I thought "cold" lights were weird and unnatural. One day I was walking to my bedroom and realized I left the sun lamp (which I classified as weird and unnatural) turned on, based on the glare coming from around the corner. And then I walked into the room and discovered that no, that was just the natural sunlight, and the lamp was turned off. Whoa. So that ugly light I hated was much closer to the real thing than I'd realized.
LED lighting has gotten even better since 2019. My WFH desk is in a dark corner. I am currently in the process of speccing out a high-CRI, soffit-mounted LED strip to wash the wall behind my monitor: https://store.waveformlighting.com/products/dynawhite-dim-to...
This product has built-in “warm dim” support from 4000K to 3000K on a common PWM dimmer. No separate DMX module or 0-10V line required. The result will be an entire wall of broad-spectrum light brightening my work environment, balancing out the light from my monitor, and improving my mood by emulating morning or evening light.
AYO looks lifted from a plot line from Northern Exposure that I've not thought about in a lot of years. I just ordered a pair in hopes that they end up being more convenient than trying to stay in one place near a bright light. Certainly cheaper / easier than the various unfinished and unstarted DIY winter lighting projects I've considered.
If I were independently wealthy, I'd have a ceiling of those Coelux sun simulator panels.
I bought a bunch of 3000K LED strip lights over COVID. Definitely one of my highest benefit/cost ratio purchases ever. I much prefer the strip lights since it distributes light more evenly.
Another thing I'd highly recommend for people struggling with shorter days is the Philips SmartSleep Wake-up light [1]. The price is a bit insane for a light, but it's so much gentler than cheaper no-name options I've tried. It has a very dim starting brightness, the "steps" as it ramps up are imperceptible, and the color gradually shifts from very warm to less warm.
I don't think this will help at all in the way of SAD treatment (not bright enough), but it does make mornings more pleasant.
I have this and love it. Underrated is its wind-down feature at night, where you press a button to turn it on at full brightness, then over a period of time you set (I have mine at 45 minutes) it gets redder and dimmer, like a sunset. I've found it a great way to slow down at the end of the day.
I do wish it had day-of-week alarms, so it'd automatically wake me up at the same time each day. As it is, if I forget to set it today, it won't go off tomorrow. That said, almost every alarm clock I've ever owned has been like that so it's not some egregious failure. Out of habit, when I turn off the alarm each morning, I press the button again to turn it back on so it triggers a day later.
extremely simple idea and very helpful -- I bought a big daylight LED light panel for less than $100 and it did seem to work for me! Obviously hard to distinguish from placebo since you can't be blinded (pun intended)
A bunch of huge honking off-road led bars. Neat solution. That's stuck with me for a long time.
I've had 3x mid sized (~50w) corn bulbs for a while myself. Rarely am I blasting it though. The aluminum reflectors people build makes me think perhaps just getting something more directional would be better but the extra diffusion probably is worth losing some of tht light for.
The article here is missing recommendations on bulbs. I can soft recommend Aries series
, have been fine for me: I have a mark 2 and a mark 3. There's a new mark 4. Many units have builtin adjustable dimming and now color control (warmth). Example, this 120w e39 bulb: https://www.ledlightexpert.com/120-watt-led-corn-bulb-5700k-...
Another way to look at it is that US house design sucks, both in the type, size and placement of windows, and because the presence of a closet in an office is a very bad idea because it makes one of the walls unviable for setting a desk.
It also depends where in the US one lives. Closer to the equator and SAD will be less of a concern. Up north when there are only 8-9 hours of daylight (and it's often overcast) then the article becomes much more of a solution than better windows.
This product has built-in “warm dim” support from 4000K to 3000K on a common PWM dimmer. No separate DMX module or 0-10V line required. The result will be an entire wall of broad-spectrum light brightening my work environment, balancing out the light from my monitor, and improving my mood by emulating morning or evening light.
The AYO glasses made the biggest difference for me. Took about 2-3 weeks of consistent use for me to notice the effect.
Those coupled with the light box have made the winter months much more bearable.
If I were independently wealthy, I'd have a ceiling of those Coelux sun simulator panels.
I don't think this will help at all in the way of SAD treatment (not bright enough), but it does make mornings more pleasant.
[1] https://www.amazon.com/Philips-Simulation-Headspace-Subscrip...
I do wish it had day-of-week alarms, so it'd automatically wake me up at the same time each day. As it is, if I forget to set it today, it won't go off tomorrow. That said, almost every alarm clock I've ever owned has been like that so it's not some egregious failure. Out of habit, when I turn off the alarm each morning, I press the button again to turn it back on so it triggers a day later.
A bunch of huge honking off-road led bars. Neat solution. That's stuck with me for a long time.
I've had 3x mid sized (~50w) corn bulbs for a while myself. Rarely am I blasting it though. The aluminum reflectors people build makes me think perhaps just getting something more directional would be better but the extra diffusion probably is worth losing some of tht light for.
The article here is missing recommendations on bulbs. I can soft recommend Aries series , have been fine for me: I have a mark 2 and a mark 3. There's a new mark 4. Many units have builtin adjustable dimming and now color control (warmth). Example, this 120w e39 bulb: https://www.ledlightexpert.com/120-watt-led-corn-bulb-5700k-...
speak for yourself: https://i.pinimg.com/736x/50/5e/d7/505ed7d668a4d3a9ce04a8757...