Circadian Rhythm Lighting
Circadian rhythm lighting is an indoor lighting system that replicates the natural light cycle.
What Is The Circadian Rhythm?
A circadian rhythm is a natural, internal process that regulates the wake-sleep cycle and repeats roughly every 24 hours. The rhythm is linked to the light-dark cycle, which includes the type of light that is emitted throughout the course of a day.
In natural light, the type of light changes from a warm light in the morning, to a blue light during the day and then back to a warm light in the evening. We rely on the presence of blue light during the day, and the absence of blue light at night to tell our bodies when to be awake and when to sleep.
This means that the use of artificial (electric) lights can interfere with our sleep pattern. You may have seen when purchasing white light bulbs, that you have the option of cool white vs warm white. Cool white bulbs emit a high amount of blue light. Because blue light is the dominant type of light during the day, if you use cool white bulbs in the evening, it can confuse your brain into thinking it’s ‘day time’.
Warm white bulbs emit less blue light than cool white and if you spend your whole day under warm white lights, you may find that your energy is low and your mood, attention and productivity suffer.
Therefore, to try and replicate the natural sunrise to sunset cycle indoors, we should use warm white light (low amount of blue light) during the morning and evening and cool white light (high amount of blue light) during the day.
Inside this easy to read free guide, we will teach you the 6-steps that we use to help our clients achieve their dream home improvements.
What Circadian Rhythm Lighting Options Are Available?
Smart Lighting With A Hub
Until recently, unless you wanted to manually change your lightbulbs throughout the day to replicate the natural light cycle, you’d need a smart home system to control your lighting.
A smart home set up requires a smart speaker with a smart assistant, like Amazon Alexa or Google Assistant and some smart light bulbs. Smart lighting can then be preset to change the type of light that your smart bulbs emit throughout the day.
Some points to consider if you already have a smart home system, or are planning to invest in one include:
- Compatibility – Are the smart bulbs compatible with your smart home system/smart home hub?
- Connectivity – Most smart home automation systems require either Bluetooth, Wi-Fi, Z-Wave or ZigBee to operate. Make sure you invest in a system that will have a good connection throughout your home so that it operates properly. You’ll also need to take into consideration whether you want to be able control your smart home appliances when you’re away from home (i.e. Bluetooth has a maximum range of 100m so you won’t be able to control Bluetooth devices from too far away)
- Does the bulb do what you want it to? Not all smart white light bulbs have ‘circadian rhythm lighting’ functionality – some bulbs will only emit one type of white light but are dimmable, others are full colour change rainbow bulbs
Philips Hue White Ambiance Smart Bulb Twin Pack LED [B22 Bayonet Cap] with Bluetooth, Works with Alexa and Google Assistant – £39.99
Sengled Element Plus, Smart LED Light (1 Bulb), Tunable White Light (Soft 2700 Kelvin to Cool 6500 K), Globe, B22, 806 Lumens, (60W Equivalent) – £13.06
C by GE A19 C-Life and C-Sleep Smart LED Light Bulb Combo by GE Lighting, 2-Pack, Works with Alexa – $24.95
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Smart Lighting Without A Smart Assistant
More recently, smart home appliances have been designed that aren’t dependent on a smart home assistant/hub system. These are ideal for if you want to introduce smart lighting into your home without needing to invest in a full smart home setup.
However, it’s worth bearing in mind that if you do want to develop the smart features in your home without a smart home hub system, you might end up with a lot of different systems that need managing individually.
Generally, smart lighting systems that don’t require a smart home assistant/hub are app controlled. Other options are the switch controlled bulbs which cycle through different types of light using a normal light switch and the smart kit from IKEA which uses a remote control.
Circadian Rhythm Lighting Smart Bulbs – App Controlled
Hive Active Light Cool to Warm White – £29
YEELIGHT Smart LED Light Bulb 10W RGB E27 800lm WiFi No Hub Remote Control Color Change Dimmable Lighting Bulbs Work with Alexa, Google Assistant – £22.90
LIFX Original A21 Wi-Fi Smart LED Light Bulb, Multicolor, Adjustable, Dimmable, No Hub Required, Pearl White – £133.75
Kasa Smart Bulb by TP-Link, WiFi Smart Switch, E27/B22, 10W, Works with Amazon Alexa (Echo and Echo Dot) and Google Home, All Shades of White, Dimmable, No Hub Required – £35.91
Circadian Rhythm Lighting Smart Bulbs – Independent
Philips Scene Switch LED B22 Bayonet Cap Light Bulb, Warm White (2700 K) to Cool White (4000 K) – £8.51
Sengled Mood, LED Dimmable Bulb with Colour Temperature Changing, Tunable Cool and Warm White (2700K & 4000K), Controlled by Light Switch, 2 Pack – £14.99
TRÅDFRI Remote control kit, white spectrum, E26 – $19.99
If you have any questions about lighting your home, planning an extension or just about creating your dream home in general, go ahead and book a free call below with Yoop.
(Information is correct at the time of publishing and is subject to change)
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