Supplementation of ambient lighting with a task lamp improves daytime alertness and cognitive performance in sleep-restricted individuals

Study objectives: We examined the impact of adding a single-high-melanopic-illuminance task lamp in an otherwise low-melanopic-illuminance environment on alertness, neurobehavioral performance, learning, and mood during an 8-h simulated workday.

Methods: Sixteen healthy young adults [mean(±SD) age = 24.2 ± 2.9, 8F] participated in a 3-day inpatient study with two 8-h simulated workdays and were randomized to either ambient fluorescent room light (~30 melanopic EDI lux, 50 lux), or room light supplemented with a light emitting diode task lamp (~250 melanopic EDI lux, 210 lux) in a cross-over design. Alertness, mood, and cognitive performance were assessed throughout the light exposure and compared between conditions using linear mixed models.

Results: The primary outcome measure of percentage correct responses on the addition task was significantly improved relative to baseline in the supplemented condition (3.15% ± 1.18%), compared to the ambient conditions (0.93% ± 1.1%; FDR-adj q = 0.005). Additionally, reaction time and attentional failures on the psychomotor vigilance tasks were significantly improved with exposure to supplemented compared to ambient lighting (all, FDR-adj q ≤ 0.030). Furthermore, subjective measures of sleepiness, alertness, happiness, health, mood, and motivation were also significantly better in the supplemented, compared to ambient conditions (all, FDR-adj q ≤ 0.036). There was no difference in mood disturbance, affect, declarative memory, or motor learning between the conditions (all, FDR-adj q ≥ 0.308).

Conclusions: Our results show that supplementing ambient lighting with a high-melanopic-illuminance task lamp can improve daytime alertness and cognition. Therefore, high-melanopic-illuminance task lighting may be effective when incorporated into existing suboptimal lighting environments.

Clinical trials: NCT04745312. Effect of Lighting Supplementation on Daytime Cognition. https://clinicaltrials.gov/ct2/show/NCT04745312.