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For three years in a row, the Good Light Group and LED Expo Thailand have been partners of SMARTTECH ASEAN. This year we have been invited again to present the Good Light story at their educational symposium on September 22. The contribution for 2022 will consist of three parts. 1. Good indoor light for better health People spend most of their lives indoors, shielded from natural daylight. Indoor electric light is good enough for visual tasks, but usually insufficient to compensate for the lack of daylight. To make the best use of light, you need to understand the four elements through which light affects our bodies: the circadian rhythm, the biological clock, the daylight detector and the twilight zone. People need to start to recognise the symptoms of screened-out daylight: poor sleep quality, low energy during the day and mood swings, and relate these symptoms to the lack of light. Then they can take action. A three-step approach is explained for bringing good light into your life. 2. Guide to good light This sets out the requirements for indoor electrical lighting to best replicate the positive aspects of daylight. 3. The innovation challenge Why is the focus on good light the biggest innovation opportunity for the lighting industry, interior designers and lighting designers? If you want to participate, please follow the following link to the LED Expo website. After the conference we will also make the presentations available online. More info

Harvard business review published the results of a survey by an HR consultancy on this back in 2018, so that’s four years ago! But many offices are still too dark, causing many disadvantages for the employees, such as fatigue and gloom. But what are the benefits of natural light in the office? Photo by Ant Rozetsky on Unsplash Better sleep Every employer wants his employees to geta good night’s sleep. A good night’s sleep is essential for a person’s well-being. They feel more rested the next day and wake up with more energy. In general, an employee who sits next to a large window and receives a lot of natural light sleeps 46 minutes more per night extra than his colleague who does not sit next to a window and receives less natural light. Better health and mood Better sleep and more sunlight have a natural effect on health and mood. So, not only do employees take less sick leave but are also happier if they sit next to a window. Productivity boost NBBJ published a study comparing sales in shops with and without a skylight. They found that sales were 40% higher in the shops with skylight than in shops with fluorescent lighting! And all with free natural daylight! And if skylights are not possible, install "good light", which is lighting that mimics the positive aspects of daylight as closely as possible. Sources: https://news.feinberg.northwestern.edu/2014/08/12/zee-office-light/ https://www.newdayoffice.com/blog/benefits-of-natural-light-in-the-workplace https://www.nbbj.com/news https://hbr.org/2018/09/the-1-office-perk-natural-light

For you to understand we first will explain what your circadian rhythm is. Your circadian rhythm is your inner clock, it makes sure all your body rhythms work natural according to the time of the day, so your body feels tired when you need to go to bed and you feel energized during the day. But also when your organs don’t need to work so hard and can go in sleep mode, so your body can fully recover by night. When the circadian rhythm is disrupted we don’t sleep well, we get energy on the wrong time of the day or don’t get energy at all, even your organs can become a bit disrupted. Photo by Mwangi Gatheca on Unsplash Now researchers have linked a disrupted circadian rhythm with mental illnesses, such as seasonal affective disorder, bipolar disorder, sleep disorders and depression. This offers hope to people struggling with these illnesses, treatments that align with the circadian rhythm may become an important part of treating mental illness and lead to better management of these diseases. Let your circadian rhythm run properly by spending more time outdoors during the day or make sure you get enough daylight indoors by sitting in front of or near a window. And make sure you install Good Light indoors, this is light that mimics daylight as good as possible. More information

People who have enjoyed a camping weekend benefit greatly from it! Spending a weekend on a campsite means spending a lot of time outside. Research now shows that you sleep better when you are out in the daylight. Daylight ensures that your inner clock is set correctly. When you go to bed, your body is also ready for a good night's sleep. As a result, you wake up fresher in the morning. Photo by Victor Larracuente on Unsplash But how do you know if your inner clock is not working properly? The answer is simple: are you tired during the day, can't concentrate, do you feel a bit down or depressed, can't fall asleep easily at night? These are all signs of a poorly synchronised internal clock. Your internal clock needs daylight to determine what time it is. If you are often indoors during the day, your internal clock may be out of sync. Fortunately for you, there is a simple solution to get your internal clock back in sync: go camping for a weekend. You'll sleep better, feel more rested, more focused, and happier! Read all about the research here For all those other periods in the year when you can’t go camping, make sure that you install Good Light indoors. This is light that mimics the benefits of daylight as good as possible.

