Ample lighting is integral to learning

It’s common to find parents telling their young ones not to read lying down for fear of spoiling their sight. The concern here essentially stems from the lack of adequate light at those angles, which can adversely affect young retinas.

Lighting positively influences health and well-being. Understanding basic lighting principles and how they affect health and well-being can go a long way in ensuring correct lighting for one’s home, especially for children’s space.

Increasingly, symptoms like blurry vision, myopia, dryness, itchy or sore eyes, and lack of concentration seem to be common among children, especially urban ones. While these are easily identified, the less obvious symptoms include fatigue, dizziness and nausea. All of these are linked to eye strain and as the computer becomes a frequently used medium for both work and leisure, eye health is becoming a huge concern.

The need to quickly scan for information from various sources leads to an increased strain on eyes and such is the pervasiveness that the percentage of children being prescribed spectacles has increased sharply in India in the last few years. Moreover, the access to smart devices like phones and tablets, increases the tendency of eye strain.

Vision and eye health are key to a child’s ability to do well in the classroom, at the playground, and while studying at home. Therefore, it is vital to take care of children’s eyes from an early age by creating a conducive environment that enhances vision health.  Given all of this, an increasing number of specialists are now focusing their attention on the ergonomic design of children’s study and workspaces, particularly on how they are lit.  Appropriate lighting is often an overlooked area of childcare that parents need to better understand and support by creating the ideal lighting for their spaces. Lighting for children’s room should be functional as well as comforting.

Overall, children’s lights should be easy for children to use with child-friendly ergonomics. The designs and colours should be appealing, eco-friendly, and made of non-toxic components making the room cozier and more fun to be in.

Safety is a big concern when choosing lighting for any space that will predominately be used by children. For very young children, all wall mounted lights should be out of reach to avoid accidents. It is also for this reason that floor lamps are ruled out. The material should be shatterproof and not heat generating such as the halogen bulbs. Lighting for children’s study spaces must be carefully planned. The lighting should be flicker-free to avoid the visual discomfort/fatigue caused by stroboscopic effects and ensures a comfortable reading experience.

Backlight with brightness control that enhances contrast and improves readability, makes it perfect for long work sessions.