7 Daylighting artefacts that tackle Scandinavian Autumn blue

Finally the part of the year I really do not like, has come by.

In few days is November.

In West-coast Scandinavia November means: no tree-leaves, very grey landscape, nature sleeping, very cloudy and rainy weather, very few daylight hours, cold is not the worst thing I would say.

Together with cycling, yoga and vitamin D tablets, some daylighting artefacts has helped me so far, here my personal experience as a lighting designer;

1) Artificial sunrise: morning 6:30 my Bluetooth light set goes gradually up, waking me up with light. This is a thousand times better than a scary mobile sound within a pitch-black room.

My set is Hue by Philips lighting.

There are many other options in the market. I have tested this and it works flawlessly.

I do not take any money from any manufacturer to share my tastes.

2) During what's called the ""day"" I keep all the lights full-up, as in an evening configuration.

If when I turn the lights on I feel a little subtle pain in the eyes, this is coming for the good. It means the light level goes over the low Autumn lighting threshold.

3) On the computer desk in between 8am and 1pm I use a circadian light (Manufacturer: Circadian Optics - model: Lumine LMN5) to entrain my circadian rhythm. What it is? It's basically a very powerful diffused light (10 000 lux) that you aim at your eyes while you read in order to: fight fatigue, improve the mood and augment the focus.

Lighting therapy is not science-fiction, it is only science. It works way better than caffeine. The writer can guarantee thanks to the?positive effects gained by.

First few minutes, you will of course get glared by, then your eyes get accustomed and you can read again the pc screen.

The feeling is the same as reading a book on a sunny spring day.

It does not harm your retina.

4) Vertical planes: needs to be lit!

my evening light configuration

Not only the floors and the ceilings.

The incident at 90deg of your eyes to the room walls make the contribution more "visible" to your eyes and then to your brain.

vertical light planes matter

If you see the images posted (night configuration), I gave great attention to this.

Personally I use often raking light in order to achieve two effects with the luminaire: "wash the walls" with a gentle presence of luminance, then the light-beam hits the floor or the ceiling creating a sort of secondary emitter.

5)Coloured light.

edges colours blending - artificial susnsets

Now that colours are an accessible/affordable part of our light palette: I use them.

How.

Edge blending.

The light beam in part blends with the next one and in part not.

It creates a much more natural and richer gamut (palette).

Irregularity helps your brain to perceive it natural, sunsets are not made by boxed lines but by curvy sets of shades instead.

From 17:00 to 18:00 artificial sunset:

three scenario blends:

A luminaire - the magenta tones ;

B luminaire the yellow tones;

C luminaire- the red tones.

It blends up in a Scandinavian sunset pink. Love it!

After 19:00 I generally avoid the blue colours in my palette (most of us has read literature on blue-light effects).

6) Evening light.

the floor light helps me to relax - couch backlit

In the evening after 20:00, I avoid to lit light sources from the ceiling.

Our human being evolution is programmed since 1.000.000 years ago for low light levels - warm whites - floor-based lights at night/evening.

Light up in the sky: morning cortisol - stress - fight

7) In every season but even more on Autumn/Winter: Blue light control on electronic screens.

If you want to sleep during the right part of the day, you need to care about your biological clock. Your circadian rhythm (biological clock is the same), is affected by the blue light amount you get in the early morning and late evening.

To make it very simple, maybe risking to make it banal: the amount of blue light you get through the eyes in the morning, helps you to wake up a little earlier the following day. While the blue amount of blue light you get during the evening, brings you to fall asleep later in the night and have a poorer sleeping quality.

I installed the software f.lux to control the blue light amount coming from the electronic screens in the evening. The software does a redshift of your screen from 5pm approx so to shield you from blue light.

https://justgetflux.com/

Even better if you can get one is: a monochrome low brightness screen.

The ultimate solution is of course: to switch them off 90 minutes prior to sleeping.

These, in the end, are 7 steps that improved greatly the well-being of an inhabitant of the parallel 57N and upper, me. Russians, Canadians, Alaska people as wells as the ones of the "Tierra del fuego land" has the same problems.

I have been possibly optimistic and the winter blues affect more people at a southern latitude.

Brain is a really a complex machine and is not only lighting that affects it, while a complex cocktail of social interaction, food, sport and light. But.

During the last twenty years, daylighting and physiology have started to walk hand in hand, giving great steps forward in understanding how light shapes our life.

Give a try implementing these tips, and see if your Scandinavian Autumn gets a brighter place!