To complement the article “Nurturing Presence: Create a Healing Space for Clients” in the October 2014 issue of MASSAGE Magazine. Summary: LED lighting offers many advantages over traditional lighting for massage therapy treatment areas, including: eco-friendliness; more customization options; and greater temperature control.
Creating a relaxed ambient atmosphere is paramount for constructing the most successful massage experience for clients—and lighting plays a very important role. Treatment rooms must offer an inviting and warm atmosphere that is properly lit, allowing clients to relax while also offering a safe environment for you, the therapist, to work comfortably.
Traditional lighting is often uneven, has shadows and dark spots, and emits noticeable heat, making rooms uncomfortable for therapists and clients alike. While scented candles may contribute to ambience, they can’t offer overall lighting or be controlled in a safe manner. For all these reasons, salons and spas are increasingly switching to light-emitting diode, or LED, lighting as a more eco-friendly, budget-friendly lighting option that also enhances the overall look of the spa.
LED bulbs provide many unique benefits and cost-effective solutions for improving the atmosphere of your treatment room, including:
Colors and effects on demand. LED lighting offers myriad options for customization, with consistent dimmable light in an array of colors to set any mood. LED lamps can transition from 2700K to 2200K color temperatures as the light dims, creating a warm, relaxing ambience, with a candle-like effect. Your treatment room can come alive as a single LED lamp cycles through an extraordinary 16 million colors of light, all controlled with your iPhone, iPad or other smartphone or tablet device, following a scheme tailored to set any desired mood.
Less heat. Incandescent and halogen bulbs naturally emit excessive heat, while LEDs emit virtually no heat at all. The small amount of heat generated is released through a conductor, typically aluminum, away from the light source itself. This means LED lighting will have very little impact on your treatment room’s temperature, which is crucial to the comfort of both you and your client.
Helping the environment and your bottom line. Your switch to LEDs, along with other eco-conscious choices you are making with your practice, will resonate with clients who care deeply about the environment, and may even increase business. Plus, LEDs consume far less electricity and last much longer than traditional bulbs, so they need to be replaced less often—which equals money saved.
About the Author
Dan Ocasio is vice president of national accounts for Wellington, Florida-based LED Source (www.ledsource.com), a North American LED lighting solutions provider. Ocasio, who has more than 25 years of lighting experience, joined the company in 2009. LED Source also franchises their business and has locations
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