Wellbeing Update–How PoE Lighting Works in Tandem with Circadian Rhythms

For millennia, Earth’s inhabitants have followed a 24-hour cycle dictated by the rotation of our planet. When the sun rose, so did we. Even with the discovery of fire, our waking hours largely remained synchronous. It wasn’t until Edison invented the electric light bulb that lighting began to disrupt the 24-hour cycle known as circadian rhythm.

What is Circadian Rhythm?

According to the National Institute of Health, circadian rhythms are the physical, mental, and behavioral changes experienced over a 24-hour cycle. An innate biological clock exists within the human brain and regulates our sense of time and coordination with circadian rhythms via the production of a hormone known as melatonin. This system functions as a sensory feedback loop, using light levels detected by our eyes to regulate melatonin production timing and levels. As the sun sets, our eyes sense less light, triggering the body to produce more melatonin, which in turn causes us to feel sleepy.

What Does a Circadian Rhythm Look Like?

A single circadian rhythm covers precisely 24.2 hours, although some people follow a shorter rhythm of just 16 to 19 hours. Genetic variations contribute to a person’s unique biological clock. Morning people start their wake cycle between 5:00 and 7:00 a.m., while “night owls” follow a rhythm that puts their ideal wake-up time somewhere between 9:00 and 11:00 a.m. 

Humans begin their most productive period of the day about four hours after waking. They spend the next eight hours performing tasks such as working, exercising, and thinking. As light begins to fade, our biological clock slows down, and melatonin production increases as darkness descends. Ideally, we enjoy about seven hours of sleep before the circadian cycle begins anew.

Genetic and environmental factors have the most significant influence on our biorhythms. For example, individuals with a strong inclination toward early rising will likely have relatives with this trait. However, artificial lighting, temperature variation, and food intake (energy) can disrupt our individual circadian rhythm.

What Happens When Biorhythms Are Disrupted?

Short-term disruptions such as travel across time zones can result in drowsiness, lack of coordination, and difficulty focusing. Our inner clocks adjust better to time changes as we move from west to east because the cycle length is shorter. We find adapting to cycle changes that lengthen our normal rhythm more difficult, which is why a transition from east to west is more disruptive.

Long-term disruptions that result in sleep loss can increase the risk of obesity, diabetes, heart disease, mood disorders, and blood pressure problems. Shift workers often experience the physical impact of these long-term disruptions.

How PoE Lighting Supports Circadian Rhythms

Much of the research on how the environment impacts our circadian rhythms has focused on lighting. Research looks at how electric lights can disrupt biorhythms and increase health risks. It has also identified ways that lighting technology can reduce the negative effect of electricity on our rhythm through circadian lighting.

What Is Circadian Lighting?

Circadian lighting uses technology to support our circadian rhythms. It uses features such as intensity tuning, color temperature, and color tuning to match nature’s day and night signals.

• Intensity Tuning: Dimmer switches were a manual form of intensity tuning. Modern technology can automatically dim light intensity based on the time of day. Combined with color tuning, morning lights are set at a lower intensity, transitioning to a higher intensity as the day progresses. The intensity lowers again in the evening to match the sun’s natural path.
• Correlated Color Temperature (CCT): Light emits color wavelengths measured in Kelvins, ranging from 1,000K to 10,000K. The lower the number, the warmer the light appears. Values above 4,000K closely mimic the light we experience when the sky is blue. Color temperature has a significant impact on how we feel. Blue skies energize, while the orange-red hues produced by a warm fire help calm the mind.
• Color Tuning: Color tuning refers to altering light intensity and CCT values to match what we experience during a day and night cycle. Higher-intensity blue lights promote alertness, reflecting the highest point in the sun’s path. Low intensity produces warmer colors, which lend themselves to the hours approaching bedtime.

Using circadian lighting technology, we can bring the incredible power of the outside world into our homes.

What Is PoE Lighting?

PoE lighting uses power over Ethernet technology to deliver power and data to PoE-enabled devices over a single Ethernet cable. This technology eliminates the need for separate power sources and, thus, the need to hire professional electricians to install new wiring. PoE can also power IP phones and security cameras. Wireless access points often use PoE technology to expand network access.

PoE lighting refers to systems that connect, monitor, and control LED light fixtures. It often appears in smart buildings where circadian lighting is deployed. PoE solutions help deliver human-centric lighting solutions that benefit the building’s human occupants and the environment.

What Are the Benefits of PoE-Enabled Circadian Lighting?

Circadian lighting can reduce the disruption of human biorhythms. These systems provide blue light colors that increase alertness and improve productivity. Through CCT technology, lighting can mimic the sun’s path from sunrise to sunset, preparing us for a restful night’s sleep. PoE lighting allows this technology to be deployed easily in nearly any context, from classrooms to office buildings.

Education

Classroom lights traditionally use fluorescent tube lighting. With the flip of a switch, the room transforms into “high-noon” brightness. While brighter lights help with reading and writing, they make using digital displays harder to see. Eye strain from poor lighting conditions can result in headaches and reduce a student’s ability to focus.

Circadian lighting works with network-based digital solutions to provide better control of classroom lights. PoE-powered sensors can provide data on room occupancy, temperature, energy consumption, and lighting. These control systems can turn off lights when a room is empty or adjust the environment to reflect outside conditions. 

With PoE sensors and lights, classrooms can be reconfigured to address changes in enrollment or building usage. PoE devices can be relocated as easily as any other network endpoint, meaning reconfigurations can be handled by network engineers rather than electricians.

Office Buildings

More companies and institutions are already realizing the benefits of shifting their infrastructure to be PoE-enabled. This burgeoning technology can connect and communicate with other systems to increase comfort and productivity. PoE lighting can offer personalized settings so employees can dim lights when viewing computer screens and increase intensity as they read or write. 

Integrating PoE technology into office buildings gives building owners automatic shade and temperature controls based on occupancy and time of day. Using PoE-enabled surveillance cameras, exterior and interior lighting can be adjusted based on motion detection for improved employee safety. 

As an industry leader in PoE solutions, Versa Technology envisions a world where PoE lighting supports the growth of circadian lighting to create a more human-centric environment.