Page 58 - Lighting Magazine February 2019
P. 58

The BOOMING WELLNESS World
The term “HumanCentric” has become a catchy phrase lately, but not many outside of the Light & Health  eld know exactly what it is and how it is di erent from the lighting we use every day.
BY DAVID SHILLER
The lighting trade press is full of sto- ries about “Circadian Lighting,” the modulation of color temperature and light intensity throughout the day to reset our body’s inner clock for be er sleep and overall health. The larger  eld of Light & Health, however, is rapidly expanding beyond Circadian Lighting, and is much less publicized. Medical research is now  nding that light has enormous therapeutic potential for a long list of ailments, including: migraines, chronic depression, constipation, and acne.
Several of the lighting showrooms contacted for this story do not currently carry any Light & Health products per se, but in the past some have o ered light boxes or bulbs that help those su er- ing from Seasonal A ective Disorder (SAD).
Searches on most lighting showroom websites show zero relevant products for the terms “Cir- cadian Lighting,” “HumanCentric Lighting,” or “HCL.” Is this an opportunity that lighting show- rooms are missing? Let’s look more closely at Circadian Lighting, followed by the myriad of new non-circadian Light & Health research.
cIrcadIan LIGHTInG
Also referred to as “HumanCentric Lighting,” or “HCL” for short, Circadian Lighting is the largest and most active area within Light & Health today.
In fact, Circadian Lighting and the Internet of Things (IoT) are the two largest developments to signi cantly impact the lighting industry since the mass market adoption of solid-state lighting.
The global market for Circadian Lighting was estimated at $446 million in 2017, and is antici- pated to reach $3.91 billion by 2024, which means it is estimated to increase at a compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of 35 percent during that period.
Much of the Circadian Lighting sales today are commercial lighting products targeting the health- care market, but it is safe to assume the topic will reach the residential sector over time.
WHaT Is IT?
Circadian Lighting began when researchers found light receptors at the bo om of the hu- man eye that weren’t rods nor cones. They had no function in human vision. These “non-visual photoreceptors” are now called the “intrinsically photosensitive retinal ganglion cells” or ipRGCs. They send signals to our hormone (or endocrine) system that impacts melatonin production, sleep cycles, alertness, worker productivity, and our overall health.
Rebekah Mullaney is Manager/Research Com- munications for the Lighting Research Center (LRC) at Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute in Troy,
54 enLIGHTenment Magazine | february 2019
www.enlightenmentmag.com


































































































   56   57   58   59   60