Natural Light, Your Window Coverings, and Your Health

So what is all the hype over using natural light? Well, the more natural light you use, the more energy you save. Artificial lighting in your home can make up about 25%-40% or your energy bill. Having natural light in your home can also do wonders to regulate our moods and energy levels. Have you ever noticed that you often have less energy in the winter than in the spring or the summer? That is due to the shorter, more dreary days in the winter.

Biologically speaking, as humans when there is less light, our bodies naturally produce more melatonin, which is why we sleep for so long at night, and also why we have less energy in the winter months. Utilizing the natural light available will help to reduce the differences in our energy levels making us more alert, and more productive. Natural light in various rooms in a home can help with seasonal mood dips. There are even some current scientific studies that suggest that more natural light can boost metabolism, and even help kids to retain more of what they are learning in school!

We don’t hibernate like bears, but like them we produce more melatonin in the winter which can slow metabolism, and make us sleepy.

For those with seasonal affective disorder having lots of natural light in the home is essential. Most importantly, having lots of natural light in the morning in the bedroom, helps people suffering from the disorder to regulate their internal clocks, and like with all of us, boosts their energy levels.

Having multiple windows in the rooms in which you spend the most time, also increases the amount of natural light that you will get in your room, since light can only come in so far from each window. This is where your window coverings become so important. You want to be able to benefit from as much natural light during the day as possible. However, as we mentioned in a previous post, having no window coverings can be a privacy and safety issue at night.

So what window coverings are best for making the most of the natural light available? We have the answers! Any window covering can be open or closed in some way, which will allow you to control the light somewhat, but the amount of control is not equal across the board. Mini blinds do fairly well, because you can control how open the slats are. The best however are shades which have some sort of fabric slats with sheer fabric in between like these:

Contact us today to find out more about the best window coverings to utilize the natural light in your home!