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During my youth, I lived in Spain for ten years, where the light was bright and sunny, automatically bringing happiness. However, when I moved back to the Netherlands, I missed that cheerful and sunny light both outside and indoors, especially at home and in the office. I often found myself saying that it felt too dark, so I consciously opted for a bright interior. But even that didn't seem to be enough. A few months ago, I unfortunately had a fall on the stairs, resulting in broken bones and a severe concussion. This incident confined me indoors for weeks, and in the dimly lit house, I missed the bright light even more. So, how to proceed from there? It is often said that coincidence is an illusion. It was during this period of my life that I came across the Sparckel lamp. I was granted the opportunity to try it out for a trial period of 30 days. As I started using the Sparckel, I noticed a significant change. Just after 10 days of using it, the positive effects became evident. I experienced a boost in energy levels and an overall sense of feeling "lighter" and happier compared to before. Moreover, my sleep quality improved, and I began to enjoy restful nights, which felt like a precious gift. I genuinely wish everyone could experience the benefits of proper indoor lighting, just as I did. Therefore, I strongly recommend to everyone to take good care of their health through adequate light. The Sparckel lamp is truly wonderful, and I wholeheartedly endorse it for everyone! Lastly, I would like to express my gratitude to everyone who offered me this incredible opportunity. More info about the 30 days experience

We, humans, evolved for tens of thousands of years, living outside under the rhythms of natural light. Our body’s rhythms, including alertness, mood and sleepiness, respond to the day-night cycle of our planet. This is all regulated by our biological clock. Day and night rhythms have a big impact on our lives, influencing your biological clock and regulating functions like alertness, mood, and sleepiness. This internal timekeeping system, known as the circadian rhythm, is affected by daylight. Exposure to natural light during the day triggers your biological responses that affect your mental and physical state. Your biological clock regulates your sleep-wake cycle, it makes you feel energized during the day and sleepy when it gets dark. A good night’s sleep helps improve your health, mood and alertness. So it’s crucial to get your daily dose of good light (daylight) or electric light that mimics daylight when you are indoor. If you want to bring good light in your life, watch also the other steps to a healthier and happier life here: Try | Home | Good Light Group | Foundation Light supports us in everything we do. Good light has a great positive impact on our experience of energy, sleep, happiness and health.

Our board member Jan Denneman was asked to give a presentation about good light by VZW Groen Licht Vlaanderen, about how light affects people. In today's modern world more than 5 billion people spend more than 90% of their lives indoor surrounded by artificial lighting. In this presentation Jan addresses how indoor light affect your health negatively and sheds light on the importance of good light (daylight) and proper indoor lighting to live a healthy and happy life. The adverse effects of poor indoor lighting: Poor indoor lighting can lead to various issues, such as sleep disturbances, fatigue, restlessness, reduced energy levels, and difficulty concentrating. Long-term exposure to poor lighting may also weaken the immune system and contribute to physiological and psychological stress. The benefits of good light: Good light has a positive impact of good indoor light on our lives. Proper lighting can significantly improve sleep quality, mood, alertness, and concentration. It plays a crucial role in promoting overall health, enhancing productivity, and reducing healthcare costs. The presentation: During the presentation, several essential aspects are covered, including the holiday feeling that can be recreated through being at least two hours per day outside or good indoor lighting. Four crucial facts about light are highlighted and a practical three-step solutions to good light. The paradox of indoor lighting was also explored. The presentation is in Dutch but you can add English subtitles on YouTube. Watch the presentation

Light supports us in everything we do. So it’s important to have the right light at the right time. It has a great positive impact on our experience of energy, sleep, happiness and health. Good light (daylight) is essential in our daily lives. It not only illuminates our environment but it also plays a crucial role in our overall health and well-being. Exposure to good light has a positive impact on various aspects of our physical and mental health. But in situations where direct daylight is limited, such as indoors, it’s important to adopt scientific light recommendations. Adopting these good lighting recommendations in norms and regulations will lead to improved indoor lighting and overall well-being of individuals as well as having a significant socio-economic impact. See our general good light guide More info about the scientific recommendations

