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We, humans, evolved for tens of thousands of years living outside under the rhythms of natural light. Our body rhythms, including alertness, mood and sleepiness respond to the day-night rhythm of our planet. This is all regulated by our biological clock. If we are indoors a lot, we lack daylight and our internal clock starts lagging behind. This is why you feel sleepy at the wrong time or feel energetic when you should be sleeping. Your internal clock affects your mood, alertness and sleepiness. For your internal clock to run at the right time, it must stay synchronised with the Earth's 24-hour day, also known as the day-night rhythm. So make sure your body functions get the right signals and get at least two hours of daylight every day. 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.

The holidays are over, it's chilly, wet and dark, we prefer to sit inside. Yet you need a daily dose of good light: it makes you more energetic, happier and healthier. In the first period of the new year, everyone has already experienced a long period of very short days. The lengthening of the days is also still to come. New Year's resolutions are proving a lot harder to put into practice. The sun shows little face, it is cold and gloomy. It doesn't seem to be getting any light outside. The mood and mood of many people drops to an all-time low. We are clearly in a very depressive period of the year. According to some, the most depressive period. The third Monday of the new year symbolizes this and is called Blue Monday. Especially at this time of year, good light can help prevent the so-called winter dip. A quarter of people in the northern hemisphere suffer from it. A winter dip has specific symptoms such as a great need for sweet food, lifeless, lack of energy, not enjoying things and sleeping longer. Fortunately, this only leads to winter depression in four percent of people. That's when you really need medical help. For the first period of the new year, people really don't have enough daylight. If you don't get any daylight for a day, your biological clock, which regulates all your body functions, lags behind the time on your watch by an average of 15 minutes. That adds up: if you spend a week getting little outside and not seeing daylight, you're easily an hour and a half behind. When you want to go to sleep, your body is not yet ready for a good, deep sleep. The hormone balance is not yet set up for good sleep. Daylight has the right intensity and colour To prevent a winter dip, daylight is the very best. Daylight always has the right intensity and colour and is therefore very good for your health and sense of happiness. Make sure that you go outside for a good amount of time every day and that you also have enough good light inside during the day. Therefore, sit as close to the window as possible with your face or the side of your face facing the window. There should be daylight coming into your eyes. If all that fails, these days there are lamps that mimic daylight as closely as possible. Of course, they can't mimic daylight completely, but enough intense light in your home can certainly help you against the winter blues. The light should be at least five times stronger than you are used to. And much lower in the evening. Jan Denneman Chairman Good Light Group

We are always looking for people to share their lighting experiences with us. So, if you want to spend 30 days in good light, outside, in your office or home, contact us to participate, share your story or tag us in your posts on social media about good light. If you want to participate visit our 30 days good light experience page to learn more about the experience or read stories from other participants. Photo by Kornél Máhl on Unsplash We offer several options if you want to participate in the 30-day experience: Daylight A free solution and very healthy, just enjoy the outdoors for at least 2 hours a day. WiZ A simple and affordable solution to get started. You have to get used to the brightness, but it does the trick. Borrow For special participants, we also offer several lamps that can be borrowed: Sparckel Wirklicht Waldmann Brainlit Of these options, only a few lamps can be borrowed for 30 days. But feel free to write why you want to try one of these lamps for 30 days and how you will help us spread the word. More info at my 30 days experience Don't want to join the 30-day experience but just want to keep us updated on your good light situation? Even if you don't spend most of the day in good light and experience the disadvantages of staying too long in a room that is not adequately lit, let us know! Tag us @goodlightgroup or contact us at info@goodlightgroup.org.

Do you feel tired while working? Do you feel moody or depressed, have trouble waking up? Probably your lighting conditions are not optimal. You need daylight or electric light that mimics daylight, which we call: Good light! Make sure your biological clock is in sync with the time on your watch. You will sleep better, have more energy during the day and feel happier. We recommend three steps to good light that also work well against your winter blues. This video explains the three steps to good light: The best choice you can make for your health is to be outside a lot during the day, especially in the morning. At least half an hour! Daylight is the best light for our health. It has the right intensity and colour variation throughout the day. Stay within a metre of the window. With your face or side facing the window. Otherwise, your eyes will only see twilight. Your brain will synchronise with real time again, for better sleep, mood and health. For when you are mostly indoors during the day and further away from a window. Install good light in your home or other place indoors. This can be done with lamps that mimic daylight. They should mimic the variation in intensity and light colour during the day. Therefore, your brain still gets the right signals and knows what time it is because of the information the light gives. If you want to bring good light in your life, watch our latest videos, click 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.

