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Bad light can harm our experience of energy, sleep, happiness and health. Having mood swings? Feeling down or restless? Mood problems can be a signal that your biological clock is not in sync with the time of day. Mood problems can be a signal that your biological clock is not in sync with the time of day. Our bodies are designed to respond to the natural light-dark cycle. When this cycle is disrupted, such as by excessive exposure to artificial light at night or insufficient daylight during the day, it can lead to mood swings, restlessness, and even depression. If you wish to bring good light into your life, watch our latest animations, click here: Try | Home | Good Light Group | Foundation Good light supports us in everything we do. Good light has a great positive impact on our experience of energy, sleep, happiness and health.

Bad light can harm our experience of energy, sleep, happiness and health. Daytime fatigue? Low energy? Making more errors? Energy problems can be a signal that your biological clock is not in sync with the time of day. Bad lighting doesn't just affect your energy levels; it can also disrupt your sleep patterns, mood, and overall well-being. Insufficient exposure to natural light during the day or exposure to bad electrical light can throw off your circadian rhythm, leading to a feeling of daytime fatigue, low energy, and a bad mood. If you wish to bring good light into your life, watch our latest animations, click here: Try | Home | Good Light Group | Foundation Good light supports us in everything we do. Good light has a great positive impact on our experience of energy, sleep, happiness and health.

Let’s toast to a healthier and happier new year. From improving mood to enhancing sleep, daylight is nature's present to us all. Wishing you a bright and luminous 2024 with lots of good light.

Light supports us in everything we do. Good light means the right light at the right time. It has a great positive impact on our experience of energy, sleep, happiness and health. However, not all light is good. Bad light is either too dim during the day or too bright in the evening and at night. Bad light can harm our experience of energy, sleep, happiness and health. When we receive sufficient natural light during the day, it signals our body to stay alert and active. This is why exposure to bright light, especially in the morning, can help us feel more energized and awake. Most of the time artificial light is too dim during the day. In the evening, our bodies need a decrease in light, signaling it's time to prepare for sleep. However, bright lights from screens or poorly designed indoor lighting can trick our brain into thinking it's still daytime. Bad light can harm your experience of energy, sleep, happiness and health. If you wish to bring good light into your life, watch our latest animations, click here: Try | Home | Good Light Group | Foundation Good light supports us in everything we do. Good light has a great positive impact on our experience of energy, sleep, happiness and health.

Bad light can harm our experience of energy, sleep, happiness and health. Trouble sleeping at night? Need an alarm to wake up? Waking up unrested? Low energy? Sleeping problems can be a signal that your biological clock is not in sync with the time of day. Our body operates on a circadian rhythm, which is essentially an internal 24-hour clock that regulates various physiological processes. This rhythm is influenced by daylight, which helps to synchronize our internal clock with the external world. Exposure to bad light like bright screens late at night or insufficient daylight exposure during the day, can disrupt our circadian rhythm. If you wish to bring good light into your life, watch our latest animations, click here: Try | Home | Good Light Group | Foundation Good light supports us in everything we do. Good light has a great positive impact on our experience of energy, sleep, happiness and health.

In this meeting of the Good Light Group we start with a brief update on the progress of the Good Light Group. The results of our yearly survey have been presented. The Net Promotor Score is 58%, which is very high. Watch the update Malgo Kenyon Malgo Kenyon talks about Lumie, an organization that's been around for 32 years. She'll cover Lumie's history, how their light therapy lamps have changed over time, and their focus on helping people sleep better and have more energy. Starting back in 1991 with small light therapy lamps and the first wake-up light in 1992, Lumie has grown thanks to ongoing research and studies. Watch presentation Anneloes Opperhuizen A presentation with insights of Dr. Anneloes Opperhuizen and Dr. Marijke Gordijn latest book, The clock with thousand hands. Dr. Opperhuizen herself delves into the influence of our biological clocks on our sleep and well-being. She explains how these internal timekeepers determine whether we're early birds or night owls, significantly shaping our sleep patterns and times of energy. The book also highlights the lesser-known aspects of our biological clocks, including their role in when you should have your meal and when the body is optimally prepared for digestion. Watch presentation

