“Neuroscience shows that all the things that ignite the senses—art, scents, music, design—actually have a positive effect on you on a cellular level,” says Ivy Ross, vice president of design for hardware products at Google. “Of course, I know that as a designer and an artist, but it’s fantastic that science backs it up now, too.”

At this year’s Salone del Mobile in Milan, Google presented “A Space for Being,” an exhibition that explored how science, design, and technology can come together to understand the body’s response to aesthetic experiences. Google worked with the International Arts + Mind Lab of the Brain Sciences Institute at Johns Hopkins University, Reddymade Architecture and Design, and Scandinavian furniture brand Muuto to create the presentation.

One component of the exhibition was variations in lighting. For a long time, good lighting has been considered an aesthetic enhancement, an esteemed element of a well-designed interior but largely thought of only in terms of architectural decor. Now, thanks to an emerging crossover between neuro-biology, design, and other disciplines, it’s also being recognized for what it is: essential to our physical well-being.

The Power of Light

“Light has a profound effect on the homeostasis and regulation of lots of things in our bodies,” says Susan Magsamen, executive director of the International Arts + Mind Lab. As the prime synchronizer of our circadian clock, it regulates melatonin, sleep, and performance.

If our clocks are chronically misaligned, light alters the timing of melatonin production, sleep, immune function, metabolism, and a host of other biological systems. This can increase the odds of health- related problems, including diabetes, depression, and anxiety.

“Ever since we introduced electric light into our homes, we threw ourselves into an unnatural environment,” says Fred Maxik, founder of Lighting Science Group, which, working with NASA to help astronauts sleep better on the International Space Station, obtained some of the first patents for lighting systems that respond to biological conditions. “Then we developed things like handheld devices, laptops, cell phones, and tablets, which amplified the amount of light we get in hours we weren’t initially programmed to get it.”

Human-Centric Lighting

Here is where the positives of technology enter the picture. Before we had LEDs, we had one light spectrum per bulb. Now, we can use LEDs to create shifting, tunable light that is potentially as beneficial as actual sunlight to our bodies’ natural rhythms. Biodynamic light, as it is called, may have the power to improve productivity and concentration in workplaces and schools, as well as facilitate healing in hospitals. Next stop: our homes.

Lighting designer Gregory Kay, the founder of Chicago-based Lightology and PureEdge Lighting, points to manufacturers such as Contraste, WAC Lighting, and Philips Lighting (now Signify)—which just added Bluetooth functionality to its tunable Hue line—as innovators in this space. They’ve developed LED bulbs and lighting systems that actively stimulate our circadian rhythms. For lighting company Healthe, Maxik and his team created the SunLync Wireless Control Device, which uses GPS to track the positions of its SunTrac A19 lightbulbs, so it can mimic the natural arc of the sun throughout the day.

Even more exciting to Kay is that he sees the technology getting to the point where it produces light that is even better for our well-being than the sun’s. “We are enhancing ourselves, really creating a utopian space where we can live inside better,” he says.