Source
r/Nootropics•
AKDeveloper

Workspace lighting as a nootropic

Discussion

Does anyone have any tips for workspace lighting (mainly for a coding environment at home)?

I know using these light bulbs at 150W keeps me awake, focused, and generally in a better mood:

http://www.gelighting.com/LightingWeb/na/consumer/products/highlights/reveal/overview/

Anyone have any experience with this? I definetly consider the right workspace lighting to be nootropic.

Edit: My monitor doubles as a tv and actually has "RGB Gain" settings under "White Balance" in picture options. I set the blue gain to max (from 25 to 50) to hopefully increase the effect of the blue light. I wonder if this will help me stay awake and focused.

Posted Oct 1, 2017, 9:45 PM UTC · edited

3736
ohsnapitsnathanNoopredict•

There's some pretty interesting evidence that blue light sources during the day improve alertness and executive function (presumably by activating the "alerting" systems in the brain). One study even found that when you put bluer lights on random floors of an office building the people on those floors had improved cognition and better sleep.

One thing I did was change the color balance settings on my computer to make the display very blueish during the day. I'm not sure if it's effective but it might be an intersting way to experiment with the effect.

Also there are fairly cheap "smart" bulbs (i.e. TikTeck) which you can set to be blue-enriched using an app.

17
AKDeveloperOP•

I wonder if that's the difference between health effects taking vitamin d and getting enough sun. If you add the right indoor light source you maybe able to get a greater benefit from winter a vitamin d supplementation regimen? Anyways I just bought 6 of those reveal 50/100/150 watts for my living room and workspace. They are all cranked at 150w in different lamps and it is literally a "night and day" feeling compared to my previous 80-100w soft yellow bulbs. I feel greatly energized and my mood is much improved just sitting.

1
Lightning14•

I use the windows application Dimmer to control my screen brightness. I find dimming it by about 20% during the day reduces fatigue and eye strain (I work as a Software Test Engineer). Then at night on my home PC I turn it down by 60-70%, in addition to running F.lux to reduce blue light.

5
AKDeveloperOP•

I use f.lux too before bed but I don't mess around with the brightness too much.

1
shawnshine•

I turn the Night Shift setting on my iPhone all the way to the "More Warm" side

2
firrenzi•

I can't seem to get past their sales fluff. Is this just a full spectrum light? I use a very bright cool white that seems to do he trick but i suspect full spectrum would be more efficacious

3
AKDeveloperOP•

I'm not sure if it's full spectrum but it seems so because it is a brilliant white and makes a giant difference in the room's ambiance. These are sold almost everywhere in Canada.

1
bryanwmac•

I bought a lightbulb that changes colours to music and it keeps me vibing. Definitely not professional though.

5
firrenzi•

I've often wondered if an led vegetative (not flowering) grow light would also do the trick

1
PrimeTimeNumber•

I got blue spectrum blocking tint (yellow) on my reading glasses for work. When I take them off to look at someone talking to me I feel like I am starting into the sun! I didn't think the yellow tint would do much but it was free at Costco optical. For sure if blocks out the super blue of fluorescent light and I definitely feel less tired in the afternoons.

3
AKDeveloperOP•

I think youre supposed to get blue light during the day as part of your normal light cycle? So if you're always walking around with that tint it may be doing more harm than good. There may also be a negative effect on your long term eye health, if you react so dramatically to light now your eyes could maybe permanently adjust to that state and you will have trouble seeing without the tint.

1
shawnshine•

Has anyone experimented with full spectrum lighting, waking up to increasing amber -> white smartbulbs, or falling asleep to red light?

3
AKDeveloperOP•

https://www.walmart.ca/en/ip/philips-hf350060-wake-up-light/6000195485351

That's a wake up light. They have several pricier models not sure which is best for you.

Going to sleep with red sounds interesting, but why would it be better than pitch black? I use melatonin 6mg for sleep and it works nicely even after lots of coffee right before (kicks in after 30 min).

1
shawnshine•

Yes, I'm familiar with the Philips devices. The cheapest model doesn't cast enough light to wake someone up, imho. I'm thinking about purchasing one or two Philips Hue smartbulbs and setting them to wake me up via the Sleep Cycle app on my phone.

