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Board member Marijke Gordijn with more than 30 years of experience in chronobiology and sleep was interviewed for an article in the Dutch newspaper Volkskrant. In what way will lighting help you get out of bed fresh and relaxed in the morning but also to wind down in the evening? Image Sophia Twigt for Volkskrant Your vitality is controlled by your circadian system and sleep. But the circadian system doesn't quite keep up with the real daytime automatically. Some people’s system is more off than other people’s system. If this isn't corrected most people will go to bed a bit later every day and wake up a bit later as well. But if you make sure you get enough natural light during the day, especially in the morning and keep it dark in the evenings, your circadian system will adjust to the real day rhythm. Read the full article here: Volkskrant How do you ensure you get out of bed feeling energized during dark days?

Luxlight has been actively working for 20 years to bring daylight into the lives of its customers with its products. Based on their passion for people and the importance of good lighting for people, products are developed for flat roofs of homes. With its New Illumy products, Luxlight has made a combination of daylight by adapting a flat roof window, supplemented with artificial light in the right colour, to the right time of the day. The natural daylight lamp.

The holidays are over, it's cold and dark, we prefer to sit inside. Nevertheless, you need a daily portion of good light: it makes you more energetic, happier, and healthier. Make sure that you go outside for a good time every day and that you also have enough good light indoors during the day. Daylight is best, but there are also good alternatives with LED lighting and light therapy lamps. Photo by Sasha Freemind on Unsplash Especially at this time of year, this can help prevent the so-called winter dip. A quarter of people in the northern hemisphere suffer from winter malaise. A winter dip has specific symptoms such as being unenergetic, not enjoying regular activities, and sleeping longer. Fortunately, the winter dip only leads to winter depression in four percent of people at which point medical attention is needed. By the time the new year rolls around, everyone has already had a long period of very short days and new year's resolutions are proving to be a lot more difficult to achieve in practice. The endless lockdown due to COVID 19 doesn't help improve our moods either. The sun shows very little, it is cold and gloomy. The mood of many people falls to a low point. We are in the most depressing period of the year and the third Monday of the year is a symbol of this and aptly named “Blue Monday”. What can you do about this? In the first period of the year, people really fall short of daylight. If you don't get enough daylight for a day, your biological clock will be about 10 to 15 minutes behind on average. Eight o'clock in the evening feels like quarter to eight. It works cumulatively: those who stay indoors for a week and don't see daylight are an hour and a half behind. You get a feeling similar to jet lag. You're tired, less alert, and your mood is down. In short, light is needed to keep the biological clock in line. In the eye, on the retina are receptors: rods, cones and spheres. Those spheres are important for correcting your biological clock. The spheres are sensitive to the cyan blue part of the light spectrum and pass the information on to your biological clock in your brain. A large part of the world's population lives and works in biological darkness. For the record: normal electric light in your home and also the lighting in companies and offices equates to biological darkness. The light enables visual tasks, but is too weak to positively influence the biological clock. Fortunately, nowadays there are lamps and luminaires that imitate daylight as effectively as possible. They can't fully mimic daylight, but being exposed to enough intense light in the house can help protect you from experiencing the winter dip. Author: Jan Denneman Chairman and founder of the Good Light Group, non-profit organization promoting the use of good light for health and wellbeing

The 2nd International Workshop on Circadian and Neurophysiological Photometry in 2019 brought together 18 experts in lighting, neurophysiological photometry, sleep and circadian research. These scientists agreed on recommendations for daytime light and evening light in indoor environments in a recent preprint publication. The most remarkable result is that they reached consensus on much higher values of light indoors during daytime and much more darkness during evening and nights than currently applied. The current situation of indoor lighting practices is not helpful for people’s health and well-being. The recommendations mean in practice that indoor light levels during daytime needs to be increased with at least a factor 3-4 in order to have a healthy influence on the circadian rhythm of the users, sleep quality and daytime fitness. From the publication: Daytime light recommendations for indoor environments Throughout the daytime, the recommended minimum melanopic EDI is 250 lx at the eye measured in the vertical plane at ~ 1.2 m height (i.e., vertical illuminance at eye level when seated). If available, daylight should be used in the first instance to meet these levels. If additional electrical lighting is required, the polychromatic white light should ideally have a spectrum that, like natural daylight, is enriched in shorter wavelengths close to the peak of the melanopic action spectrum – 480 nm. Evening light recommendations for residential and other indoor environments During the evening, starting at least three hours before bedtime, the recommended maximum melanopic EDI is 10 lux measured at the eye in the vertical plane ~ 1.2 m height. To help achieve this, where possible, the white light should have a spectrum depleted in short wavelengths close to the peak of the melanopic action spectrum – 480 nm. In addition, the scientists stated: Exposure to a stable and regular daily light-dark cycle is also likely to reinforce good alignment of circadian rhythms, which may further benefit sleep, cognition and health. These recommendations should therefore be applied at the same time each day, so far as possible. These recommendations are not intended to supersede existing guidelines relating to visual function and safety. The non-visual ocular light responses covered here should be an additional level of consideration provided that relevant visual standards can still be met. These recommendations are intended to apply to adults with regular daytime schedules. Special considerations may apply to specific populations (e.g. children, the elderly, shift workers) as discussed in the publication.

