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Comment by jakobov | Hacker News Reader

I wonder what one gains by using super bright lights. The pupil will adjust to counter the effects of lighting.

Adding more lux just makes your pupil smaller. Or am I missing something? Maybe its non linear? Or maybe the idea is to reach the minimal pupil diameter? Or maybe happiness is somehow dependent on pupil diameter?

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On a sunny day, your pupil also adjusts to the effects of lighting.

And yet, people tend to enjoy a sunny day just from the sight. This is attempting to replicate that.

I wonder how important the infrared heat is to the "sight" of a sunny day.

My guess is it's some complex neurological response triggered by 'knowing' (or being sufficiently convinced) that one is surrounded by bright outdoor sunlight, rather than a physiological response powered by the light absorbed by the retina. What matters is the brain's estimate of the current lux value, which would take pupil size into account. This is just a guess.

1. It's not all about eyes. The skin also reacts to light.

2. Even though your pupil shrinks, you get a larger total number of light rays into the eye. Your visual cortex adjusts the image so you don't realize that a sunlit scene is a million times brighter than a lamplit scene. These extra rays may still affect something hormonal.

3. Even if it's partially psychosomatic or placebo, you would still be reinforcing the effect by telling yourself that you're doing it as a substitute.

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