As for the red light, it's handy after sunset and before bed.

6mg? Wow, that's double what I take.

2
AKDeveloperOP•

Cool thanks for the tip, I was a bit apprehensive about that based on the picture.

I also take it for the liver protection quality (possible) , and the higher dose of 10mg is closer to what the mice and rats got (adjusted for body weight). I read somewhere that subcutaneous injection and ingestion resulted in similar blood serum levels of melatonin (nasal spray is best) so I figured the HED checks out around-ish 10mg for a 90kg male.

This is not the study I was looking at but it has similar results :

https://www.researchgate.net/publication/236592603_Attenuation_of_acute_and_chronic_liver_injury_by_melatonin_in_rats

2
Lonewolfdies•

I do that exact setup, two hue color bulbs to wake me up in the morning with blue light. If you have any questions feel free to ask!

2
shawnshine•

That's awesome. Do you need 2 bulbs if you set it to bright white? The most common Phillips Hue bulb looks like the 50W one, which doesn't seem terribly bright. But if it's in a lamp pointed at my face, that might be enough!

2
Saguine•

Reminder that over-exposure to blue/white light after it is dark out is a predictor of increased cancer risk.

3
AKDeveloperOP•

Ah good point. But isn't it also linked to obesity and heart disease in the same vein? So if I'm not obese and have a very healthy heart (athlete) it would not affect one as much?

1
Saguine•

Unrelated systems.

Being healthy can mitigate certain cancer risk factors, but the blue light system revolves around melatonin. Melatonin production is stimulated by amber light hitting the optic nerve: it's one of the things that makes us drowsy when the sun goes down, and is used to regulate our sleep cycles in line with day/night cycles. Melatonin is also a known cancer inhibitor.

For this reason, we see things like people who work night shifts being at a higher cancer risk, alongside those who work cross-timezone schedules (e.g. flight attendants), while blind people are actually at a lower cancer risk as their bodies produce more melatonin.

Cancer is a function of many factors: being healthy can help diminish some, but it doesn't inherently cancel out other factors.

2
AKDeveloperOP•

Thanks for that. How does my melatonin supplementation of 5-10mg per night play into this?

1
Saguine•

It is likely to counteract the effect I was talking about. I don't know what the average self-dose of melatonin is (I'm not even sure if it's been researched) but a daily melatonin supplement would definitely help counteract the cancer risks of repressing natural melatonin release.

3
jaybestnz•

Also, Hawethorne effect... Solid lighting especially a day lamp can help with solid circadian rhythm for awake / sleep cycles.

2
Lord-Slitem•

I have a Philips LED daylight lamp that I put behind my monitor so it lights up the wall behind it. I keep it on until 9 PM, helps a great deal with regulating my circadian rhythm.

Be aware many of the fluorescent versions emit harmful UV rays and are only supposed to be used for a short amount of time daily.

LED daylight bulbs/lamps don't emit these harmful rays and are great for extended use.

2
AKDeveloperOP•

There rays are harmful to your skin?

1
Lord-Slitem•

Yes, it might burn your skin or eyes.

2
AquaZen•

I have experimented in this area with the use of Philips Hue smart bulbs. In my last apartment I outfitted both my bedroom and my office with an array of these color change bulbs. They were programmed to wake me up using a sunrise simulation each morning, then once awake I shifted to a blue light for alertness, and finally a amber color at night to make sleep come easy. Overall this is a very effective nootropic. I felt much more energized in the morning and throughout the day. A word of caution though... if you abuse the use of blue light to stay awake longer it can easily throw off your circadian rhythm. Also blue light is more stimulating than amber light is sleep-inducing.

2
AKDeveloperOP•

Nice man. How much did it cost you overall? I'm having great success with the bright bulbs right now, getting a lot more done in the evenings (significantly) and better able to stay on task despite considerable exhaustion.

1
AquaZen•

I think with all the different lights it came to $200-300. The only problem with the setup was that I don't think the light output was sufficient. At certain times I would get a little tired and notice that my room seemed dark. The Hue bulbs, while great, are not as bright as I had hoped. The best approach would probably be to include some additional bulbs with greater brightness, and use the Hue bulbs to adjust the color temperature.

2
[deleted]•

[deleted]

1
[deleted]•

[removed]

1