Fitness center patrons value a clean and welcoming environment, and the right lighting can make all the difference in how comfortable members are in your facility. Make healthy lighting choices during the design phase, upgrade your existing facility’s lighting and let the sunlight inside for maximum impact.

Option 1: Choose healthy lighting from the start

Designing a fitness center that promotes good health is easy if you follow the lighting guidelines within the WELL Building Standard. Hire a lighting specialist during the initial design phase to optimize natural light while reducing glare. If large windows aren’t an option for your facility, both traditional and tube-based skylights can direct sunlight into every corner of your workout space. Above all, resist the temptation to cut corners on lighting. Fluorescent tubes are associated with negative health effects, and insufficient lighting could make your top-notch facility appear depressing or not well maintained.

Option 2: Upgrade your existing lighting

One of the most important upgrades you can make to an existing fitness center is to bring in natural light. Sunlight improves mood and helps support the natural circadian rhythm that governs most human behaviors, and it’s the best choice for lighting when available. Retrofit your workout spaces with carefully placed skylights like Solatubes and replace unhealthy fluorescent fixtures with LED lighting.

Option 3: Install circadian lighting systems

The future of healthy lighting options, circadian lighting systems use LED bulbs to provide lighting that is scientifically proven to improve health and energy. The systems work using sensors that respond to the conditions outside and inside to adjust the lighting temperature and optimize interior lighting throughout your facility. In areas where natural sunlight provides light, circadian lighting systems respond by dimming and saving energy while still maintaining the proper light levels the human eye needs to maintain a healthy sleep-wake cycle. When sunlight isn’t enough to maintain those levels, circadian LED systems respond by providing more light.

Fitness center lighting is often underrated and underfunded, and the results to member perception can be devastating. If your facility is dark or uncomfortably bright, members will internalize that discomfort and associate it with your center. A commitment to member health through appropriate and healthy lighting will provide lasting benefits in the form of member satisfaction and retention and speaks to your facility’s credibility and holistic approach to good health.