Dutch researchers are joining forces to conduct research together with a series of societal partners to keep the biological clock healthy in our modern 24-hour society. This BioClock consortium will receive a research grant of no less than 9.7 million euros for this. It is one of the projects that receive funding within the program of the Dutch National Research Agenda of the Dutch National Research Council (NWO), to which the public could submit their questions. The Good Light Group is one of the societal partners that supports this initiative. Our biological clock is disrupted by the 24-hour society in which we now live. The goal of the BioClock consortium is to restore and preserve the health of the biological clock. The plans cover the society as a whole: from human health and disease to the natural environment and protection of biodiversity. The Good Light Group is especially interested in topics related to the keeping the clock healthy by incorporating the right light at the right time. BioClock is internationally unparalleled in the scope and applicability of biological clock research. Many of the academic consortium members have contributed to years of fundamental research on this topic. The Good Light Group is looking forward to collaborate with the prestigious groups of scientists to stimulate the development of concrete applications for society.

Recently, I wrote a blog post for the Daylight Academy about the importance of good light in buildings for well-being and health of the users. Good light has been defined by our Group as daylight or electric light with comparable positive influence on our biological clock. This makes you sleep better, more fit during daytime and gives you a better mood. Especially important during the #covid19 pandemic now so many people spend their lives at #homeoffice. See also: https://daylight.academy/blog/good-light-for-vital-and-healthy-environments/ Good indoor environments contribute to health and well-being. But why is light indoors still “biological darkness”? People believe that light is good when you can see properly. No one realizes however, that good light is also crucial for our bodies to function well. Worldwide people spend more than 90% of their lives indoors, in schools, offices, factories, hospitals, care homes, shops, homes etc. because they have indoor jobs or activities. In all these places the light is usually good enough to see, but it is too weak to have a positive influence on our biological clocks. Good light indoors is the forgotten factor that can create a quantum leap in the improvement of well-being of people. Installing good light is a very cost effective and sustainable way to make indoor environments healthier and more attractive for people. In 2002, specific photosensitive cells in the retina (ipRGCs) of the human eye were discovered which have a direct connection to the brain centres which regulate the biological clock and mood. These cells look like “spheres” and are only effectively triggered at higher light levels than photoreceptors used for vision, te rods and cones. The intensity of the light must be at least five times higher to have a positive influence on your brain and body. Current indoor light levels are designed for visual tasks by the cones and rods in the retina. While the high light levels necessary for supporting our brain and our body seem unnaturally high indoors, we must realize that mankind has the biology of an outdoor diurnal mammal. The light level outdoors during daytime is ten to one hundred times more intense than indoors. Therefore, the current light levels indoors are darkness from a biological point of view: “biological darkness”. Because we live in biological darkness the whole day, our internal biological clock is not well synchronised with the real time. The consequence is that the duration and quality of our sleep at night is not as good as it should be. Good sleep has an enormous positive influence on performance during daytime. Low quality sleep results in feeling sleepier during daytime, feeling less able to concentrate, less creative, and less alert. It also influences our mood. We often develop depressed feelings. An effective way to synchronize our personal biological clock is to spend a couple of hours outdoors every day, especially in the morning. For most of us who stay indoors all day, the alternative is a well-lighted environment indoors which supports our visual needs as well as our well-being. We call this “good light”. Good light is daylight or electric light with the same positive effects on brain and body. Important is to provide the right light at the right moment of the day. The best way to realize this is by allowing daylight into a building. However, the intensity and thus the positive effect of daylight decreases rapidly when the distance to the windows increases. The lack of intense daylight in those places in homes and buildings must be compensated by electric light that mimics the positive effects of daylight. Good light is an easy way to improve the well-being and health of more than six billion people living daily in biological darkness! Good light is the most underrated factor to improve well-being in buildings. If you want to learn more, please contact the Good Light Group. Jan Denneman Chair Good Light Group

We are an employee-owned, specialist manufacturer of architectural luminaires, founded in 1995. We manufacture everything to order, by hand, at our premises in Edinburgh, Scotland. Our range of standard products are often complemented by project-specific bespoke solutions. We are continually developing to keep up with the best of emerging technologies and the latest expectations of forward-thinking lighting designers. Such trends include sustainable manufacturing and design for circularity (which have always been part of our culture), biophilia, circadian lighting systems, eliminating as far as possible light pollution, and controls. Where do all these tributaries converge? We look forward to working with The Good Light Group in this search. One thing is certain - that light itself is the start of everything. Left in the picture is Dave Hollingsbee, Managing Director and right is Ali Kay, Technical Director.

