Search Results

Not so long ago, in 2017, three American scientists received the Nobel Prize for their groundbreaking research on the biological clock. They discovered how the biological clock actually works. We’ve got light-sensitive cells in our eyes called spheres. These connect to the part of the brain called the biological clock that regulates our body’s daily rhythms. But what does this mean for us? The spheres send signals to our brain, which then sends signals to our internal systems to activate processes or let our body know when to get ready for sleep. These spheres react to the type of light you get, so it’s very important to get the right light at the right time. ·       Intense morning light awakens our body. ·       Daylight gives us more energy. ·       Dim evening light makes your body ready for sleep. Make sure you get at least two hours of daylight, or use electric light that compensates for the lack of daylight, during the day. This way, your biological clock can run in sync with the time of day, helping you feel energized at the right time and sleepy at the right time. And that's not all good light can do for you! Read more in our other blogs . More info about the 2017 Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine

Lighting plays a crucial role in our daily lives, influencing everything such as our mood, energy, health and productivity. However, not all light is equal. Understanding the difference between good light and bad light can significantly impact your overall well-being. What is Good Light? Good light is daylight or artificial lighting that compensates for the lack of daylight. This type of light is characterized by its brightness, colour temperature, and ability to simulate the natural changes in light throughout the day. The benefits of good light Exposure to good light helps regulate your circadian rhythm, the natural biological clock that dictates your sleep-wake cycle. As a result, you experience less fatigue, a boost in energy levels and mood and increased productivity What is Bad Light? Bad light refers to artificial lighting that is either too dim during the day, too bright in the evening and night or of poor quality. This type of lighting can have a negative effect on your health and well-being. The negative effects of bad light Insufficient light during the day or overly bright lighting during the night can cause several negative effects such as: eye strain, disrupted sleep patterns, negative impacts on health and on mood, such as depression and anxiety, leading to low energy levels. Creating a good light environment To harness the benefits of good light, consider the following tips: Spend at least two hours outside daily, with at least half an hour in the morning. When indoors for extended periods, stay within one meter of a window. After every 20 minutes of screen time, get up and look at the sky for 20 seconds. Install electric good light  that compensates for the lack of daylight from sunrise to sunset, ensuring you receive at least 500 lux in your eyes during the daytime. Aim to keep lighting below 10 lux three hours before bedtime by avoiding bright lights and setting your screen to night mode. At night, keep lighting below 1 lux.

Artificial lighting is a key part of our daily lives, often replacing natural daylight. This shift can disrupt our circadian rhythms, which are the body’s natural 24-hour cycles regulated by the brain’s suprachiasmatic nucleus (SCN). The SCN helps synchronize our internal clock with the day-night cycle, mainly influenced by blue light at the 480nm wavelength. Disruption of this rhythm can lead to health issues like sleep disturbances, mood disorders, metabolic problems, and cardiovascular diseases. Photo by Luca Bravo on Unsplash One major concern is the excessive exposure to blue light from electronic devices and LED lights. Evening exposure to this light suppresses melatonin production, a hormone essential for sleep regulation. Irregular lighting and high-intensity artificial light can also cause physiological imbalances, increasing eye strain and visual fatigue, which negatively impact productivity and overall well-being. Good light is the right light at the right time. Artificial lighting with natural light patterns supports a healthier circadian rhythm. Implementing good light involves using high colour temperature, blue-rich light in the morning to boost alertness and warm, melatonin-friendly light in the evening to encourage relaxation and better sleep. Dynamic lighting systems can simulate natural light changes throughout the day, helping maintain a balanced internal clock.   To measure the effectiveness of your good light setups you can use advanced tools like the UPRtek MK350S Premium spectrometer. This device can assess key parameters such as melanopic irradiance, melanopic lux, and the melanopic ratio. These measurements help evaluate how well a lighting environment can stimulate or suppress melatonin production, aligning with natural circadian rhythms. By testing these parameters, individuals can scientifically select lighting that meets good light standards, optimizing their light environment for health and productivity. More info about the UPRtek350S Premium spectrometer More info about UPRtek