Do you feel tired while working? Can't concentrate or feel unproductive. Most likely, you don't have the right light. You need good light throughout the day to stay focused. Otherwise, your brain will get signals that it is too dark for the time of day and that it is time to go to bed. This is probably also the reason why you find it hard to fall asleep at night or why you don't sleep enough. This video is about the third step to good light. For when you are mostly inside during the day and further from a window. Install good light in your home or other indoor place. You can do this with lamps that mimic daylight. They should mimic the variation in intensity and light colour during the day. As a result your brain still gets the right signals and knows what time it is by the information the light gives. So chances are you feel productive at your laptop again. 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.

On Tuesday 22 November we gathered online for the twelfth Good Light Group meeting. In these meetings we always have some participants talk about their company or new research. You can now watch the meeting online and see everything you missed or revisit the interesting parts. This meeting: Jan Denneman talks about the Facts of Light. A series of short animations by the Good Light Group about good light. Wilfried Pohl of Bartenbach talks about the project LessIsMore. Effects of a personalizable workplace lighting concept on acceptance, usability, and cognitive performance. #1 Jan Denneman – Facts of light The Good Light Group developed several short animations to make people aware of the fact that they need good light. The animations are easy for anyone to understand and easy to share. There are different themes such as our evolution, why we need good light, how to live in good light and how good light works. Watch here #2 Wilfried Pohl - the project LessIsMore This presentation is about a summary of some studies, they studied the effects of personal daylight, personal workplace lighting, on user acceptance, cognitive performance and other parameters. He talks about the awareness of workplace lighting, end users’ lighting needs and how lights should be developed. Watch here

Feeling moody or depressed, having trouble waking up? In winter we spend more time indoors. The light during the day is often too dark for our bodies and brains. This means that our eyes tell our brain that it is already getting dark and that we need to sleep. So your brain is probably not properly synchronised with real time. Try good light! Bring good light into your life to wake up better rested. This video is about the second step to good light. If you are inside, stay within one metre of the window. With your face or side facing the window. Otherwise, your eyes will still only see twilight. Your brain will synchronise with real time again, for better sleep, mood and health. Watch the first step to good light here. If you want to bring good light in your life, watch our latest videos, click 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.

Another interview! This time for ‘OG wijzer’ which is the knowledge and information platform for technical real estate professionals in the Netherlands. In the article below, we explain the 3-30-300 rule for the total cost of a building. Most real estate and architectural firms focus on the €3 (energy) and €30 (investment) and too little on the €300 (the people) of a building. An easy way to focus on that €300 is with good lighting. It improves the attractiveness of the building and the health and well-being of the people using it. In general we spend 90% of our time indoors! Where we use electric light which is far too weak during the day and too strong at night. This disrupts our biological clock, a small part in the brain that tells our body what time it is. To make sure it sends the right signals, we need daylight, the right light at the right time. A body has different functions at night than during the day. During the day you need to be alert and creative, prompted by high cortisol levels. At night, melatonin ensures that we rest and clears our brains. Sleep is an important indicator of health. We recommend three solutions. Read more about these solutions here: Try | Home | Good Light Group | Foundation Read more about the interview here: https://ogwijzer.nl/artikelen/goed-licht-in-gebouwen-levert-fit-en-productief-personeel-en-financieel-voordeel-op/

This could very well be because your brain is not properly synchronised with real time. Try good light! Bring good light into your life to wake up better rested. In this video, we explain the first step to good light. The best choice you can make for your health is to be outside a lot during the day, especially in the morning. At least half an hour! Daylight is the best light for our health. It has the right intensity and colour variation throughout the day. We humans have evolved over tens of thousands of years by living outside to the rhythm of natural light. Our body rhythms, including alertness, mood and sleepiness, respond to the day-night rhythm of our planet. Being outside in daylight is crucial to our health and happiness. The upcoming videos explain steps two and three. If you want to bring good light in your life, watch our latest videos, click 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.