Our partner ‘The Daylight Academy’ released a new flyer “Why do we need daylight?” It addresses the issue of insufficient daylight in urban areas. The Daylight Academy includes members from twelve countries across multiple disciplines. They encourage innovative ideas in daylight research and its applications, providing a platform for idea exchange. Daylight is a central aspect of public health. In urban areas, many people face limited access to daylight due to being indoors and also air pollution plays a role. Insufficient exposure to daylight can lead to disrupted biological rhythms, sleep disorders, inadequate vitamin D levels, myopia and mental problems. This publication addresses the issues that come with living and working indoors with a lack of daylight. The flyer explains the properties of sunlight and skylight and their role in areas such as art, aesthetics, health, and wellbeing. In settings with limited daylight, it is suggested recreating daylight's characteristics with electric light. This is recommended in the new European Daylighting Standard EN 17037, which recommends optimising daylight in interiors while limiting glare. The impact of light on health is also explained. It discusses the need for bright, blue-rich white light during the day and low-intensity warm white light after dusk to enhance wellbeing. Read the 'Why do we need daylight?' flyer here.

Our Chairman Jan Denneman wrote a commentary about putting light users first for the magazine Led professional Review. Here is a short summery about the article. Indoor lighting significantly affects our health and well-being. The scientific community is very clear, indoors we receive insufficient daylight during the day while we experience too much artificial light in the evening and at night. This disrupts our biological clock, leading to poor sleep, reduced productivity, and this affects our physical and mental health. Studies highlight the crucial role of light in our overall well-being. Light-sensitive cells called ipRGCs have been discovered in the retina. These cells, unrelated to vision, are connected to our brain's mood center and biological clock. By responding to the right patterns of light and darkness, they synchronize our biological clock to the 24-hour cycle. The importance of light was recognized through the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine in 2017. This award celebrated scientists' breakthroughs in understanding how light impacts our biological clock and, consequently, our health. Experts recommend a minimum of 250 Melanopic Equivalent Daylight Illuminance (m-EDI lux) during the day to effectively influence our biological clock. However, most indoor spaces fall significantly short of providing this recommended amount. Excessive artificial light exposure during the evening and at night further exacerbates the issue. These recommendations, following peer reviews, were officially published in March 2022. The draft standard ISO 8995 for indoor lighting mentions these recommendations in Annex B.5, although annexes are often overlooked. the main arguments for lighting focus on costs and return on investment based on energy savings, primarily benefiting building owners and facility managers. But how much money can be saved when people are fit and alert at work, have fewer absences, function optimally, don’t experience depressive feelings, and are less frequently ill? How much can society save on healthcare costs? These amounts far exceed the energy savings from lighting. By prioritizing the health and well-being of building users, we can pave the way for healthier and happier lives. Billions of people are engaged in indoor activities during the day, deprived of natural daylight and reliant on artificial light, will get a healthier and happier life. Read the full article here

This week, we had our 15th group meeting online. During the meeting, we had the pleasure of hearing Sarah Morgan and JoAnn McKeown of Nano-Lit about the return on investment of good Light and Oliver Stefani about the Daylight Academy. The first presentation was held by Sarah Morgan, CEO and founder of Nano-Lit Technologies, a company that specializes in manufacturing circadian rhythm lighting systems. What sets them apart is their use of quantum dots, making them the pioneers in this technology. During her talk, Sarah addressed the barriers they encountered in the lighting. The industry, driven by an engineering approach, often fails to explain to customers why they should invest more in a healthy light instead of purchasing a regular LED solution for lower costs. Sarah presented several numbers showcasing the return on investment (ROI) in terms of energy savings and reduced healthcare costs. After the presentation there was an interesting discussion, so don’t hesitate to watch it! The second presentation was held by Oliver Stefani about the Daylight Academy, an international membership organisation connecting scientists, architects and other professionals with a strong interest in daylight related topics. He showed their current projects: The role of daylight for humans Can daylight protect children from myopia A room with a view (importance of the view out and its quality) Daylight metrics, measurements and data But overall he talked about how daylight affects us. Watch the presentation here