I feel more relaxed during the holidays than at other times of the year. This is certainly due to the fact that I am outside more during the holidays and therefore get more daylight than usual. This light has a positive influence on my body and mind. I sleep better, have more energy during the day and my mood is upbeat. The scientific explanation for this is clear. Our bodies need daylight so that our brains can synchronise our biological rhythms with real time. This ensures that by the time we go to bed, our bodies are indeed ready for a good night's sleep. Our sleep is deeper and our body recovers better. As a result, we have more energy the next day and feel more comfortable and in a better mood. Photo by Jimmy Conover on Unsplash Many people tell me that they also have this positive "holiday feeling", but that it quickly disappears when they go back to work. Since most people have indoor jobs, this is quite logical. The light level indoors is only 1% of the light level outside during the day in summer. In fact, the indoor light level is equal to or lower than the outdoor light level at the time of sunrise and sunset. This is too weak for our brain to synchronise our biological rhythms. Our bodies cannot determine the actual time because we remain in twilight almost all day. Personally, I have found the remedy. I have installed good light indoors in the places where I work. This is light that mimics daylight as closely as possible. In this way, I can keep the holiday feeling all year round. Do you also want to sleep better and have more energy all year round? Read more about what good light can do for you at www.goodlightgroup.org. Jan Denneman Chairman of the Good Light Group

We love to go on holidays, a lot of people want to go as far away as possible to beautiful nature, beaches and explore new cultures. It’s fun but, if you have a jet lag, the first days are a bit less fun. With some good preparations you can almost avoid getting a jet lag. First of all, we need to know where a jet lag is coming from. It’s the result of the difference between our biological clock (e.g. sleep wake cycle) and other rhythms like the actual time of day, the time when the sun sets and rises. If you travel to another timezone your biological clock is still stuck in the old one and your behaviour in the new time zone doesn’t match with your inner clock anymore. The short term effects are sleep deprivation which leads to tiredness and you might feel moody and aren’t able to focus properly. You can even get some stomach or gastrointestinal issues. Here are some tips and tricks to reduce your jet lag: Let your biological clock get used to the new time zone a week before you fly. If you fly to the west, you can lengthen your day in steps by going to bed a bit later each day, take your meals later in the evening stay longer in the light and keep it dark in the morning. If you fly to the east gradually shorten your day, three hours before you go to bed stay in dim light and if you wake up get out into bright light. Take a power nap, if you are very tired take a small nap of half an hour If you are for short periods in different time zones, try to keep the time zone of your home. Don’t try to shift your biological clock. Read the full article at de Gelderlander Photo credits: De Gelderlander

You might be one of the many people who spend most of their time indoors. Do you have trouble sleeping, or lack energy and are you moody sometimes? Not getting enough natural daylight can be the reason why! If you are shielded from daylight, or as we call it Good Light, it’s an unnatural situation for our bodies and brains to be in. Light tells our brain what time of day it is. It helps to synchronize the master clock in our brains. However, the light levels indoors are too weak to trigger the master clock properly. We live on an earth with a 24 hour light dark cycle and a social clock that also has a 24 hour rhythm. But when our bodies are not synchronized, this leads to negative consequences for sleep quality, energy, mood and health. We need more good light during the day and less light in the evening. For the full story read Led professional Review page 62

We were invited to give a presentation about how light can give you that everlasting holiday feeling and give you a better health throughout the year. Since nowadays we spend most of our lives indoors where we are shielded from natural daylight. The light in buildings is most of the time comparable to twilight and far from sufficient to have a positive influence on our wellbeing. The electric light is good enough for visual tasks but that’s about it. To keep that holiday feeling and take good care of your wellbeing you need to be in direct daylight or, if that’s impossible, be in light that mimics daylight as close as possible. So, do you sleep poorly, do you have little energy during the day and are moody? Those are the symptoms of light deprivation! Watch the webinar here: Signify lighting academy all you need to know about light