In the 100th edition of LED professional Review magazine, our board member Jan Denneman presents a commentary giving a quick overview of 16 years LED history. Photo by Proxyclick Visitor Management System on Unsplash A summery of the article LED lighting has evolved from a niche application to becoming the primary light source in indoor and outdoor lighting. However, the focus has largely been on energy and cost savings, and the potential of LED lighting indoors to enhance health by improving sleep patterns and mood is less recognized. The development of lighting solutions that promote people's health is not only a socially responsible step but also opens up new possibilities in the market. Rather than waiting for another 100 editions of LpR to witness this change, all stakeholders in the lighting industry can take action now. Let's start by telling the story of good lighting, applying it in our own environments, and executing inspiring best-practice projects that demonstrate the power of health-focused lighting. Together, we can transform the lighting market and consider light not only as an energy-saving tool but as an essential tool for our health and well-being. Read the full article here

KUMUX believes in harnessing the benefits of natural light alongside existing lighting technology. Through scientific research, they've developed artificial intelligence that enhances existing lighting control systems by providing them with optimal lighting settings data, including correlated colour temperature (CCT) and brightness. This allows them to recreate the effects of natural sunlight indoors while adapting the lighting to suit specific activities in each space. KUMUX's automated lighting control system operates seamlessly throughout the day, all year round, unlocking the full potential of tunable white LEDs for the health and wellness of our users. The advantages of proper lighting for overall well-being are often underestimated. As Leticia Arranz Rodríguez, a marketing specialist at KUMUX, puts it: 'By joining the Good Light Group, we are part of a movement dedicated to raising awareness about the importance of quality lighting in our daily lives for the maintenance and enhancement of our health and well-being.' More about KUMUX

On November 15th, our group, together with the Society for Light Treatment and Biological Rhythms (SLTBR), the Daylight Academy (DLA), and Luger Research (LR), organised and presented the “deLIGHTed Talks - History of Good Light, Beyond the Visual Spectrum” lectures. The videos of these lectures are now online, as well as the panel discussion! Priji Balakrishnan With a welcome and introduction Watch the introduction here Timo Partonen - Full daylight spectrum from a historical perspective The idea that sunshine is good for us is as old as the human civilisation itself. Heliotherapy used sunlight as medical therapy mainly for rickets and tuberculosis until vitamin D supplementation and antibiotics replaced it. In this talk I shall review the medical basis for current therapies with ultraviolet, visible, and infrared wavelengths. Phototherapy evolved from heliotherapy to apply artificial radiation, with diverse modifications, for treatment of certain skin diseases and cancers. Light therapy of visible light was found effective for treatment of winter depression in the 1980’s. Photobiomodulation emerges from discoveries of laser technology in the 1960’s and applies artificial infrared radiation for reducing pain due to knee osteoarthritis and shoulder tendinopathies for instance. Watch the lecture here Anne Berends - Beyond the visible: the proven effects of near-infrared light on health and well-being. Although 50% of natural sunlight consists of near-infrared light, the health effects of this type of light have long been overlooked in the lighting community. Scientific research since the 1960’s has resulted in a vast body of evidence on the beneficial effects of near-infrared light on a variety of medical conditions, and a recent clinical study shows that also generally healthy people benefit from daily near-infrared exposure. Today, near-infrared light is absent in the indoor environment. In this talk I will highlight the health effects of near-infrared light and discuss the most effective way of bringing near-infrared light into the built environment. Watch the lecture here The panel discussion

