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Is anyone else unaffected by lighting and screens? Ive been 'addicted' to the computer/tv since I was 1 years old apparently. I dont find myself affected by a

Is anyone else unaffected by lighting and screens? Ive been 'addicted' to the computer/tv since I was 1 years old apparently. I dont find myself affected by any of these blue or yellow lights. I tried making the change and thought it was easier on my eyes, but I didnt feel different.

giobox 8y ago
From a purely aesthetic point of view, I do like having bulbs that can shift white balance over the course of a day. In the evening particularly, it feels much more "homely" (what the Danes famously partly refer to in their concept of "hygge") to have warmer lighting (4000k-ish). I also like to have something much more like mid-day sun (5500k) during working hours. The latest smart bulbs make it relatively trivial to have your home do this. There is something nice about pure midday colored light when trying to focus for me that I can't really put my finger on. I'd be lying if I said I had felt this has a measurable effect on my well being, but such things are hard to measure anecdotally. I have personally never liked the software that adjusts computer screen display white balance over the course of a day though.
derefr 8y ago
My hypothesis is that the people who get majorly affected by blue light at night, are that way because they’re not getting a strong-enough pulse of blue light in the morning for their circadian clock to calibrate itself by. It latches onto whatever signal it can find, and thus begins to think that “sunrise” happens at 9AM when you sit down at your blue-light-emitting monitor, rather than at 6AM when blue light starts coming down from the sky. Or, shorter: maybe it’s because you have large east-facing exposure in your house.
- thekingofh 8y ago
  Do you mean West facing? If you had a large East facing exposure then it would give you that pulse of blue light in the morning. I've got a big East facing exposure and don't have any issue with blue light screens. Watch TV every night before bed. No problems.
  - derefr 8y ago
    No, I meant that the GP doesn't have a problem with blue light, because they do get enough light from the sunrise.
  - mfgs 8y ago
    That depends on which hemisphere you're in.
    - pishpash 8y ago
      Unless you're on another planet, no.
- graeme 8y ago
  Ancditally, I’ve had insomnia and bkue light at night seemed part of it. I still block nighttime light, but I’ve alao been going to my balcony in the sun for a bit first thing upon waking. I think it has helped.
nategri 8y ago
Same. So much so that I thought the whole thing about blue light thing was BS. BUT it apparently at least rises to the level of being peer-reviewed BS, so I'm keeping an open mind. And I admit to extreme privilege in this regard. My sleep rhythm has an incredible amount of predictability and I'm usually asleep inside 10 minutes of getting into bed.
- deleted 8y ago
  [deleted]
majormajor 8y ago
I find a light that gradually turns off over 20-30 minutes at bedtime to be nice (though it could just be placebo, for all I know) but seem unaffected by phone-vs-book-vs-kindle lighting types.
WorldMaker 8y ago
> I tried making the change and thought it was easier on my eyes, but I didnt feel different. Easier on the eyes is still something of a feeling, even if you perhaps don't prize it that much. My impression is that a) the effects vary from person to person with individual preferences/different lifestyles and environments, and b) they are subtle effects to begin with. I think it is telling that many of the more prominent examples here are from Seattle, which has several months of weaker access to sunlight (due to overcast/cloudy skies, northern exposure, etc), and we know people there tend to have additional difficulty with things like Seasonal Affected Disorder. So the effects may be more pronounced and obvious in such an environment. As with all such things, your own mileage may vary. I've been programming my systems and my Hue lights to take this sort of stuff into account, and while I'm not sure I see strong benefits day-to-day, every little bit seems to add up/help. There are certainly days when I come home from the fluorescent light lit multi-screen office I work in and feel subtly more relaxed by the dimmer and redder palette I use in the evenings at home. Maybe some of that is placebo effect, but certainly if it makes me happy, it's a worthwhile tool, even if it is just a placebo effect. Certainly it is subtle enough that I don't think about it most days, individually, but I feel like in the long term it does add up.
pishpash 8y ago
It's not about easier on the eyes. It's about producing melatonin in the brain to trigger sleepiness.
Nomentatus 8y ago
Your melatonin (master hormone) and steroid levels are being affected, you are just innured - don't really notice a difference. Similarly, studies have shown that those who think they've completely adapted to noise at night in high traffic areas, say, are actually being harmed. Remember, these effects are comparable to jet-lag and spread out over weeks, they aren't simply immediate effects.

