# Healthy Lighting — The Healthy House Podcast > How natural light and colour temperature interact with the body clock, which lighting suits which room, common kitchen mistakes, and why glare and flicker matter, especially for people with sensory sensitivities. *Source: https://www.thehealthyhousepodcast.co.uk/topics/healthy-lighting* ## Key points - Lighting isn’t only decoration. Natural light and colour temperature interact with your body clock, which shapes mood, concentration and how easily you wind down. - Match colour temperature to what a room is for: warmer for relaxing spaces, cooler for focus and task work. - One bright ceiling light rarely works. Layering task, ambient and accent lighting works much better, especially in kitchens. - Glare and flicker are comfort issues, and for people with autism, ADHD or other sensory sensitivities they can make a room hard to be in. - Lighting that shifts through the day follows natural daylight more closely than a single fixed setting. ## Light and the body clock Your body runs on a daily rhythm, and light is one of the main signals that keeps it on time. Daylight tells the body it is time to be awake. Dimmer, warmer light in the evening supports the wind-down before sleep. Episode 8 of The Healthy House Podcast, with lighting designer Sam Coles of Sam Coles Lighting Design Consultants, explores how a home can support that pattern or undermine it. Bright, cool light late at night, or dim, warm light all day in a home office, works against how the body wants to regulate itself. ## Warm and cool light, room by room Colour temperature is the main lever. As a rule of thumb, lower kelvin values look warm and cosy and higher values look crisp and alert. Match the light to the job: - Living rooms and bedrooms: warmer light, dimmable where possible, for the evening - Kitchens and home offices: cooler light over work areas, where you need to see and concentrate - Hallways and bathrooms: somewhere in between, with enough brightness to be safe and functional Using one bulb type throughout the house ignores the fact that each room has a different job at a different time of day. ## Kitchen lighting: the usual mistakes Kitchens go wrong more often than any other room. A single bright ceiling fitting leaves worktops in shadow, casts your own shadow over what you are doing, and gives you no way to soften the room when you aren’t cooking. A better scheme layers three things: task lighting over worktops and the hob, ambient lighting for the room as a whole, and accent lighting where it adds something. Choose fittings for glare and colour temperature, not looks alone. ## Glare, flicker and sensory comfort Comfort isn’t a luxury. Glare from exposed bulbs and flicker, which some people don’t consciously notice but others find very disruptive, can make a room uncomfortable to spend time in. The episode looks at this through the experience of people with autism and ADHD, for whom poorly specified lighting can be a genuine barrier to using a space. Baffled fittings, which recess or shield the bulb from direct view, are a simple way to reduce glare without reducing useful light. ## Lighting that changes through the day Brighter and cooler in the morning, warmer and dimmer in the evening: that is the simplest version of circadian-friendly lighting. It doesn’t require a smart-home system. Different lamps at different times, or tuneable bulbs in the rooms you use most, are enough to make a difference. ## A healthy home is more than good lighting Light is one part of how a home feels. A room that is damp, stuffy or prone to condensation won’t feel restful however good the lighting is. Our guides to [damp and mould](https://www.thehealthyhousepodcast.co.uk/topics/damp-and-mould) and [condensation and ventilation](https://www.thehealthyhousepodcast.co.uk/topics/condensation-and-ventilation) cover the rest of the picture, and the host of this podcast, [Weather Wise Solutions](https://weatherwiseuk.co.uk/), specialises in diagnosing and fixing damp, mould and condensation in UK homes. ## Listen to the episode Episode 8, “Is Your Home Making You Tired? The Truth About Healthy Lighting”, runs to about an hour and a half. It is for anyone renovating or planning a new home, anyone whose lighting choices so far have been made on looks alone, and parents or carers of people with sensory sensitivities. ## Common questions ### Does the lighting in my home affect my sleep? Yes. Natural light and the colour temperature of artificial light both interact with your body clock, which influences how alert you feel in the day and how easily you wind down at night. Brighter, cooler light during the day and warmer, dimmer light in the evening works with that rhythm rather than against it. ### What is the difference between warm and cool white light? Colour temperature is measured in kelvin, and lower numbers look warmer and more yellow while higher numbers look cooler and bluer. Warm light generally suits living rooms and bedrooms in the evening, and cooler light suits kitchens and workspaces where you need to concentrate. ### What are the most common kitchen lighting mistakes? Relying on a single bright ceiling light is the most common one, because worktops end up in shadow and there is no way to soften the room afterwards. Layer task lighting over the worktops, softer ambient light for the room and accent lighting where it helps, and choose fittings for glare as well as looks. ### Can poor lighting cause headaches or discomfort? It can for some people. Glare from exposed bulbs and flicker, which not everyone consciously notices, can make a room uncomfortable to be in. If a particular fitting or bulb bothers you, try a different one, and consider fittings that shield the bulb from direct view. ### What is a baffled light fitting? A baffled fitting recesses or shields the bulb so it isn't directly exposed to view. That cuts glare without reducing the amount of light in the room, which is why it is often recommended where comfort matters, including for people sensitive to bright, exposed light sources. ### Should my lighting change during the day? It helps if it does. Lighting that is brighter and cooler in the morning and warmer and dimmer in the evening follows the pattern of daylight more closely than one fixed setting. You can do this with different lamps at different times or with tuneable bulbs in the rooms you use most. Hear it discussed ## Episodes on this subject [![](https://www.thehealthyhousepodcast.co.uk/images/episodes/is-your-home-making-you-tired-the-truth-about-healthy-lighting.jpg)](https://www.thehealthyhousepodcast.co.uk/episodes/is-your-home-making-you-tired-the-truth-about-healthy-lighting) Episode 821 September 20261 hr 29 min ### Is Your Home Making You Tired? The Truth About Healthy Lighting How much thought do you give to the lighting in your home? In Episode 8 of The Healthy House Podcast, Aaron is joined by Sam Coles to explore how light influences our daily lives, from our mood and concentration to how we wind down in the evening. With Sam Coles, Sam Coles Lighting Design Consultants ## Other guides [Damp and Mould](https://www.thehealthyhousepodcast.co.uk/topics/damp-and-mould)[Condensation and Ventilation](https://www.thehealthyhousepodcast.co.uk/topics/condensation-and-ventilation)[Heritage and Lime](https://www.thehealthyhousepodcast.co.uk/topics/heritage-and-lime)[Building Costs and Contracts](https://www.thehealthyhousepodcast.co.uk/topics/building-costs-and-contracts)[Buying a Home](https://www.thehealthyhousepodcast.co.uk/topics/buying-a-home)[Healthy Homes and the Law](https://www.thehealthyhousepodcast.co.uk/topics/healthy-homes-and-the-law)[Bespoke Metalwork](https://www.thehealthyhousepodcast.co.uk/topics/bespoke-metalwork)