, is made up of a spectrum of colors. Dynamic spectrum lighting enables you to utilize these colors in your home, changing both the color temperature and the intensity of every fixture. Like a painter, you can tune into a vast, seemingly infinite range of colors to match your mood or activity.
A night of entertainment may warrant the warm glow of candlelight dispersed throughout your home and into the yard. Likewise, an eclectic group of artists and creatives coming over for dinner may merit subtle shades of blues, purples, yellows, and greens splashed throughout your living area.
Tunable lighting also enables you to dial in light to show off your fine works of art and furnishings so that they look their best. Tunable lighting, however, does much more than make our homes look beautiful and bring fun and exotic entertainment to our spaces. It also contributes to our well-being.
Our Internal Time Clock
Our circadian rhythm is our internal time clock, sometimes referred to as our sleep-wake cycle, and it’s linked to the rise and fall of the sun. Light triggers the release of hormones like serotonin, our happy hormone, which helps us remain calm and focused. As darkness descends, melatonin is released, the hormone that helps us fall and stay asleep.
Without enough sunlight, serotonin levels can dip, and our mood can decay. Without enough darkness, like when we work late on our computers or stay up watching TV, melatonin levels diminish, and our sleep cycle is disturbed.
So, what does this have to do with tunable lighting? Everything.
Light that Mimics the Sun
Ketra created automated lighting that mimics the dynamic nature of sunlight and shifts throughout the day. The light slowly wakes you up in the morning and brightens as the day progresses, delivering the cool, blue tones that help us stay focused. Then, as the sun lowers, the warm, red rays begin to take over, telling our bodies it's time to relax.
This human-centric lighting solution influences our well-being and also reduces energy usage. One study found that dimming LED lights by 50% resulted in almost 50% savings in energy use.
Combined with Home Automation
At Rich AV Design, our certified technicians can integrate your lighting control with your home automation system. This leads to the ultimate in luxurious ease-of-living technology. After determining your lifestyle and the solutions that would truly transform your everyday lives, we'll set scenes that automatically adjust multiple automated solutions.
For instance, if you regularly entertain, we can program an “Entertainment” button on your in-wall touchscreen, tablet, and smartphone. One touch and the lights dim or brighten to your chosen hue, and your whole-home audio system starts playing your pre-selected playlist. Simultaneously, the landscape lights display elegantly in your backyard, and your smart refrigerator begins the task of making more ice and adjusting to a colder temperature in preparation for your guests' arrival.
Are you ready to experience the ease of living tunable lighting and home automation can bring? For more information or to schedule a complimentary consultation, contact Rich AV Design today.
