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Comment by berti | Hacker News Reader

Aside from the sky glow aspects, I really dislike cool blue lighting. I've just had my office upgraded to warm white LEDs and it's really noticeable every time I walk into a colleague's office with "cool daylight" coloured lighting.

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My friends call me The Illuminazi for my habit of swapping everyones fluoros and compact fluoros our for 2700K ones.

It’s an expense I’m happy to pay.

One of the best benefits of working from home for me is that I can have the lighting I prefer (4000k, with both my light and screen set to the same color temp). But if I ever go back to an office I'm stealing this idea.

Have you ever tried blue blocking glasses?

Personally I’d prefer rose-coloured glasses.

Even just a 10% brown on your regular glasses makes a noticeable difference.

I did try blue blocking glasses awhile back, didn't seem to work well for me, but I should try them again since I've become more aware of how things affect me now.

I very much prefer working in cold white and whee I relax and rest there I prefer warm white. I think cold white helps me stay awake and more alert. It all might be s placebo of course.

No that's actually proven science; white or blueish lights help you wake up / stay awake, whereas orange / red lights will help you relax / sleep / produce melatonin. It's why F.lux and the native solutions shift screens to red at night. It's really quite stark a difference if you turn that off at night.

Yes. It's also why you have the Blue Light Filter on your android phone (which I have always-on).

I have it always on my iPhone and triple click home makes it even redder.

It's far from proven science.

There are lots of studies and articles discussing the affects of blue light on melatonin and sleep

https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/30311830

https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC2717723/

https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC2831986/

https://www.health.harvard.edu/staying-healthy/blue-light-ha...

https://www.sleepfoundation.org/articles/how-blue-light-affe...

https://www.healthline.com/nutrition/block-blue-light-to-sle...

https://brighamhealthhub.org/prevention/using-light-emitting...

https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/q-a-why-is-blue-l...

https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/30311830 No real conclusions. It's appears to be a study aimed at making future studies better "The review enables further development of an evaluation method of light pollution in LCA regarding the light-induced impacts on human circadian system."

https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC2717723/ No definitive conclusions: "Additional laboratory-based and field studies are still necessary to better understand some features of the human circadian response to light. We are only beginning to understand how prior exposure to light affects the subsequent response to a light stimulus, and our understanding of how light exposure can affect the period of the human circadian system is also limited (135)."

https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC2831986/ Seems to be a review of other research by a journalist

https://www.health.harvard.edu/staying-healthy/blue-light-ha... news article, not science

https://www.sleepfoundation.org/articles/how-blue-light-affe... News article, not science

I'd go through the rest but it's time for lunch.

That's a different claim.

Blue light can interfere with Circadian signalling. Nothing new there, though the issue is under-recognized.

What is being claimed is that blue light is good for staying alert, presumably during the working day. That's more tricky, and would argue that blue-light is reinforcing some aspect of the cycle or has a unique physiological effect.

This is, however, unlikely; blue light serves primarily to entrain the clock, i.e. to keep it in period and phase with the daily cycle. Without this light signaling, your clock will 'free run' which is a cycle that is slightly longer than the 24 hour cycle. Crucially, it's important to note that the clock functions just fine, it just no longer adheres to a strict 24 hour cycle.

The idea that more blue light throughout the day, beyond the morning zeitgeber, would have an effect on performance is very different idea. To my knowledge, there is not any evidence that this would be the case, and it is contrary to my understanding of Human Circadian Rhythms.

This is backed by science. Philips Hue uses warmer color temperatures for relaxation presets and colder brighter ones for energization. Anecdotally, the "energize" setting is too much for me. I usually just use Relax, a nice sunny yellow, unless I really need to focus and gear down hard.

I have a few Philips Choose Scene, or Scene Switch, whatever they’re called this week.

They cycle between warm and cool when switched off and back on, but aren’t a connected device.

I believe the latest incarnation has a dim and even warmer setting as well.

> This is backed by science.

It wasn't at all when I looked into it last year. Can you point me to new research in this area?

Look at bulb spectra: https://www.researchgate.net/profile/Fawzia_Abdel-Rahman/pub...

Any reptile or bird owner can easily attest to the effectiveness of full spectrum light on a living being.

That's why I'm pretty happy with my smart lights, they can change kelvin rating, so while working it can be blueish, and later on more warm.

My wife and I have replaced pretty much every light bulb in our apartment with candle light style bulbs for this reason. During the day we just have sunlight from the windows, but at night these are much more relaxing.

https://www.lowes.com/pd/GE-Vintage-60-Watt-EQ-G25-Warm-Cand...

For cool daylight 5500K lamps to look natural, they must give very intense light, like a slightly overcast summer sky.

Few people do this outside a photography set, though.

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