Let there be Light

As we move toward the solstice and beyond, if you live in the Northern Hemisphere, you’ll have fewer hours of day light every day and that means less natural light in your home.

This is really too bad because natural light is like a magic potion that makes our lives better.  It helps us to think both more clearly and more creatively, to be better at mingling with others, all sorts of good things.

To make the most of the natural light available to you, keep your curtains and blinds open as much as possible for as long as possible each day—and all that daylight will help keep your circadian rhythms aligned with where you are on the planet, which is great for both your physical and mental health.

There are many Autumn hours when you’ll want to be up but the Sun isn’t.

Picking light bulbs for use during these times has been made infinitely easier since light bub packages started to be labeled “warm” or “cool.”  All that labeling means we can move forward without a long dry discussion of how to measure the colour of light in Kelvins.

You can put warm light bulbs in some fixtures/lamps and cool ones in others, and turn these sets of lights on and off as needed.  For relaxing, mingling, and creative thinking warm light is best, while cooler is better for anything that goes best when you get a boost of energy, such as cooking and laundry.

Turning on fewer lights with that warm light will amplify its effects while more lights on makes that cool light even more powerful.  To be most effective, you’ll want those warmer bulbs in table top and floor lamps and sconces that are lower on the wall, while those cooler lights work well when they’re higher on walls and overhead—these positions align where our ancestors were likely to see each of these types of light—warm down on the horizon line at sunrise or sunset or in a fire on the ground or, for cool light, high overhead at noon day.