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If there’s one thing many companies have figured out is the importance of light in the workplace. Whatever company it is, wherever you go, there’s always bright light illuminating the office to keep people alert and productive. However, as we all know, nothing beats natural light. White office light becomes harsh on the eyes and an irritating quality of an office. Natural light is an essential component of any workspace if you want healthy and productive employees. Don’t believe us? Well, at Kayian, we don’t say anything unless we have the research to back it up.
In a 2018 survey of North American employees, researchers found that accessibility to natural light was the #1 most desired quality in the workplace - ranking above the fancy perks of workplace fitness centers and cafeterias. People are already aware that they’re spending their days stuck inside the office; however, they don’t want to feel like that. Adding natural light into the workplace improves mood and productivity as it helps reduce the feeling of working in a dark and falsely illuminated office five days a week.
The World Green Building Council states that employees are more engaged when working under natural light. Thus, natural light makes a motivated and happy staff, which all offices aspire to have. When an office is lit with natural light, the benefits are endless. Here is what natural light can bring out of an office:
Synthetic white light can strain the eyes and cause headaches. However, natural light does the opposite. In 2018, a workplace study found that employees who worked in natural light experienced 84% fewer headaches, eye strain, and blurred vision. Natural light can improve health and wellness in employees, increasing overall wellbeing and productivity.
When we’re exposed to natural light, it does more to us than increase productivity. It also improves our health. A long-term study found that employees who had access to natural light took fewer sick days than those without access to natural light. In total, employees with access to natural light took 6.5 fewer sick days per year than those without access to natural light.
Typically, our alertness decreases as the day goes on. However, a Swiss study found that employees exposed to natural light increased their alertness and mental clarity. Employees who were more alert in the afternoon were exposed to natural light compared to those who worked under artificial light.
The same Swiss study as above found that those who performed well on cognitive tasks had exposure to natural light. Those who performed worse on cognitive tasks were exposed to artificial light.
You may think it's odd that natural light is important for sleep quality, but it's true. Neuroscientists at Northwestern University discovered that employees who worked near windows received an average of an extra 46 minutes of sleep per night. This has a lot to do with the body's circadian rhythm and how natural light helps sync the sleep/wake cycle. So if you're looking for light therapy for circadian rhythm sleep disorder treatment, we have what you need.
Luckily, Kaiyan Medical produces MDSAP-certified and FDA-approved light therapy products and devices for your own at-home treatment or even for your patients. We've worked hard to provide solutions for both patients and healthcare practitioners, catering to various needs. Whether you're looking to private label your own light therapy devices or for home use, contact our team, as we would love to help you through your light therapy journey.
This past year has shaken us up, leaving many of us in new routines that we’re still adjusting to. Unless you’re an essential worker, many of us are now working from home to reduce contact with others. Though working from home was a dream for many, it’s safe to say we didn’t imagine things working from home looking like this.
The quick transition from in-office to working from home has left many unprepared. Aside from working under stressful conditions, most people simply brought home their laptop, thinking this would be a short-term situation. But things didn’t go as planned.
A year has passed, and those same people are still working from their kitchen table. The problem? Working from home can do more harm than good when it comes to our mental and physical health. And with that, there’s an increased risk of burning out, injuring yourself from a lack of proper office equipment, and the blurred lines between one’s personal and work life.
So how do you divide work life from home life if your home has become your workplace?
When all these issues compile on top of each other, it’s a recipe for disaster. More people who work from home are experiencing neck and joint pain, increased screen time, poor sleep, eye strain, and heightened stress and fatigue levels.
Naturally, most doctors will say the remedies for these symptoms is to reduce stress by working out, meditating, going into nature, taking more breaks, massaging sore muscles, or working with proper equipment. But with lockdowns and quarantines implemented, those solutions aren’t necessarily available.
However, red light therapy is an all-in-one treatment therapy that can promote quality sleep, reduced stress, and alleviate neck and joint pain.
But how does red light therapy work?
Let’s take a look at how light therapy treats neck and shoulder pain.