giobox 8y ago

From a purely aesthetic point of view, I do like having bulbs that can shift white balance over the course of a day. In the evening particularly, it feels much more "homely" (what the Danes famously partly refer to in their concept of "hygge") to have warmer lighting (4000k-ish). I also like to have something much more like mid-day sun (5500k) during working hours. The latest smart bulbs make it relatively trivial to have your home do this. There is something nice about pure midday colored light when trying to focus for me that I can't really put my finger on. I'd be lying if I said I had felt this has a measurable effect on my well being, but such things are hard to measure anecdotally. I have personally never liked the software that adjusts computer screen display white balance over the course of a day though.

derefr 8y ago

My hypothesis is that the people who get majorly affected by blue light at night, are that way because they’re not getting a strong-enough pulse of blue light in the morning for their circadian clock to calibrate itself by. It latches onto whatever signal it can find, and thus begins to think that “sunrise” happens at 9AM when you sit down at your blue-light-emitting monitor, rather than at 6AM when blue light starts coming down from the sky. Or, shorter: maybe it’s because you have large east-facing exposure in your house.

thekingofh 8y ago
Do you mean West facing? If you had a large East facing exposure then it would give you that pulse of blue light in the morning. I've got a big East facing exposure and don't have any issue with blue light screens. Watch TV every night before bed. No problems.
- derefr 8y ago
  No, I meant that the GP doesn't have a problem with blue light, because they do get enough light from the sunrise.
- mfgs 8y ago
  That depends on which hemisphere you're in.
  - pishpash 8y ago
    Unless you're on another planet, no.
graeme 8y ago
Ancditally, I’ve had insomnia and bkue light at night seemed part of it. I still block nighttime light, but I’ve alao been going to my balcony in the sun for a bit first thing upon waking. I think it has helped.

nategri 8y ago

Same. So much so that I thought the whole thing about blue light thing was BS. BUT it apparently at least rises to the level of being peer-reviewed BS, so I'm keeping an open mind. And I admit to extreme privilege in this regard. My sleep rhythm has an incredible amount of predictability and I'm usually asleep inside 10 minutes of getting into bed.

deleted 8y ago
[deleted]

majormajor 8y ago

I find a light that gradually turns off over 20-30 minutes at bedtime to be nice (though it could just be placebo, for all I know) but seem unaffected by phone-vs-book-vs-kindle lighting types.

WorldMaker 8y ago

> I tried making the change and thought it was easier on my eyes, but I didnt feel different. Easier on the eyes is still something of a feeling, even if you perhaps don't prize it that much. My impression is that a) the effects vary from person to person with individual preferences/different lifestyles and environments, and b) they are subtle effects to begin with. I think it is telling that many of the more prominent examples here are from Seattle, which has several months of weaker access to sunlight (due to overcast/cloudy skies, northern exposure, etc), and we know people there tend to have additional difficulty with things like Seasonal Affected Disorder. So the effects may be more pronounced and obvious in such an environment. As with all such things, your own mileage may vary. I've been programming my systems and my Hue lights to take this sort of stuff into account, and while I'm not sure I see strong benefits day-to-day, every little bit seems to add up/help. There are certainly days when I come home from the fluorescent light lit multi-screen office I work in and feel subtly more relaxed by the dimmer and redder palette I use in the evenings at home. Maybe some of that is placebo effect, but certainly if it makes me happy, it's a worthwhile tool, even if it is just a placebo effect. Certainly it is subtle enough that I don't think about it most days, individually, but I feel like in the long term it does add up.

pishpash 8y ago

It's not about easier on the eyes. It's about producing melatonin in the brain to trigger sleepiness.

Nomentatus 8y ago

Your melatonin (master hormone) and steroid levels are being affected, you are just innured - don't really notice a difference. Similarly, studies have shown that those who think they've completely adapted to noise at night in high traffic areas, say, are actually being harmed. Remember, these effects are comparable to jet-lag and spread out over weeks, they aren't simply immediate effects.