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No matter where you live, be it in the countryside, suburbs or right in the middle of a busy city centre, for lots of us, increasing the natural light in our homes is a goal we strive towards. There are lots of ways you can increase the levels of natural light and depending on how your home is built and laid out, some will work better than others. Adding bespoke rooflights work brilliantly in some homes, but in others this isn’t possible. If this is the case for you, there are other options such as moving furniture away from windows so that natural light isn’t blocked, painting the window frames white to help reflect light or adding strategically placed mirrors around the room.
With that being said, there are lots of benefits to increasing the natural light in our homes, and with the current Coronavirus pandemic meaning we all have to spend more time inside at the moment, there may well be lots of you realising you want more natural light in your home. So, what are some of the benefits?
Save energy and money – light and heating
While adding a rooflight can be seen as an expense in the short-term, over time you can really start to notice the difference not only in the amount of natural light in a room but how it impacts the way you use energy at home. By increasing the natural light in a room, you reduce the need to use artificial light. This means you’re turning on lamps or room lights less often or for a shorter amount of time each day (depending on the time of year).
Heating needs can also be reduced. On bright sunny days, windows can be a great source of heat and can help warm a room. This can also reduce your need to use electric heating. By increasing the natural light in your home, you can reduce the levels of electricity you use and as such, potentially reduce your bills and save money in the long-term.
Productivity and positivity
There have been countless studies which have shown the benefits to your mood and also your productivity through increased natural light exposure. When working from home, this becomes even more important. It can be easy to become distracted when working from home, so anything which can help you concentrate and be as productive as you would be in your office building is a great help.
Even when not working from home, and you just want to relax, having a good amount of natural light in a room has been shown to reduce stress. It can also help improve sleep schedules and reduce seasonal depression.
Indoor plants
Something so many of us like to do is keep and grow plants indoors. Obviously, the more natural light you can bring into a room, the better most plants will grow. Having plants in your home has its own health benefits, most notably increasing oxygen levels in a room. If you live in a busy city like London, finding a property you can afford with outdoor space to grow plants can be financially challenging for many of us. Often flats have little outdoor space, or in some cases, if you’re renting a room in a house, you may have none at all. In these situations, house plants can be a great mood booster to help bring some nature into city life.
When the restrictions of social isolation are over, and we can go back to our everyday lives, it’s important not to forget what we learned about our homes during this time. If you have realised that your home could use some more natural light there are lots of ways you can achieve this and as shown above, lots of benefits to it as well.