Rofianda Light Solutions has become a participant of the Good Light Group to share more knowledge about real good light. The goal of Rofianda Light Solutions is to make good light available to every organism in the world—humans, animals, and plants—to create a better world to live in. As everyone knows, people spend almost 90% of their lives inside buildings, and the quality of light is far from the optimum we need. By partnering in the development of the Sunlight LED chip, and being the first in the world able to make all available fixtures with this unique feature, Rofianda Light Solutions is confident that this can be changed if people are willing to shift their way of thinking. More info about Rofianda Light Solutions

Light is crucial for human beings, with good light at the right time forming the foundation of both psychological and physiological health. Recognising the importance of lighting in our daily lives, Lighting Recipe Studio is dedicated to innovating the biological impacts of light, paving the way for healthy illuminated environments. Our interaction with light shapes our well-being, so it’s crucial to develop lighting solutions that positively impact our biological rhythms. By understanding how light affects us, from our mood to our sleep patterns, the studio creates lighting recipes that compensate for the lack of daylight. Good Light Group and Lighting Recipe Studio share the same vision, so, we are very excited to collaborate. More info about Light Recipe Studio

We are thrilled to announce a new partnership between Atrium Ltd, the UK’s leading specialist in lighting and controls, and our group. This alliance merges Atrium's expertise in human-centric lighting with our dedication to educating people about the benefits of natural daylight, good electric lighting, and the health risks of extended indoor exposure of bad lighting. Together, we aim to set a new standard in lighting, enhancing lives and promoting well-being through innovative and impactful design. Photo by Jonathan Banks About Atrium Ltd Founded in 1976, Atrium Ltd is the UK's foremost independent lighting specialist, providing top-tier solutions for commercial, retail, hospitality, residential, and public sectors. Atrium Ltd collaborates with architects and designers to create lighting experiences that transform spaces and nurture well-being. Discover more at www.atrium.ltd.uk.

We've got a new participant, UPRtek. They are pioneers in developing high-quality solutions for light meters, flicker frequency meters, spectrometers, and spectroradiometers. “We hope to join The Good Light Group in promoting the importance of good lighting to the world, as UPRtek's mission aligns with that of The Good Light Group. Here, there are many pioneers in the lighting industry, and we believe that good lighting also requires excellent professional measuring instruments to complement it.” Hedy Lee | Deputy Sales Manager UPRtek More info about UPRtek

Blog by Marijke Gordijn At the end of May, the Daylight Academy held its annual conference in Trondheim, Norway. About 100 participants from around the world attended the meeting and discussed the importance of daylight and how to improve human exposure to this sustainable form of light. Daylight is the natural light from the sun. It contains the full spectrum and shows a clear rhythm, with high intensities during the day to see well, but also to support our biological clock and sleep well at night. The daylight spectrum includes more than just the visible part; there are short wavelengths that are important for vitamin D production, and near-infrared wavelengths that are important for the immune system. Photo by Marijke Gordijn The Daylight Academy is a non-profit organization, initiated and funded by the Velux Stiftung. They bring together scientists from different backgrounds: architects, engineers, urban planners, sleep experts, chronobiologists and other professionals involved in daylight research or with a strong interest in daylight-related topics. Jan Denneman, chairman of the Good Light Group, became a member in 2023, Marijke Gordijn became a member at this meeting. The DLA and the GLG both have the same mission: encouraging exposure to the right light at the right time. By working together we can reach a larger audience and hope to make a real impact. In Trondheim we discussed how we can use daylight in the service of the 17 United Nations Sustainable Development Goals. We wondered why daylight is not mentioned by the European Environment Agency, while noise and clean air, for example, are. We listened to three keynote talks and participated in interdisciplinary parallel sessions. One of these sessions involved measuring northern twilight on the hotel roof at 11pm, with several participants bringing different instruments to capture the changing light. In another session we explored strategies to create more awareness among citizens about the importance of daylight. This last topic is of interest to both the Good Light Group and the Daylight Academy and hopefully we can come up with an interesting collaborative project to take this message further.