The mornings and evenings are getting dark again, which is especially noticeable because we are now working from home more often. Where you normally spend your day in the office with fluorescent or LED lighting from the ceiling, which is in most cases not bright enough to improve your alertness, mood and your sleep at night, you now probably have to do with only a desk lamp and a cosy shaded floor lamp in your ‘home office’. Although this may be enough to see, there is a very low light intensity entering your eyes, even lower maybe than in your main office. This may have clear negative consequences for health, mood and well-being. Dutch television broadcaster RTLnieuws brought up this item online and in a TV documentary on September 5th. Good Light Group participant Sparckel demonstrated their solution for the home or office workplace and Karin Smolders, representing our scientific participant from the Technical University Eindhoven and Marijke Gordijn from the board of the Good Light Group were interviewed. Link online item (in Dutch): https://www.rtlnieuws.nl/editienl/artikel/5181778/thuiswerken-kantoor-licht-lux-verlichting Link TV item (in Dutch): https://www.rtlnieuws.nl/editienl/laatste-videos-editienl/video/5181821/thuiswerker-onderschat-licht

During and shortly after vacation, most people usually feel more relaxed, sleep better and are upbeat. But that pleasant vacation feeling disappears quickly when you are back in normal life. Many people have almost forgotten that they went on vacation after one or two weeks. Sound familiar? Vacation time is important for people to wind down, to forget the worries from daily life and to recharge the batteries. During vacation time, many people do other things than usual. You may like an active vacation like exploring other cultures, cities, countries, landscapes, hiking, biking, swimming, skiing or a more passive vacation like reading or relaxing at a beach. Most people spend much more time outdoors during vacation than during their normal life. After a couple of days, they feel less stressed, start sleeping better and deeper and even dream more. Dreaming more is interpreted as a sign of good quality sleep. They feel happier and in a better mood; they get a vacation feeling. Unfortunately, that vacation feeling only lasts a short time after you readapt to your normal life. People almost forget that they went on vacation after one or two weeks. Do you recognize this yourself? Of course, an important reason is that the challenges, deadlines, time pressures etc. of daily life return. But there is another reason as well. Most people spend their normal lives indoors and indoors is biological darkness. While on vacation, you spend much more time outdoors than normal. Your body gets the natural daylight it needs to synchronize your biological clock. Outdoors, the light intensity is strong enough to trigger special cells in the retinae of the eye. These cells transmit information about the time of day directly into the brain centres, and the brain sends this time information to all cells in the body. In this way, your body stays properly synchronized with the real time, the sun clock. A well-synchronized biological clock has many advantages. The quality of sleep at night improves. During the daytime you feel less sleepy and are more focused, more alert, more creative. Your mood lifts. This is exactly what happens when you are on vacation. Back in normal life, most people spend their time indoors. The light level is usually good enough to see, but it is far too low to support synchronizing the biological clock. Indoors means “biological darkness”. After a couple of days, your body gets out of sync with the real time. This is a very important reason why your nice relaxed feeling after vacation disappears so quickly. Fortunately, with current LED technologies indoors, you can mimic the positive aspects of natural light. We call this good light. Good light indoors can give you that pleasant relaxed feeling all year round, and it improves your well-being and health. Happy people need good light! If you want to learn more, please contact the Good Light Group. Jan Denneman Chair Good Light Group

Today we welcomed Medilux as Participant of the Good Light Group. MediluX has over 20 years of experience in lighting project implementation and advice in the 24/7 environment and in health care environments. Science driven protocols to apply the right light at the right time for safety and health are their core business. Medilux is international supplier for lighting projects in control rooms in the petrochemical industry. Medilux is a partner of Honeywell, and has participated in user committees in several scientific projects of the faculty of Science and Engineering of the University of Groningen, The Netherlands.

Recently Luger Research joined as Participant of the Good Light Group. Luger Research publishes the bi-monthly magazine “LED professional Review” and the bi-weekly “LED professional Newsletter”. They organized the “LED professional Symposium +Expo” and “Trends in Lighting Forum &Show” from 2010 to 2019 and this year they premiere the first global digital lighting conference platform, “LpS Digital”. Luger Research brings a wealth of experience in communication and reporting the beneficial aspects of good light, staying true to their motto: Exploring Light for a Better Future. https://www.lugerresearch.com/

We are very happy that Novalogy Inc joined as Participant of the Good Light Group. Novalogy Inc. is a leader in the wearable light therapy field. Their mission is to provide solutions, data and inspiration for people to lead healthier, happier and more active lives. The flagship product AYO is an award winning wearable device that helps people have more energy, sleep better and improve overall wellbeing. AYO has been sold in over 100 countries, featured in many of the biggest media outlets and used by some of the most prominent athletes, leaders, researchers and companies in the world. https://goayo.com/