A new frontier for office space wellness—a technology that some believe will make employees more alert, productive, and healthier—is already on the market for consumers. Priced at $130, the Philips “Hue White Ambiance” starter kit contains two LED light bulbs and everything you need to tweak their brightness and color temperature via a smartphone.
For the price, it’s an underwhelming experience: On. Off. Dimmer. Brighter. Cooler. Warmer. Program lights to change on a schedule. More exciting is what Philips Lighting says changing light in these ways throughout the day can do for you. Inside the smartphone app that controls the lightbulbs, there are “light recipes” that, according to Philips’ website, can help you “relax with the soft glow of white light,” “stay focused with finely tuned bright white light,” and even “skip your morning coffee and get ready for the day with cool, bright white daylight that helps to energize your body and mind.”
Philips Lighting isn’t the only company to claim these types of wellness benefits from lights, but by comparison, it’s one of the more subdued.