Do you often sit sleepy at your laptop and feel unproductive? Are you sleepy when you want to work, need an alarm clock to wake up and feel really tired? Are you feeling down, depressed or suffering from winter blues? These are often signs that you are getting too little light during the day and too much at night. Find out how to solve these problems with the Good Light Group's new short animated videos. You'll learn what daylight does for your health and happiness. And even more importantly, you'll learn how to be in good light every day. Even if you have an indoor activity during the day. Good light is the right light at the right time. Discover the facts about light! If you want to bring good light in your life, watch our latest videos, click 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.

Want to watch a particular lecture back or did you miss DLT4? You can now enjoy the two lectures, panel discussion and introduction. In the free webinar deLIGHTed talks, several lighting experts talk about different aspects of what light does to our health. In collaboration with the Daylight Academy, Society of Light Treatment and Biological Rhythms, International Association of Lighting Designers, Luger Research, we are hosting the deLIGHTed talks webinars. Three lighting professionals have been invited to talk about how good light indoors contributes to health and well-being. You can now view the lectures online’. Welcome, introduction by Dr. Debra J. Skene, University of Surrey She gave a brief introduction on the topic of how good light indoors contributes to health and well-being, as well as a brief introduction about the presenters. Watch the introduction Let the Sunshine In by Dr. Thomas Kantermann Light means life, growth, and progress. Without sunlight, life on Earth would not be possible. Research shows that lack of sunlight and exposure to artificial light at night can disturb the process of entrainment and can compromise health and well-being. One obvious solution to this challenge is to have bright days and dark nights, a solution that is progressively more and more difficult to achieve. Watch the lecture Bringing Natural Daylight Indoors by Dr. David Geisler-Moroder and Mag. Wilfried Pohl, Bartenbach Expanding the previously energy-driven building standards and certifications to so-called “Well Building” standards will increase the importance of daylighting. And Human Centric Lighting (HCL), where the health effects (Non-Image-Forming NIF) oflightare in focus, will amplify this trend, too. Design tools with climate-based dynamic annual simulations of daylighting, artificial lighting and climate facilitate holistic planning. They will show a few basics and some realized building examples. Watch the lecture Curious about the panel discussion? The experts answered a lot of questions from the registrees. Watch the panel discussion here More information about the experts or lectures here

One of our participants, Floris Wouterson, wrote a blog about why we need daylight. Everything that lives on Earth deals with the 24-hour cycle of the day. From the single-celled organisms in the oceans, to plants and animals. So do we. Part of the day is light and another part is dark. Because of this, we have a circadian process in our bodies that is programmed at 24 hours. How exactly does this work? What is 'good light'? Everyone who sits inside gets the wrong light. It's good enough to see, but unfortunately it does little for your brain and body. basically you're sitting in biological darkness, and that can even be unhealthy. "Being underexposed to good light (daylight) makes you sleep worse, have less energy during the day and more mood problems. If your body doesn't see enough daylight, it doesn't know what time it is and processes become dysregulated. The right amount of daylight is crucial to keep your biological clock properly synchronized." This problem can be solved by going outside regularly, preferably for two to three hours. Should that not work out, a daylight lamp can be a nice alternative. "The daylight lamp simulates the power (1000 lux) and spectrum of the sun which is around. In an average office, you only get a 100 lux on your eyes. But if you go outside, these numbers are much higher. Even on a cloudy day, you get between 5.000 and 10.000 lux. Is it sunny? Then you go to the 100.000 lux." Over the past 30 years, much research and publication has been done on the importance of good light, but this information still does not trickle down to society enough. "In practice, quite little is done with the information. More than 90 percent of people today have indoor jobs, which means we all spend far too long in the dark. It's almost frustrating that we're not aware of the disadvantages of that. Read more: https://www.houseofsleep.eu/