The studies confirmed the positive effect of pro-cognitive and biodynamic light on Na Pražačce grammar school students and seniors and staff in the TGM Home for the Elderly in Beroun, whose mood, alertness, work performance, ability to concentrate and learn new things improved and in the long run also sleep quality and overall health.
The first project was the placement of new luminaires in the classrooms of the Prague Grammar School Na Pražačce, where prognitive lighting was installed with a balanced representation of all wavelengths in the spectrum in the range of 450-650 nm and with emphasis especially in the zone of biologically activating blue and cyan part of the spectrum, just as it is in the case of daylight.
After several years of data collection, a scientific study confirmed Spectrasol technology's significant improvements in decision-making speed, concentration skills and short-term memory function of students during the winter months compared to conventional lighting. "Overall student performance and better performance in cognitive tests have confirmed that we are on the right track. When we compare the marks on the end of year study certificates before and after the installation of the lighting, we find a statistically significant improvement in the average marks, "says Dr. Lenka Maierová, head of the scientific team from the University Center for Energy Efficient Buildings of the Czech Technical University, which performed the experimental research.
The first study was followed shortly by a second one in the TGM Home for the Elderly in Beroun, where the so-called biodynamic luminaires were placed. While daylight with its spectrum resembled natural sunlight as much as possible, thus promoting cognitive performance and good mood, in the evening the lighting gradually turned into warm tones of a relaxing nature, with a reduced proportion of the exciting blue component of the spectrum. For the necessary night lighting, a system was created completely in the absence of blue light, which will allow calm and undisturbed sleep of seniors while maintaining the possibility of visual orientation when moving in the rooms.
A total of 19 clients of the TGM Home for the Elderly in Beroun and 13 staff volunteers took part in the research. Biodynamic lighting was applied in rooms of eleven clients in the tested group, and for other eight clients, the lighting change was only simulated and the lighting parameters remained original. An objective evaluation of the effects of lighting was performed by the National Institute of Mental Health in Klecany.
"Clients from rooms with biodynamic lighting also improved after ten weeks in cognitive performance measured by the Addenbrook cognitive test, and this rate of improvement positively correlated with increased melatonin amplitude," explains doc. Zdeňka Bendová from the National Institute of Mental Health in Klecany and the Faculty of Science of Charles University, another member of the interdisciplinary team that evaluated the effect of light on seniors.
The lighting was similarly evaluated by the clients of the home themselves, who, according to their words, feel better under the new lighting. "After improving the lighting, seniors in the test group described the improvement of sleep, mood and safety of movement at night, which also confirms the positive contribution of biodynamic lighting to their quality of life," another no less important result mentioned Mgr. Ondřej Šimon, MPA, director of the TGM Home for the Elderly in Beroun.
