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The mission of Age of Light Innovations is to make people aware of the importance of human-centred lighting. Dr Shelley James is the founder of Age of Light Innovations and international expert on light and well-being. She is a passionate advocate for public engagement with science, lecturer at the Royal College of Art and at King's College, London and elected member of the Royal Society of British Sculptors. She holds a PhD from the Royal College of Art and is a qualified electrician and lighting designer. Image Luna™. Click here to watch the Luna™ YouTube videos Her latest social media campaign with the character Luna™ helps teens to understand how light affects their health and happiness. The online campaign was highly successful and has reached over 1.7 million teens to date, it makes clear that teens really do care about good light! More info: ageoflightinnovations.com

These blue zones are hot spots of longevity around the world. People not only live a long life here but also tent to grow old without health problems like heart disease, obesity, cancer or diabetes. The five blue zones are: 1. Ikaria, Greece 2. Okinawa, Japan 3. Ogliastra region, Sardinia 4. Loma Linda, California 5. Nicoya Peninsula, Costa Rica What those people have in common is most rise and set with the sun, spend their days working, eating and playing in equal measure. Almost all spend a significant amount of the day active, either working in the farmland or fishing or walking around the neighbourhood to visit friends or family. So being outside during the day is a huge common factor. Being outside so much means that these happy people are daily exposed to good light, light that is beneficial for synchronizing their biological clock. And it is known that this improves sleep, fitness and mood. Of course this not the only thing they have in common, also very healthy local diet, deep social networks and genetics might have something to do with it. Sources: https://www.nationalgeographic.com/books/article/5-blue-zones-where-the-worlds-healthiest-people-live https://www.vpro.nl/programmas/the-mind-of-the-universe/kijk/wetenschappers/poulain.html https://www.bbc.com/reel/video/p08b8r8d/the-italian-valley-that-holds-the-recipe-for-living-over-100

Our board member Marijke Gordijn fights for good light. With today’s knowledge there are some good light products available, these are still quite expensive, but this should not be a problem since it is a health issue. Most people live and work in buildings which are insufficiently lit, so it is time for a change! Photo by Alexas Fotos from Pexels For more than 30 years, Marijke Gordijn's research has focused on the connection between the biological clock, sleep and light and what kind of impact it has on our brain and body. Now we know so much about how light affects us and we want to share this information to create more awareness about good light, so people can grow old in a healthier way. Read full article here: Fight for Good Light

Reliable Lighting Solutions recently became our new partner, opening our first Working Group in North America. Located in Calgary, Alberta, Canada, they are not so much about lighting products as lighting productivity. They joined us to bring our philosophy of creating better lighting environments to more people in North America. Photo by Raj Rana on Unsplash Reliable Lighting Solutions believes: The more people understand how lighting innovation can improve their lives - at home and at work - the healthier we’ll be. The use of Good Light is not about profit or market share, it’s about improving people’s health & wellness. Business leaders need to understand the importance of our relationship to light and its impact on the emotional and biological health of their employees. As the Canadian distributor for BrainLit and BioCentric Lighting lines, they’re passionate about creating lighting solutions that positively impact human development. They have spent the last several years retrofitting buildings to improve their clients’ lighting experience. For more information: linkedin.com/in/corytretiak/

Part of the Good Light guide is now translated into Greek. You can read it on page 42 of the Electrologos magazine. Photo by Leon on Unsplash This magazine is especially created for the electrical and lighting industry, with all sorts of content for contractors, mechanical engineers, architects, designers, decorators, importers and traders of electronic equipment. For the Greek translation (page 42): electrologos.gr/#No-338-1

It’s important to have good light (sunlight or light that mimics sunlight) during the day and darkness during the night, so your brain can sync with the day/night cycle. If it’s too light at night or too dark during the day our brain has trouble syncing with this cycle, this affects your mental and physical health. Photo by Holly Mandarich on Unsplash Not only light pollution at night has an impact on your biological clock, a room which is insufficiently lit during the day or the use of your tablet or phone in the evening too. The BioClock research consortium studies a healthy day and night rhythm for young and old people, people who work nightshifts, in healthcare and the impact on nature. The University of Groningen plays a major role with among others our board member Marijke Gordijn. The Good Light Group is part of the BioClock Consortium. The wrong kind of light doesn’t only have an effect on us, but on nature and our new-borns too. Read all about it in the Dutch newspaper Trouw.