Most treatments for neck and shoulder pain consist of physical therapy, massage, or pain relief medication. But red light therapy has proven to be a non-invasive option for significantly reducing neck and shoulder pain.
Red light therapy works by reducing inflammation, which is usually both the cause and symptom of neck and shoulder pain. Red and infrared light penetrates through the skin, reaching the cells that produce energy (adenosine triphosphate) in the mitochondria. By increasing the function of the mitochondria, cells make more adenosine triphosphate (ATP) and begin the process of rejuvenating and repairing themselves.
When inflammation occurs in the body, red light therapy repairs those damaged cells in the muscles, tendons, and ligaments, reducing the pain felt in the neck and shoulders.
However, as we stated earlier, red light therapy isn’t only for neck and joint pain. When it comes to inflammation, it occurs everywhere in the body, including the eyes.
When working from home, we are typically spending three more hours per day in front of our electronic devices. This has a serious impact on eyesight and overall well being. Research has shown that red light therapy treatments can help heal the eyes from injury, reduce inflammation, and protect against vision loss.
As we spend more time in front of our devices, we experience more fatigue and reduced quality of sleep. Red light therapy helps trigger our natural circadian rhythm and promotes improved sleep, thus reducing fatigue.
Working from home hasn’t been the dream we’ve all hoped for. In fact, it’s negatively impacted our mental and physical health. However, there’s a solution to your symptoms and it’s red light therapy.
Kaiyan Medical manufactures MDA-certified and FDA-approved laser light therapy devices, ideal for people who are experiencing symptoms from working from home, including eye strain, fatigue, stress, and neck and shoulder pain.
“Migraine is one of the most common neurological conditions in the world, and it’s debilitating,” said Dr. Ibrahim
The noninvasive nature of green light exposure makes it an ideal therapeutic candidate for other neurological conditions, such as fibromyalgia or HIV-related pain. Dr. Ibrahim and his team recently completed another clinical study in which people with fibromyalgia tried green light therapy. Like the migraine study, those results are similarly encouraging.
Pharmacological management of migraines can be ineffective for some patients. Studies previously demonstrated that exposure to green light resulted in antinociception and reversal of thermal and mechanical hypersensitivity in rodent pain models. Given green light-emitting diodes' safety, they evaluated green light as a potential therapy in patients with episodic or chronic migraines.
For the study, they recruited (29 total) patients, of whom seven had episodic migraines, and 22 had chronic migraines. They used a one-way cross-over design consisting of exposure for 1–2 hours daily to the white light-emitting diodes for 10 weeks, followed by a 2-week washout period followed by exposure for 1–2 hours daily green light-emitting diodes for 10 weeks. Patients were allowed to continue current therapies and to initiate new treatments as directed by their physicians. Outcomes consisted of patient-reported surveys. The primary outcome measure was the number of headache days per month. Secondary outcome measures included patient-reported changes in the headaches' intensity and frequency over a two-week period and other quality of life measures, including the ability to fall and stay asleep and ability to perform work. Changes in pain medications were obtained to assess potential reduction.
When seven episodic migraine and 22 chronic migraine patients were analyzed as separate cohorts, white light-emitting diodes produced no significant change in headache days in either episodic migraine or chronic migraine patients. Combining data from the episodic migraine and chronic migraine groups showed that white light-emitting diodes produced a small but statistically significant reduction in headache days (days ± SEM) 18.2 ± 1.8 to 16.5 ± 2.01 days. Green light-emitting diodes resulted in a significant decrease in headache days from 7.9 ± 1.6 to 2.4 ± 1.1 and 22.3 ± 1.2 to 9.4 ± 1.6 in episodic migraine and chronic migraine patients, respectively. While some improvement in secondary outcomes was observed with white light-emitting diodes, more secondary outcomes with significantly greater magnitude, including assessments of the quality of life, Short-Form McGill Pain Questionnaire, Headache Impact Test-6, and Five-level version of the EuroQol five-dimensional survey without reported side effects, were observed with green light-emitting diodes. Conclusions regarding pain medications reduction with green light-emitting diode exposure were not possible. No side effects of light therapy were reported. None of the patients in the study reported initiation of new therapies.
