[PLUG-TALK] Amber light filters (Off topic)

[John Jason Jordan]

On Sat, 7 Nov 2015 15:49:59 -0800
Keith Lofstrom <keithl at gate.kl-ic.com> dijo:

>I recently learned that light in the blue spectrum before
>bedtime interferes with sleep.  So I am putting amber gel
>filters on many of the evening light sources.   

If it works for you, great. But it doesn't make any difference at all
for many people, including me. And if it helps it only improves the
ability to fall asleep; it does little or nothing for solving
fragmented sleep, because most people turn the lights off when they go
to bed anyway.

The mechanism is that blue light (a big component of natural outdoor
light) hinders the production of melatonin, which is what makes you
sleepy. When it get dark outside you get sleepy and when it gets light
melatonin production is turned off and you wake up. The half life of
melatonin in the body is only something like 30 minutes.

I have a mild case of seasonal affective disorder (SAD) and I feel a
lot better when all the lights in my house are "daylight" rated (5000K
or so), and when the whole room is brightly lit. Trying to read
squinting under a yellowish bulb makes me depressed just thinking
about it. Fortunately I rarely have a problem falling asleep, so I'll
stick to my bright indoor lighting.