What is a Mood Lamp?

Mood lamps are cropping up more and more across the country, appearing in anything from college dorm rooms to office spaces. Mood lamps are just what they sound like: fixtures of light that affect moods based on color. While the science behind the mood/lighting dynamic is finite, it is also growing. University of North Carolina MBA student Vivian Giang has found that office-dwellers who work under the “wrong” forms of lighting might be wasting some of their performance potential. “If you don’t have access to daylight, studies have also found that working under “blue-enriched” light bulbs that are 17,000K actually increases work performance by supporting mental acuity, vitality and alertness while reducing fatigue and daytime sleepiness.” Ouch. And that’s not all; Lights.com claims that lack of lighting can contribute to depression, lack of appetite, and might even affect circadian rhythms. So you might want to think twice before checking that 2 AM text from the bedside table, it could mean not waking up in the morning. Well, not wanting to wake up in the morning.

All of this spooky speak about moods and lamps has made me wonder if I should be changing the way I see things without sunlight. When I work, I like to listen to music. That’s why I’ve created a mood lamp that changes color based on changes in sound. Yep, just like the ones in the movies. I’ve found that, because it responds to frequencies and amplitudes in the music, the musical mood lamp is actually very helpful while studying to classical music. It’s also really cool at parties.

While I have been regularly testing my melatonin levels whilst using the musical mood lamp, I have found that I am able to control my mood: even if just a little. After a long day at work I might decide to listen to some calming dark blue music. If I need to get pumped and write an article about mood lamps I’ll stick to the yellowish/orangish color music. Find out what I did to create this musical mood lamp in the next article in this series.