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Have you ever been sitting in your office at around two o’clock and found yourself completely drained of energy? If you answered “yes,” you’re not alone. Mid-afternoon office fatigue is a common issue that affects millions of office workers. It’s a hard-to-shake slump that costs billions in lost productivity every year. No to mention how unpleasant the feeling is as you struggle to push past your droopy eyes to keep your workday going. Experts offer various explanations, and it’s likely caused by several compounding factors. But one of the most aggressive triggers is one most people never consider. It could be that the light from your fluorescent office lights is literally sapping your strength and destroying your will to work. Fluorescent office lights are known to cause acute disruptions of the natural circadian rhythm, resulting in floods of hormones and neurotransmitters that confuse your body and smash your productivity.

The Body’s Natural Clock

For millennia, humans lived their lives by the changing light of the sun. Sunrise and sunset dictated rising and sleeping times. Time was told by the position of the sun in the sky, and human activity ran by its light. One result of this long tradition, going back as long as humans have existed, is a tight connection between the sun and the circadian rhythm.

The circadian rhythm is an internal clock that functions on an approximately 24-hour cycle. (There is some evidence that in the complete absence of cues from natural light, the cycle could be slightly longer than 24 hours.) Almost all creatures have a circadian rhythm, and it dictates every aspect of their lifecycle. It is well known that some animals are active only in the day. Others are diurnal, becoming most active at dawn and dusk. Still other animals are nocturnal, waking only in the dead of night. The mechanism behind the daily timing of their activity is the circadian rhythm. Even individual human cells seem to follow a 24-hour cycle. In nature, animals including humans set their internal clocks by the light of the sun.

Sunlight is Different from Fluorescent Office Lights

Sunlight is not simply an on-off switch. There are many shades of sunlight that vary throughout the day. This is most obvious at dawn and dusk when sunlight is dim, and at sunrise and sunset, when it glows brilliant reds, oranges, and pinks. But even during daylight hours, the light of the sun is not static. Sunlight shines equally across the visible spectrum, but the position of the sun relative to the atmosphere and the earth can affect the wavelength of the light that reaches the ground. Early and late in the day, the light is warmer and more yellow. At midday, the light is bluer. It is not visibly bluer, but there is more light in the short-wavelength part of the spectrum, which we call blue light.

Fluorescent office lights are clearly nothing like the ever-changing light of the sun. Instead of a slow shift in spectrum, fluorescent office lights are stuck at perhaps the most unfortunate time of day. The light from fluorescent office lights is not evenly spread across the visible spectrum. Instead, fluorescent office lights are heavy in the blue end of the spectrum. This is most similar to midday sunlight. While a short burst of blue light may stimulate midday wakefulness, extended exposure can have severely detrimental effects. By triggering wakefulness responses in the body all day long, fluorescent office lights run down the mind and body. That can be a strong contributor to the mid-afternoon fatigue that plagues so many office workers.

The Solution to Fluorescent Office Lights

The unfortunate fact is that most office spaces are lit with fluorescent office lights. The lights are more efficient and longer lasting than incandescent bulbs, and even today they are much cheaper than LED lights. Also, since most offices were already built with fluorescent office lights, changing to another type of light fixture would be expensive. (And as we’ve mentioned in other posts, LED lights have their own blue light issues.) So with so much intense blue light in the office environment, how do you keep from shifting the circadian rhythm out of its natural tempo? Is there any way to solve the problems of fluorescent office lights without breaking the bank?

Of course, we wouldn’t ask those questions if we didn’t have the answer. You are in luck because you have found your way to Octo Lights. We make some of the highest quality decorative light covers on the market. And our cost to value ratio is fantastic. In most cases, you can get a cover for your decorative fluorescent light cover for under $30. These fluorescent office light covers don’t just look great, they can completely transform an office space. That’s because they effectively block much of the blue light given off by fluorescent office lights. What shines through Octo Lights decorative light covers is light that is more evenly distributed across the visible spectrum. Without the heavy shift toward short-wavelength blue light, the wakefulness system is taken out of overdrive. The circadian rhythm is not so severely disrupted. And office workers find themselves less fatigued, less stressed, and less physically uncomfortable.

Decorative Covers for Fluorescent Office Lights

What exactly is an Octo Lights fluorescent light cover? It is not a replacement for your existing fluorescent light cover. Instead, we produce a thin film printed with a beautiful image that can easily be laid on top of your current light covers. The appliance is simple, but the results are stunning. With Octo Lights decorative light covers, you get two benefits, better light and beautiful images. We’ve already discussed the amazing light filtering benefits of Octo Lights fluorescent light covers. Now, we would like to introduce you to the decorative aspect of our light covers, which we believe can be just as impactful as the light filtering.

Every Octo Lights decorative fluorescent light cover is printed with a gorgeous, full color, high-resolution image. Most of our images are inspired by nature. With these unique and beautiful decorative light covers, you can bring a bit of the outdoors indoors and right into your office.

Our most popular light covers are covers from our cloud-themed collection. These decorative office light covers feature crisp images of bright blue skies punctuated by fluffy white clouds. We have a wide variety to choose from, so you don’t end up with a repeating pattern if you choose to install them across a larger office space. If you have a bank of fluorescent office lights, you can also select custom designs that create a single large image across multiple panels. Looking at these light covers can feel like staring into a perfectly clear skylight, or straight up to the sky itself. Installing one of these covers can be a welcome relief from a drab office. Installing a bunch can open up a space and make it feel more expansive and make the ceiling seem only partially solid.

Why Choose Octo Lights Decorative Light Covers

Octo Lights decorative light covers are easy to order, easy to install, and easy on the environment. We print all of our light covers with environmentally friendly water-based inks, and we recycle all of our scraps. Our materials are also UL certified self-extinguishing so you can be sure your light covers will never be a fire hazard. Ordering is simple and streamlined. After you’ve looked over our wonderful selection of images, or chosen to upload your own custom image, you just select your size and go straight to checkout. There are no confusing option or hoops to jump through. Installation is also a snap. You can watch this short video to learn more. In some cases, you may need a flathead screwdriver, but in many cases, you need nothing more than your hands and five minutes to spare. So make the healthy choice and order yours today!