We will be sponsoring the Student Travel Award once again at the upcoming 35th meeting of our partner, the Society for Light Treatment and Biological Rhythms (SLTBR) in Prague. Last time, at the 33rd meeting, the award was won by Mushfiqul Anwar Siraji for his outstanding work on the development of a Light Exposure Behaviour Assessment. We are proud to have supported his journey. This year, we are already curious to see who will take home the Student Travel Award! More info on the 35th SLTBR meeting

The biological clock can only be synchronized with bright light during the day and dim light in the evening. Most people are unaware of the low light levels they experience indoors throughout the day. In most cases, they receive below 100 lux in their eyes, which is considered biological darkness. This is a major cause of sleep problems, lack of energy during the day, mood problems, and depressive feelings. To maintain a healthy biological clock, ensure you receive at least 500 lux in your eyes during the day. In the evening, reduce exposure to less than 10 lux, and at night, less than 1 lux. Outdoors, when the sun is up, you naturally receive thousands of lux. Indoors, you need to compensate for the lack of daylight. Sit close to a window and install bright electric lights to ensure you always receive at least 500 lux. Watch the video

William J. Schwartz, MD This study explores why different people have different reactions to light, especially how it affects their sleep-wake patterns. The research focuses on the genetic factors that influence these differences. Photo by Dewang Gupta on Unsplash Circadian Clock and Light Our circadian clock is an internal system that regulates sleep and wakefulness based on environmental light and dark cycles. Light characteristics such as wavelength, intensity, and exposure patterns help synchronize this clock to the natural day-night cycle. Chronotype Chronotype refers to individual sleep patterns, ranging from early risers ("larks") to night owls, with many variations in between. Light exposure significantly influences chronotype, but individuals react differently to the same light conditions. Biological Mechanisms Biological processes, including how our eyes process light and send signals to the brain, contribute to these individual differences. The study looks into genetic factors that might explain why people have different light sensitivities. The Study Researchers used data from 280,897 people in the UK BioBank to investigate the genetic basis of light sensitivity. They identified a new genetic locus on the ARL14EP gene, which may influence how sensitive someone is to light and could be related to retinal development. Findings People with greater light sensitivity tend to have a later chronotype, meaning they are more likely to be night owls. This might be linked to modern lighting patterns where there is less natural daylight exposure and more artificial light at night. Implications and Future Research While there are some limitations to the study, it marks a significant step toward understanding the genetic basis of light sensitivity. The ultimate goal is to develop personalized light exposure recommendations, termed "Good Light" regimens, to optimize individual circadian rhythms. This research is a promising start in understanding how genetics influence our response to light and how this affects our sleep patterns. Future work could lead to personalized advice on light exposure to improve sleep and overall health. Burns AC, Phillips AJK, Rutter MK, Saxena R, Cain SW, Lane JM. Genome-wide gene by environment study of time spent in daylight and chronotype identifies emerging genetic architecture underlying light sensitivity. Sleep, Volume 46, Issue 3, March 2023, zsac287. https://doi.org/10.1093/sleep/zsac287

Today, 16th May, we celebrate UNESCO's International Day of Light, highlighting the crucial role light plays in our health, happiness and well-being. Good light (daylight or electric light that mimics daylight) is essential for good sleep. But if you think you need darkness for better sleep quality, you are completely right. You need darkness at night. But you also need bright light during the day. Daylight is the best! Consider yourself sitting in a dimly lit room during the afternoon for around half an hour. How would you feel? •             A: Bright, active and full of attention •             B: Awake, but not very alert •             C: Sleepy, hard to keep my eyes open Did you answer not very alert, or even sleepy? So, this is what a lack of light can do to your brain! With more daytime light you feel active and you sleep better at night. So, if you want to improve your sleep, focus on the right light at the right time. Here are 4 simple rules: 1.           Go outside during daytime as much as possible 2.           Use bright light in the morning 3.           Dim your lights towards dinner 4.           Make the night as dark as possible