Bartenbach is one of the world’s trendsetting lighting innovation companies and recently joined the Good Light Group. Photo by © David Franck The activities of Bartenbach include individual lighting solutions, lighting design, solution design, R&D, training and further education. The headquarters is based in Austria, with offices in Germany, Swiss and the Netherlands. Bartenbach works together with renowned architect studios to create the lighting design in numerous projects. They always seek to apply the newest lighting technologies to increase the effectiveness of lighting and improve health and well-being of the people that have to work, learn, play, care, heal, etc. in artificial light. We are very happy that the Bartenbach team joins the Group, and we are sure that they will be instrumental to give good light a real boost in the practice of indoor lighting. More: Bartenbach: Homepage

Good light contributes to a good performance. Especially in sports, athletes benefit from the positive influence that light has on mental and physical conditions. The Nationale Sport Vakbeurs wrote an article about how light affects us in sports. The Good Light Group contributed with a spoken article. As they call it: Light, a legal and easy performance booster. Photo by Kate Trifo on Unsplash Light indoors often contributes to a pleasant atmosphere but your eyes interpreted it like biological darkness. The light indoors is far too weak compared to the intense light you get when you would be outside, ‘good light’. Good light has a positive influence on your circadian system, which controls your vitality, fatigue, mood, and mental health. Therefore, it’s important to mimic the outdoor light indoors, especially for sportsmen and sportswomen. If you want to be in the best shape, makes sure you train in good light. This can be done by training a couple of hours in natural daylight. If that is not possible, make sure you train indoors as close as possible to the window in order to get enough natural daylight. Or make sure that the electric light fulfils the requirements of good light and is strong enough to have a positive effect on your biological clock. More information: what is good light Click here for the article

On invitation of the United Arab Emirates division of the international organization Chartered Institution of Building Services Engineers (CIBSE), Jan Denneman presented the webinar “Good light indoors makes people healthy and happy” on 21 January 2021. The main topics of the webinar are: People need daily good light, like good food and good air, for their well-being. Good light is the most forgotten factor in the design of buildings: the light in buildings is currently wrong for health and well-being of users in the building. The problems of billions of people, who spend their lives in biological darkness. Discovery in 2002 and Nobel prize in 2017: “spheres” (ipRGCs) in the retinae of the eye trigger the synchronisation of the biological clock. What is Good Light? The intensity of the light in buildings needs to be at least 5 times higher than current indoor lighting practice. The history of focus in building design: low cost – sustainability – healthy buildings. How Good Light increases the health and well-being of people in buildings. You can now watch a recorded version of the webinar on: CIBSE UAE Good Light Indoors Makes People Healthy and Happy

We welcome Center for Environmental Therapeutics (CET) as our new partner. CET is paving the way for educating about natural, scientifically based remedies to address mental health issues such as depression, insomnia and fatigue, primarily using light therapy. The use of good light is critical for treatment of circadian rhythm mood and sleep disorders. CET has created a resource for patients, families, and professionals to obtain: - free clinical guides to treatment - free symptom self-assessment tools - free expert advice - latest research reports - design principles for treatment devices To learn more about their activities or just want some information, visit cet.org

On 28 January our board members and participants met online for the second Participant Council meeting. Representatives of 15 companies / universities were present: Bartenbach, Eindhoven University of Technology, Fluxplus, Chronowear, L+RC Consultants, Loerakker Lighting, Luxlight, Medilux, Seaborough, Signify, Sparckel, Stoane Lighting, Toshiba Materials and the University of Groningen. The board presented an overview of the results of 2020 and the strategic plan of our vision for the future. Detailed ideas for the year 2021 were explained and discussed in an online brainstorm session. Many useful ideas and suggestions were contributed . The participants elected Maarten Voorhuis for the second year as chair of the council.

The Algmeen Dagblad asked Jan and Marijke to test different light therapy lamps. Nowadays a lot of people suffer the winter blues. A daily portion of good light makes you more energetic, happier, and healthier. Make sure during the day that you get a healthy dose of good light. Especially when working indoors. Photo by Jean-pierre Jans for Algemeen Dagblad People will be a lot happier and healthier if we recognize the importance of good light. "Good light is just as important as healthy food and healthy air. You have more energy during the day, your mood will be lifted and you will have a better night's sleep." According to Jan Denneman, it's important to get the right light at the right time. Those who can not be outside all day can purchase a light therapy lamp, but does it help? Test panel Jan and Marijke tested five light therapy lamps. Read the full article here: Algemeen dagblad Light therapy lamps The story is also picked up by the Belgian newspaper HLN. You can read this story here: "In three quarters of the cases, light therapy lamps are an effective treatment for winter depression."