Influence of Indoor Environment Changes in Relaxation Space on Relaxation and Refreshment Effects of Occupants

Abstract

Since proper break between office work is helpful in decreasing work-related stress and fatigue, a break space in office is also an important place to create healthy and productive workplace environment. However, there are relatively few studies focused on the break space compared to ones focused on work space. In this study, experiments were carried out to investigate the influence of the break space’s indoor environment on occupants’ psychological and physiological responses. To examine whether change in indoor environment during break positively affect occupants’ responses and productivity, lighting, odor and air movement conditions were intentionally changed before the end of the break. As for the psychological response, there was a possibility that it would be affected when the lighting and air movement were changed. As for brain waves, effects were also observed when lighting and air movement were changed. In terms of productivity, performance was better when the environment was changed than when the environment was left unchanged during breaks. The need for breaks was indicated because the worst results were obtained when the work was done continuously without a break in the first place. The best results were obtained when the environment was changed to generate an odor.