Green light-emitting diodes significantly reduced the number of headache days in people with episodic migraines or chronic migraines. Additionally, the green light-emitting diodes significantly improved multiple secondary outcome measures, including quality of life, intensity, and headache attack duration. As no adverse events were reported, the green light-emitting diodes may provide a treatment option for those patients who prefer non-pharmacological therapies or may be considered in complementing other treatment strategies. The limitations of this study are the small number of patients evaluated. The positive data obtained support the implementation of larger clinical trials to determine the possible effects of green light-emitting diode therapy.
This study is registered with clinicaltrials.gov under NCT03677206.
https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/10.1177/0333102420956711
If you’re feeling burned out after over one year of working at home, you’re not alone; many people share your frustration. Sadly, it’s becoming increasingly common to feel this sort of work-from-home fatigue. As much as it seemed, in the beginning, that working from home would be fun, no one thought it would last this long. It’s now a part of so many people’s routine, and we may be wondering what the return to normality will look like. Some people feel even more anxious returning to the office because they’re worried about getting sick, or have simply become accustomed to this new way of life.
And, some people have become too comfortable with the #WFH lifestyle. Studies show that working from a bed or couch, though comfy, is extremely harmful in the long run, and many people have yet to create a proper workspace in their home.
Never before has the modern world seen such a long-term situation like this, which poses the question: what will the long-term effects be? Just like associating your bed with work brings on bad feelings and habits towards your bedroom, working from home creates this sensation of losing your personal space.
So, how can you elevate your home office and continue to make the most of this ongoing situation?
First off, if you can, don't work from your bedroom. Keep the bedroom solely as your personal space. If you don't have an office space, you can transform a living room or kitchen corner into a workspace. And, your body will thank you if you invest in a good desk and chair, and—ergonomic mice and keyboards are an office must-have. Ergonomics affects health more than you'd think, which is why you should try to be aware of your surroundings and give yourself the best work environment.
Second, stick to a schedule whenever possible. The moment you're done work, turn off your computer. Healthy distance from work helps you rest during off-time, and be more engaged while you’re on the clock. Even with the best ergonomic equipment, they cannot help the harm you’re doing to your body when sitting in front of the computer for too many hours each day.
But most importantly, you should pay attention to your health, both physical and mental. It's no surprise that due to COVID, we've all become a bit estranged from others, and even ourselves. Give yourself the attention and care that you deserve and need. If you're noticing your physical and mental health sliding, light therapy's at-home treatments can help people get back on track.
But what does light therapy do, exactly?
Well, for one, it can help improve both your physical and mental health. Light therapy works the way it sounds—it's light that's produced from a light box, mask, or lamp. The type of light therapy also varies since you could be using blue light for acne, red light for skin inflammation, purple for relaxation, and so on. You can select the colors depending on your needs.
The light from our devices helps stimulate ATP production, which is the powerhouse of the mitochondria. Through ATP stimulation, cellular turnover happens at a faster rate, rejuvenating dead and old skin cells. With light therapy, you help your body regenerate, improving your overall well-being. For example, we all know that sunlight has a direct effect on people, providing us with the vitamin D we need for our bodies to perform optimally. One of the main vitamins that have been missing during this pandemic is vitamin D. Though it doesn’t act as a replacement, light therapy treats vitamin D deficiency, reducing symptoms including depression and anxiety. It can also help you sleep by regulating circadian rhythm and helping to produce more melatonin.
Light therapy devices are non-invasive, meaning that you aren't putting yourself at any health risk. You could set up a light panel at a corner, where you go to relax, play music and have a light treatment. Or, you could even set it near your desk so that you start associating the home workplace as a therapeutic space as well – where you get your daily dose of sunshine.
So where can you get your trusted at-home light therapy device? Kayian's light therapy devices are MDA-certified and FDA-approved light therapy devices. Perfect for self at-home treatments right from the comfort of your home, you can purchase them for yourself, for your patients, or even have the devices private labeled for your practice. It’s the essential tool we’ve all been looking for during this pandemic that provides full-body health and wellness benefits.
