A 25-year-old Toronto accountant blogs:
A few weeks ago my parents came downtown to take me out for dinner. Apart from leftovers, my dinosaur garbage can and a few pieces of mail, they also brought my Ikea lamp. Now my apartment is very small. It’s a bachelor with about 600 square feet. It faces south and gets a fair amount of light during the day, which is fine during the weekends. But during the week when I’m at home — in the morning and at night — it can get pretty dark.
Now enter my Ikea lamp. The first morning after receiving it I turned it on along with all my other lights, while getting ready for work. I noticed a few things that day. One, I wasn’t angry during my commute via the subway. If you’re not from Toronto you won’t get this. But if you are and you ride the rocket each morning, then you’ll understand the general expression of, “angry defeatism” on most commuters’ faces. My lack of hate was personally noticeable. I also noticed that I didn’t need my usual green tea when I got into work. Even crazier I was alert when I got in, the type of mental alertness that often doesn’t show up until roughly 11 am.
I really thought about this for a while. I couldn’t figure it out until I remembered this post by Seth Roberts. It’s very short. I thought about it for a few days and made a little experiment. I went from turning on all my lights every morning to a few, to none. My “awakeness” varied positively with the quantity and duration of morning light. Along with morning light, I’ve also found that having the TV on and taking Vitamin D amplifies this effect.
It’s not a small impact. It’s had a huge effect on my day-to-day.
I left a comment asking what the Ikea lamp was. One interesting thing about this was the exposure time. Judging from a comment (see below), it was about an hour. That’s the minimum I try to get early every morning (from sitting outside).
After I bought the absolute necessities for my Beijing apartment (bed, water heater, washing machine, etc.), my first optional purchase was a chair for the balcony. So I can sit on the enclosed balcony in the morning.
I usually keep it on for closer to an hour – hour and 15min. I like to have a relaxed breakfast.
One thing to consider is the positive effect of light exposure on dopamine and serotonin, both neurotransmitter stimulants associated with wakefulness and positive mood.
I have IKEA lamp as well
This one https://www.ikea.com/us/en/catalog/products/20370383 Solid performance for the price.
I have full spectrum lightbulb in there – some 5000K. I keep it on as much as I can during the day (it’s energy saving bulb) and switch it off soon after transitioning to ceiling lightning that has some 2000K full-spectrum bulbs for the later part of the day. Before sleeping time, I switch even those off and use just 2 small halogen lamps to keep a bit ambient light in the room – just enough to prepare for next day or do a bit of reading.
But that’s not why I am writing this comment. I am writing it because I got an idea after reading this article. Next time I am in a DIY store, I will buy an electric socket timer, so I can program it to switch on my lamp automatically some time before my morning alarm. I hope this could make waking up more comfortable, especially in the winter.
I’ve begun to start each morning with lights fully on.
Seth, you should investigate whether practising the dual-n-back task improves your mood the next day. I think that it does mine. This might because it does some of the things that meditation might (I don’t meditate).
The light exposure trick is something that has been relatively well known and practiced by Psychiatrists treating ADHD for years. A specialist I saw recommended it 4-5 years ago and it’s wonderfully effective at getting me going in the morning, as well as keeping my internal clock regular (which is a classic problem for people with AD(H)D)
I do not remember the details, but according to him, certain wavelengths in the light trigger responses in your brain that resets your internal clock and helps wake you up. Unfortunately, this can only happen between around 6-9am due to what’s going on in your brain at the time. This is why you can actually be more tired and less pleasant after you sleep in, but also why people nowadays can have problems waking up. It’s especially important for folks with ADD to do it because our internal clocks are much more out of whack than average, but I’m sure it helps everyone.
The best way to do it is to get a wake up light that gradually turns on with a timer. Couple it with a full spectrum bulb and you can have a miniature sunrise right in your own room!
This, meditation, and Omega 3 are, by far, three of the most effective “home remedies” I’ve ever used.
I use a light in the afternoon . . . There’s conflicting info about whether it’s the light or when you use the light that matters.
One, I wasn’t angry during my commute via the subway. If you’re not from Toronto you won’t get this. But if you are and you ride the rocket each morning, then you’ll understand the general expression of, “angry defeatism” on most commuters’ faces.
You have just described the Budapest metro/subway during winter.
My guess, this a function of latitude.
it would be interesting to do an activism campaign to get subways to install lighting that tries to match sunlight– I wonder if you could change the mood of a whole city.
Last time I went on the subway in Toronto, I noticed how dim the lighting was. The stations were much more brightly lit when I was a kid. I found it strikingly oppressive.