Energy-saving bulbs have been all the rage in recent years and for good reason, they require less power to work and last considerably longer. However, there is a much more environmentally friendly solution that has gained traction in recent times, and that is natural light. 

Psychologists have done a great deal of research into how lighting effects people in the workplace and unsurprisingly it has a long list of benefits for your employees.

Firstly, there is a strong connection between a workers exposure to natural light and their sleep patterns, mood and general quality of life. It's important to think about how the environment effects your workers outside the office just as much as in. These outside experiences impact their in-office performance heavily.

Think of how many times you've woken up before work and you've had a little less sleep than usual. Remember how you felt gluggy and slow getting ready, how the sun burnt your eyes a little as you stepped outside. Your commute to work seemed a longer and had more stops than usual. Then throughout the day; things frustrated you more and your brain didn't seem to be able to comprehend things as quickly.

You felt slow, angry and frustrated, all because you slept less than you usually would. Now imagine if your workplace catered directly to combating this. To making sure that you woke up on the right side of the bed every morning and that you were ready when you went to sleep every night. How much better would you feel about going to work each day?

This is the power of natural light. Your body is effected by circadian rhythms. These are the ways in which your body responds to light exposure within environments. These dictate hormone release, sleep cycles, body temperature and many other important functions. In layman's terms, they control when you wake up and go to sleep and make your body release important hormones in response.

The issue with working in an office full of fluorescent light is that your brain is continuously being told that it is day time. You may realise it isn't, but your body subconsciously does not. Therefore, up until whenever you leave the office, which most of us know, generally isn't 5pm, your brain is constantly telling your body it isn't time to sleep soon. This is one of the biggest causes of sleep disorders and is most likely a part of the reason you or your employees are stuck lying awake at night (that or one too many double shot coffees after 6). 

So how can you fix it? Glorious natural light. Fit skylights, remove cubicles and create a more open workplace, replace corner offices with glass board rooms, let the light in to your office. That's not to say that you should remove artificial light entirely, there are far too many logistical and safety reasons not to do that. By no means should you be blowing out your budget to tear out walls and create new lavish spaces, you should be looking at what you can afford to do and doing your utmost to implement it.

Furthermore, use technology that allows for night time settings. Though LawMaster's intuitive legal practice technology help's you to improve your productivity, the screen it is displayed on emits blue light, which is bad for your circadian rhythms. Yellow light emitting screens will allow you to utilise LawMaster's Document Management solutions or access important Folios for much longer without your sleep patterns being affected. 

Contact us today to see how LawMaster can improve your law firms productivity.