By Virginie Gabel Two weeks ago, a congress, organized by the DLA - Daylight Academy, took place at the “École Polytechnique Fédérale de Lausanne – EPFFL”! Expert panels were set up to deepen our understanding of the effects of light on the human body. Light, as a natural resource, plays a vital role in our physical and mental well-being. We were invited to the congress where we actively participated by organizing a booth and a workshop. Our main goal was to raise awareness about our concrete actions already done by the group and strengthen our communication in the field. Through our booth, we presented in-depth information about the different type of light and their impact on our circadian rhythm, sleep, mood, and productivity. We also highlighted the advantages of regular exposure to natural light and different methods to incorporate it into our modern lives often dominated by artificial light. Participants received infographics about how to use and try good light and we could also share our brand-new version of the Good Light Guide! The workshop we conducted allowed participants first to learn more about all the actions undertaken by the Group and second to share their experiences of good light. In a second phase, we organized a brainstorming session about how to improve our communication to reach a maximum of people and provide them with practical guidance on optimizing their lighting environment. We received a lot of nice suggestions and insights for new projects that we will seriously consider. “Light is a powerful tool for improving our health and well-being, and we are proud to be part of this mission.”

Twilight indoors We spend more than 90% of our time indoors and shielded from daylight. Indoors the light level is the same as the light outdoors at sunrise or sunset. Light from outside is not able to reach into our buildings. Therefore indoors we live in twilight the whole day. For our daylight detector this twilight during the day is too dark and in the evening too bright. As a result, when we need energy we lack it… and when we want to sleep, sleep won’t come or is not deep enough. Not getting enough daylight during the day can even contribute to insomnia and depression. Fact: Indoor light levels are similar to twilight and are not good enough for our health. If you want to bring good light in your life, watch also the other steps to a healthier and happier life here: Try | Home | Good Light Group | Foundation Light supports us in everything we do. Good light means the right light at the right time. It has a great positive impact on our experience of energy, sleep, happiness and health.

Good light (daylight) is essential in our daily lives. It not only illuminates our environment but it also plays a crucial role in our overall health and well-being. Exposure to good light has a positive impact on various aspects of our physical and mental health. But in situations where direct daylight is limited, such as indoors, make sure you are within a meter of a window or use artificial light that mimics daylight as much as possible! Video: BakkerElkhuizen Increased productivity Studies have shown that daylight can improves your productivity and performance. It improves your focus, productivity and leads to a better concentration. If daylight is limited in your workspace, using lights that mimic day light can help create a healthier environment to increase productivity. Better mood Exposure to good light has a direct impact on our mood and mental well-being. It Regulates our biological clock, an internal clock that drives processes in your body, such as when we need to sleep or be energetic. When this clock is regulated, it also has a positive effect on our mood. Sleep regulation Good light exposure also plays a vital role in regulating our circadian rhythm, the internal clock (i.e. our biological clock) that controls our sleep-wake cycle. Daylight exposure during the day helps to align your body's internal clock to real time, so that we are alert and focused during the day and sound asleep at night. Sitting within one meter of a window or using artificial light that mimics daylight can help regulate your sleep patterns, especially if you spend most of the day indoors. Healthier eyes Taking in sufficient good light helps maintain good eye health. Good light offers a more balanced spectrum, which is good for the eyes compared to regular artificial light. It also reduces the risk of myopia (nearsightedness). For more information go to: goodlightgroup.org/try

Twilight indoors We spend more than 90% of our time indoors and shielded from daylight. Indoors the light level is the same as the light outdoors at sunrise or sunset. Light from outside is not able to reach into our buildings. Therefore indoors we live in twilight the whole day. For our daylight detector this twilight during the day is too dark and in the evening too bright. Therefore our biological clock starts running behind the real time. Many buildings are designed so that natural light cannot reach the people who live or work there, which can have negative effects on their health. When our biological clock runs behind the real time, it affects your sleep, health, concentration and mood. If you want to bring good light in your life, watch also the other steps to a healthier and happier life here: Try | Home | Good Light Group | Foundation Light supports us in everything we do. Good light means the right light at the right time. It has a great positive impact on our experience of energy, sleep, happiness and health.

Twilight indoors causes sleep and mood problems. Because we are in twilight the whole day, our biological clock starts running behind the real time. As a result, when we need energy we lack it… and when we want to sleep, sleep won’t come or is not deep enough. Not getting enough daylight during the day can even contribute to insomnia and depression. Because staying in poorly lit environments, when you need the power and spectrum of daylight, prevents your brain from getting the right signals at the right time. This is why you feel sleepy during the day and can't sleep at night. If you want to bring good light in your life, watch also the other steps to a healthier and happier life here: Try | Home | Good Light Group | Foundation Light supports us in everything we do. Good light means the right light at the right time. It has a great positive impact on our experience of energy, sleep, happiness and health.