a blog by our science advisor Mariana Figueiro Circadian rhythms are internal recurring cycles that find expression in a multitude of physiological, psychological, and behavioral processes across myriad animal and plant species. The master clock that generates these circadian rhythms would otherwise free-run at a natural period that is slightly longer than the solar day, and external environmental cues maintain synchrony—or entrainment—between the master clock and the time of day at our local position on Earth. The master clock’s primary environmental entrainment cue is the 24-hour pattern of light and dark incident on the retinae that is associated with Earth’s axial rotation. The circadian system sends an alerting signal throughout the body during the day and sleep signal at night in all diurnal animal species, predominantly through the regulation of hormones. The cyclical rise in melatonin levels in the hours preceding bedtime, for example, triggers the onset of sleep. Conversely, the rise in cortisol levels in the hours before waking informs the body of the night–day transition from inactivity to activity. In an entrained individual, these two signals or processes work in a homeostatic relationship that balances daytime alertness with consolidated nighttime sleep. Misalignment of this relationship through inadequate or poorly timed circadian-effective light exposures is strongly associated with risks for various major diseases, declines in performance, and sleep and mood disorders. These risks demonstrate a clear need for applications that promote circadian health in an indoor built environment where lighting has typically been specified to benefit the human visual system rather than the circadian system. This four-week, within-subjects, crossover design field study investigated the effectiveness of electrochromic (EC) glass windows on measures of circadian phase, sleep, vitality, and mental health in a residential environment. (EC glass changes from clear to tinted via the application of low-voltage electric current to a thin electrochromic coating embedded within its layers, reducing glare and thermal discomfort but not the penetration of circadian-effective light.) The study’s 20 participants were healthy office workers (median age of 33 years) who spent most of their time working at home due to restrictions associated with the COVID-19 pandemic. They experienced two experimental conditions (separated by a six-day washout period) in randomized order: (1) one eight-day intervention period with functionally standard (i.e., clear) windows with blinds partially drawn and (2) one eight-day intervention period with functioning EC glass windows. We hypothesized that compared to baseline measures, the EC glass condition would increase participants’ access to daylight and thereby lead to stronger alignment of rest-activity patterns with the day–night cycle and improved objective and subjective sleep and mental health outcomes. We found that the study’s participants showed greater circadian alignment (as shown by the consistent dim light melatonin onset times), earlier and more regular sleep times, and improved vitality and mental health when living in an apartment fitted with the EC glass compared to traditional glass windows and blinds. In sum, the study confirmed that architectural designs effectively and comfortably incorporating daylight can yield tangible benefits for daytime office workers, even when working from home. Short Summary: Circadian system disruption from inadequate or poorly timed light exposures is strongly associated with risks for various major diseases, declines in performance, and mood disorders. Our study found that electrochromic glass windows that reduce glare and thermal discomfort but still permit the penetration of circadian-effective light promoted circadian system alignment, earlier and more regular sleep times, and improved vitality and mental health. Publication link https://www.mdpi.com/1660-4601/18/19/9980

We got together online for the eleventh Good Light Group meeting on Tuesday the 28th of June. In these meetings we always let a couple of participants talk about their business or new research. This meeting: Renske Lok of the Stanford University and our Science Advisor talked about the impact of daytime illuminance on cognitive functioning and alertness. Merijn Wegdam the founder of Sunshower talked about ‘low dose UV for healthy vitamin D level in wintertime’. #1 Renske Lok, her presentation was about the effect of light on subjective alertness, mental performance and how these depend on homeostatic sleep pressure and the circadian clock. She talked about the alerting effects of light occur during the night and how we can improve daytime alertness. You can watch her presentation here #2 Merijn Wegdam, his presentation was about ‘Low dose UV for healthy vitamin D level in wintertime’ he talked about the fact that in the wintertime the sun is not powerful enough for health benefits, so Sunshower combined sunlight with the daily shower. They developed a light that is waterproof and provides the user with just enough UVB to maintain a healthy vitamin D level in wintertime. You can watch his presentation here

Mushfiqul Anwar Siraji won one of the student travel awards sponsored by the Good Light Group! This prize was awarded at the 33rd meeting of our partner the Society for Light Treatment and Biological Rhythms in June 2022. He won the award for his work on the development of a Light Exposure Behaviour Assessment. The development of the Light Exposure Behaviour Assessment is an international collaborative project where Mushfiqul worked closely with Rafael Lazar under the guidance of Manuel Spitschan PhD and others. The instrument captures light exposure-related behaviour and is psychometrically validated. The behaviour is divided in five acknowledged light exposure-related behaviour dimensions. If you want to know more, watch his talk or go to the LEBA website. Watch his talk here: https://lnkd.in/ekxjbCjj download LEBA: http://leba-instrument.org (preprint coming soon)

The 33rd SLTBR Annual Meeting will be in Manchester this year. From the 23rd till the 25th of June. The program committee of SLTBR is preparing an excellent program with three symposia dedicated to fundamental, applied and clinical new insights. The CME course will be filled with lectures on the current status of the use of melatonin. In addition, they will organize a young scientists symposium, a poster session with wine & cheese, and, of course, a banquet. Our board member and president of the SLTBR Marijke Gordijn is part of the team who organises this meeting. More information about the event here