We are always keen to try products from companies whose mission is to improve people’s lives; one such company is Lumie. The Cambridge-based company has recently unveiled its latest light therapy product, Lumie Task, a desktop lamp designed to enhance one’s mood and energy and offer increased visual comfort, and we agreed to try it.
Over the past few years, there has been a significant seed change in how people work, with many now adopting a hybrid model, dividing the week into working from the office and home.
Although there are advantages to this working model, there are also disadvantages. Often, those working from home are not based within specifically designed workspaces. Instead, they find themselves working in smaller environments with the wrong type of lighting, which could result in increased tiredness, eye strain and worse. This is where the Lumie Task lamp will help.
Lumie is a company best known for creating effective products to help alleviate the symptoms of Seasonal Affective Disorder, also known as SAD, a type of mood disorder commonly associated with the change in seasons, and it frequently comes to the forefront during winter months.
Although some people dismiss SAD as a figment of someone’s imagination or a made-up condition, it’s not: things such as other infections, thyroid problems, blood cell counts and more can all cause its onset, and the only ways to treat it are psychotherapy, medications or through light therapy.
The precise causes of SAD are still unclear. However, research shows that light’s effect on the body is one of the primary drivers. Not enough or the wrong light hitting the back of the eyes can adversely affect mood. Determining just how many people suffer from SAD is a difficult task. However, an article published in the British Medical Journal in 2010¹ stated, “up to 6% of adults have recurrent major depressive episodes with seasonal pattern.”
Imagine a scenario where someone has SAD and works from home under less-than-stellar lighting conditions; it will be a recipe for disaster.
I am one of the many who have created an office space in the home, and I frequently suffer from tired eyes and a distinct lack of energy. Until Lumie contacted me and asked me to try its Task Lamp, I hadn’t given it any thought that there could be a causal link.
I had no reason to; I sit by a window with plantation shutters, and I have a rather smart-looking lamp on my desk bathing me in light throughout the day.
Before I go into whether the Lumie Task lamp brought any change to my work life, let’s look at what makes it different from all others.
About the Lumie Task Lamp
Lumie’s Task lamp has been specifically designed to bring the benefits of natural daylight indoors. It is a highly adjustable lamp that provides crystal clear illumination, which results in excellent visual comfort, improved energy, alertness and, aptly, an improvement in mood.
The lamp offers a ‘stunning’ 10,000 lux at 15cm, which is quite dazzling on maximum setting. The light quality is produced by broad-spectrum LEDs with balanced red and blue components and a high CRI. The result of this is a light that is almost identical to sunlight (5000K). The high CRI (95+) provides superb clarity, allowing you to see objects, textures and texts as they should be seen.
Jonathan Cridland and the Lumie design team have put a lot of thought into the design of the Task lamp. The company could’ve gone overboard with how it looks but has instead adopted a functional and sleek design, allowing it to blend seamlessly into the desktop environment.
There are no exterior buttons or switches on the lamp. The light intensity is touch-controlled, and sliding a finger over the Lumie logo on the base raises, lowers and turns the lamp on and off. Also, creating the ideal lighting environment is simple, as the lamp neck can be swivelled, and the lighting unit/head can be raised and lowered. The flexibility also offers another advantage: the ability to produce perfect lighting for video calls.
My Experience/Thoughts
The Lumie Task lamp is far and away the best lamp I have experienced. Before trying it, I was sceptical about how beneficial it could be, but after trying it, I am convinced. At no time have I found the light to be overpowering, or did it adversely impact reading what was on the screen. The quality of light produced by the Task lamp is 91.4 million miles from what’s produced by a typical lightbulb.
The tired eyes and yawning are a thing of the past, and I definitely feel far more alert in front of the screen. It is so effective that it takes considerably longer for me to slip into a fully relaxed state for my mid-afternoon meditation session as my mind feels fully awake.
The Lumie Task lamp is incredible and is among the best things I have tested in the 15+ years I have written for the magazine. In addition to making people feel better, I’m sure it will increase work productivity. It’s one of those products that everyone working from home or in the office should be using.
Lumie Task Lamp – Where and how?
The Task lamp is priced at £249.00 (£207.50 for those claiming VAT relief as SAD sufferers) and is currently available in five colours: Steel Blue, Charcoal Blue, Golden Yellow, Sage Green and White Mist (the colour we tested). The Task lamp is available to order now via https://www.lumie.com/products/task.
[1] BMJ: https://www.bmj.com/content/340/bmj.c2135.
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