A blog by Oliver Stefani From a nutritional standpoint, much is known about healthy snacks, but defining a LIGHT snack is more complex. We know that higher light intensities during the day, more than what we currently experience indoors, are better for our sleep and health. Light exposure during the day also influences evening light sensitivity, with more light exposure during the day reducing light sensitivity in the evening. Brown et al. (2022) recommend a minimum of 250 lx mEDI throughout the day. The following thoughts are not based on deductive scientific conclusions, but just playing with numbers. Assuming we sleep for 8 hours and have three hours before bedtime below the recommended 10 lx mEDI, this would be 13 hours at 250 lx mEDI, totaling a minimum recommended daily light exposure of 3,250 lx*h . In a recent study by Schöllhorn et al.(2023) participants were exposed to approximately 33,000 lx*h in summer and 15,000 lx*h in winter on the day before they entered a study on light effects in the evening. This exposure is 5 to 10 times higher than the minimal indoor lighting recommendation. Photo by: Oliver Stefani The study examined the extent to which studies on the effects of evening light included seasonal information. The authors concluded that more sleep and circadian studies have been conducted in winter than in summer, and measuring individual light history isn’t standard practice. They found that evening light sensitivity is indeed reduced in summer, likely due to higher daytime light exposure. In summer, the evening light exposure under test had no impact on the time needed to fall asleep. However,, in winter, sleep latency was significant affected by the evening light exposure in their experiment. To draw firmer conclusions and make recommendations about light snacks, measuring individual light exposure history is essential. For now, what this means to me is that “light snacks” during the day are more important in winter than in summer, when we naturally get a full meal of good (day-) light anyway. In winter, stepping out onto the balcony from time to time might be a good light snack. The Good Light Group recommends taking a daily 2 hour walk outside in natural light. Spending 2 hours outdoors in winter is challenging, even for dog owners. How long should we be out on the balcony? We don’t know but we could play with numbers again: Reykjavik in Iceland has a median diffuse outdoor illuminance of 11.500 lx and Icelanders are one of the happiest nations in the world. As this is daylight, we can estimate 11.500 lx mEDI as well. An outdoor cigarette break is around 5 minutes. That would correspond roughly to 1000 lx*h in Reykjavik. With three – of course non-smoking - cigarette breaks of 5 minutes we could at least achieve the minimum recommended light dose, even if this is only a rough estimate. In any case, a light LIGHT dinner should not exceed the recommended 30 lx*h mEDI. Brown et al. (2022): https://journals.plos.org/plosbiology/article?id=10.1371/journal.pbio.3001571 Schöllhorn et al. (2023): https://www.mdpi.com/2624-5175/5/4/44

The Daylight Academy hosts Daylight Awareness Week from 13th to 17th November. This year’s theme, "Daylight and us: learning from the past?" The week explores the historical relationship between daylight and human society. The program includes talks, visual presentations, and articles, aiming to deepen understanding of daylight's role throughout history. Online programme: Webinar: "The Sun and us: ancient times and traditional knowledge" on Monday, 13 November, 17:00-18:30 CET. 6th edition of the deLIGHTed Talks: "History of Good Light – Beyond the Visual Spectrum" on Wednesday, 15 November, 15:00-16:30 CET. Online discussion: "Solar energy: the test of time and politics" with documentary "A Road Not Taken" on Thursday, 16 November, 18:00-19:45 CET. For more info or to register see Daylight awareness week

In our modern lives, the significance of natural light, specifically daylight, is often underestimated. The right light at the right time can influence our sleep quality, mental health, and overall well-being. But why does good light matter so much? and how can you tap into its advantages? Photo by Jakob Owens on Unsplash The Power of Good Light Good light, or daylight, isn't just about illumination; it's about aligning our body's natural rhythms with time of day. Here are some of the advantages: Improved sleep Exposure to bright natural light during the day regulates our internal body clock, leading to better sleep quality. Dimming the lights in the evening prepares us for a good night’s sleep. Enhanced mental Health Natural light can boost mood and reduce symptoms of depression and anxiety. Increased productivity Good light improves focus and productivity while reducing fatigue. Healthier well-being Beyond sleep and mental health, good light supports overall well-being. How to profit from the benefits of good light Spend Time Outdoors Make a habit of spending time outdoors during daylight hours, whether it's a morning walk, a lunch break outside, or a leisurely hike. Morning Light Start your day with natural light by opening curtains or blinds upon waking to signal alertness. Stay indoors within one meter from a window. Evening Dimming In the evening, reduce exposure to artificial light, especially from screens. Use warm, dim lighting to prepare for sleep. Install Good Light Install electric light indoors that compensates for the lack of daylight. Look here for solutions: TRY Consider light therapy for areas with limited daylight or during darker seasons. These devices mimic natural sunlight and help regulate circadian rhythms. Holidays: An Opportunity to be in good light Holidays provide an ideal chance to reconnect with natural light. Whether you're on vacation or enjoying a staycation, embrace outdoor activities like hiking, swimming, or picnicking to immerse yourself in day light. Let this holiday season be a time to (re)discover the many benefits of good light, leading you towards a healthier and happier life.