Healthy Lighting Environment Assessments Are Becoming More Context-Specific: How Should Each Specific Scenario Be Evaluated?

In the past, determining whether a lamp was “healthy” primarily relied on basic optical metrics such as illuminance, color rendering index, and flicker. Today, however, the same metric values can result in completely different user experiences across different usage scenarios.

According to the *2025 China Eye-Care Lighting Market Insight Report* released by Shangpu Consulting, 41% of respondents purchase such lighting for the sake of their visual health. Meanwhile, a Canadian study on lighting in senior living environments, presented at the CIE 2025 Midterm Meeting, also examined the relationship between light exposure in living environments, sleep, and quality of life.

From visual comfort during reading and writing, to lighting rhythms in the early morning and before bedtime, to daytime light exposure in senior living environments, the application of healthy lighting has begun to emphasize different priorities across various scenarios.

Scenario-based design is not merely about categorizing products by name; rather, it focuses on the dimensions that truly influence the lighting experience in each scenario: visual tasks, spatial conditions, time of use, and changes in the user’s circadian rhythm.

Lighting in study areas is not determined solely by fixed parameters; it must also be able to adjust promptly in response to changes in the external environment and usage conditions.

The mandatory national standard GB 7793—2025, “Hygiene Standards for Daylighting and Lighting in Primary and Secondary School Classrooms,” set to take effect in November 2026, establishes basic requirements for daylighting and lighting in educational settings for children and adolescents.

To implement these basic requirements in daily use, lighting fixtures must also possess sensing and adjustment capabilities: they must detect changes in ambient light and desk surface brightness, promptly supplementing light when it is insufficient and reducing output when desk brightness is adequate, thereby providing lighting that better suits the current situation.

The same applies to home study areas. The brightness and lighting conditions of the fixtures must be adjusted according to the child’s needs for different tasks, providing a healthier and more comfortable environment for their eyes.

Lighting for adults at home typically needs to cover aspects such as working from home, leisure activities, and relaxation before bedtime.

GB/T 13379—2023, “Principles of Visual Ergonomics—Lighting for Indoor Workplaces,” provides a foundational reference for indoor lighting during work.

To meet the multifaceted needs of home lighting, further requirements must be placed on lighting fixtures. After work is completed, the lighting in the same space should gradually transition from a state that supports concentration to one that facilitates rest.

The *2026 China Sleep Health Research White Paper* shows that approximately 65% of people experience sleep disturbances 1–2 times per week. As bedtime approaches, lighting should be adjusted to promote sleep, allowing for a gentler transition as the body prepares to relax and fall asleep.

During this process, lighting fixtures can adapt to an individual’s daily routine by gradually adjusting the light’s characteristics at different times of the day.

The significance of healthy lighting thus extends beyond meeting specific work requirements to supporting people through the transitions between different states throughout the day.

The need for healthy lighting among the elderly is related not only to changes in visual function but also to whether lighting fixtures are convenient to use and align with the lifestyle rhythms the elderly have developed over time.

Due to changes in visual function, older adults’ eyes may take longer to adapt to transitions between light and dark. Therefore, in addition to providing supplemental lighting based on ambient light levels, lighting fixtures should ensure that brightness changes occur more gradually, minimizing glaring brightness and abrupt light spots as much as possible.

Some older adults wake up naturally around 5 or 6 a.m., before dawn. A healthy lighting environment should accommodate these variations in daily routines: gradually increasing brightness in the early morning as people wake up, and transitioning to softer, pre-sleep lighting in the evening to ensure a more natural transition throughout the day.

The Ministry of Civil Affairs’ MZ/T 218—2024 “General Requirements for Age-Friendly Home Environment Renovations for the Elderly,” issued as a reference for age-friendly housing renovations, emphasizes the need to minimize the time older adults spend fumbling in the dark and the number of times they must repeatedly adjust the lights. Lighting fixtures should provide the right light at the right time while retaining easy-to-use manual adjustment options.

Determining whether light is healthy in various living scenarios hinges on whether it can respond to actual changes in needs. The evaluation of a healthy lighting environment should not be limited to the results of a single measurement; it must also consider whether the light source possesses the ability to sense, assess, and adjust.

Sensing technology enables lighting fixtures to recognize current light conditions, while automatic dimming adjusts the lighting output accordingly, ensuring that lighting does not have to maintain a single brightness level or spectral profile at all times.

Circadian lighting technology incorporates time and personal routines into the dimming logic, allowing light to gradually change at appropriate times to align with the rhythm of human activity—from waking and being active to resting.

At the same time, AI can coordinate with automatic dimming and circadian lighting technologies to adjust output based on the external environment while also incorporating long-term daily routines into lighting changes.

The shift toward scenario-based evaluation of healthy lighting environments means that lighting fixtures no longer provide a fixed solution for every lifestyle scenario, but instead continuously deliver the most appropriate light.