This brand new initiative marks early preparations for the 4th e-Luminate Festival taking place in Cambridge 12-17 February next year on the theme of ‘Connecting Lights’.
Cambridge-based Lumie is a light therapy specialist whose products are proven to promote a healthy sleep/wake cycle by regulating the body clock and helping you to feel more energetic and productive throughout the day. Over 40 Lumie Desklamps, which use low energy LEDs, have been placed on study tables mainly on the north and therefore darker side of the Library to help students and researchers stay focused and alert while they study. In addition, a couple of Lumie Brightsparks, another bright light from the Lumie product range, have been positioned in the Staff Tea Room to give employees a welcome boost as they relax in their break times. The lights will be in use throughout the Michaelmas and Lent terms to cover the darker winter months when our energy and mood tend to be lower.
Lumie has been designing and developing its light therapy products for nearly 25 years and were the first to bring to market a wake-up light in the early 90s. Now the Lumie Bodyclock range of wake-up lights is very popular with those needing help to improve their sleep and/or getting up in the morning, especially in the dark winter months. Lumie’s bright light boxes have long since been an established treatment for Seasonal Affective Disorder (SAD) and winter blues sufferers but now more and more people are using them for general well being and for beating energy slumps throughout the day, especially if they work in a poorly lit environment.
Marjolein Allen, Head of Reader Services, Cambridge University Library, said: “Cambridge University Library is excited to be collaborating on this new initiative with Lumie. We’re delighted to have this opportunity to give our users the chance to experience the benefits of light therapy for themselves.”
Jonathan Cridland, CEO of Lumie, commented|:“Lumie is proud to be part of Cambridge’s prestigious science and technology community and also for the first time the e-Luminate Cambridge festival. Light therapy offers powerful health benefits particularly in the darker winter months so we’re confident that students using the Lumie lights at the Cambridge University Library will really see a difference in their ability to focus and stay alert throughout their study periods.”
“The e-Luminate Cambridge Festival 2016 is delighted to be welcoming Lumie and Cambridge University Library on board for the first time," added Alessandra Caggiano , Director of the e-Luminate Cambridge Festival .
"As a key focus of this year’s theme of Connecting Lights is on the link between light and health, we’re excited to create this opportunity for light therapy to be applied in the prestigious environment of the University of Cambridge. Light crosses so many boundaries, it tells a story, and there is a certain playfulness to it that captures everyone's imagination. Now, with Lumie’s help, light can be healing as well as entertaining and thought-provoking."
About Lumie:
Since 1991 Lumie has been researching and designing bright lights to treat seasonal affective disorder (SAD) and other conditions. Our first Bodyclock dawn simulator – an alarm that wakes you up with increasing levels of light – was the world’s first wake-up light and brought light therapy into the mainstream. We also designed and developed Lumie Clear, a unique hand held device that uses combined blue and red light therapy to treat acne.
Over the years Lumie has worked closely with the scientific community. All of our products – the broadest range in Europe – are based on published research and designed by us from our base in Cambridge. Lumie is in the EuRhythDia consortium investigating circadian rhythms and type 2 diabetes, and is working with Liverpool John Moores University sports science department. We continue to research new applications for light therapy.
Lumie products are medical devices, certified to the Medical Devices Directive (93/42EEC)and supplied to the NHS on an occasional basis. Distance and brightness levels (lux) are independently verified and Lumie is registered with the government's Medicines and Healthcare Products Regulatory Agency.
The benefits of light therapy reach far beyond SAD. Our lights help you to sleep well and get up in the morning, beat the afternoon slump, conquer jetlag and look after your skin. They also optimise sports performance and we are proud to provide lights to some of Great Britain’s elite athletes as well as acting as official suppliers to British Swimming.
Two of our wake-up lights, Active and Elite, provide white noise as an option. If you are trying to sleep in a noisy environment or during the day, white noise helps to muffle other sounds, like traffic or people talking.
In the UK our products are available through www.lumie.com as well as major retailers like John Lewis, Boots, amazon, Selfridges and wiggle.co.uk and we have an expanding network of distributors across Europe and in North America. For consumers buying through www.lumie.com we provide a home trial on all products and a dedicated customer careline.
About Cambridge University Library
The University Library has been central to the support of teaching and research at Cambridge. More than eight million books and periodicals, one million maps and many thousands of manuscripts occupy more than one hundred miles of shelving, which extends by a further two miles every year. The Library collections vary hugely in age and content. Chinese oracle bones from the second millennium BC can be found alongside the latest online scientific journals; illuminated decorations in medieval manuscripts can be studied as originals and as digitised images delivered over the Internet.
Highlights of the University Library’s special collections include the papers of Isaac Newton, an archive of Charles Darwin’s correspondence, archives of the Royal Greenwich Observatory, the library of the Royal Commonwealth Society and a copy of the Gutenberg Bible from 1455, the earliest European example of a book produced using moveable type.
As a legal deposit library since 1710, the Library is entitled to acquire a copy of each book and journal published in the UK and Ireland, which results in a rich and diverse collection providing future scholars with the raw materials for research in many fields.
With two million of its volumes on open shelves, readers have the largest open-access collection in Europe immediately available to them
About e-Luminate:
The e-Luminate Cambridge Festival is a celebration of the infinite possibilities created by the intersection of Light across Arts and Technology. The Festival exists to encourage a re-evaluation of Light and its complexities through multidisciplinary installations, workshops, and activities.
The Festival is run by the e-Luminate Foundation, a volunteers led Community Interest Company, established in 2012. The Founding Members are Alessandra Caggiano, Festival's Director and Curator, and Hugh Parnell, Chairman.
Within just three short years this contemporary Arts Festival has become a cornerstone of the Cambridge calendar. The city has taken enthusiastically to the idea of recognising the importance of Light, and indeed, 2015 was the most successful event to date. This was possible thanks to key strategic partnerships built with our sponsors and the timely launch of the International Year of Light promoted by UNESCO; this collaboration added an exciting international feel to the event.
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Contact:
Ruth Jackson
PR Manager, Lumie
Tel: 01954 786115
Mob: 07914 812261
www.lumie.com
Facebook: Lumie.light.therapy
Twitter: @lumie_lights
Pinterest: Lumie
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