August 26, 2021

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The influence of light on your body

Light has a lot of influence on how we feel. After all, your mood on a drizzly autumn day is far from the same as your mood on a summer morning in the sun, is it? But it’s not only your mood that is influenced by light. Your whole body reacts to it. Even your metabolism! And that has everything to do with the substances serotonin, melatonin and cortisol. We tell you more about it and how you can optimally support your natural rhythm with the help of smart lights. 

The importance of a natural daily rhythm

As humans, we naturally adapt to the natural day and night cycle. If we lived completely according to the rhythm of nature, we would get up and become active when it gets light and sleepy when twilight falls. Today we don’t necessarily get up when the first rays of the sun shine into the room, and we have artificial light to keep us awake. If your rhythm or day-night pattern is out of balance, for example due to a jet lag, not enough sunlight or irregular bedtimes, your body gets confused. 

During the day, your body produce various substances that help you stay in balance and perform at your best. We’re mainly talking here about the substances serotonin, melatonin and cortisol. Below we briefly explain what these substances do. You will see that it’s very important to pay close attention to your daily rhythm!

Serotonin

When you wake up, your body produces serotonin. This substance ensures that you become alert. Your body will continue as long as it’s light outside. Not only the strength of the light, but also the color (the temperature) has a major influence on the production of this substance. For its production it’s important to have a cold color temperature, such as bright white. So make sure that your smart lights in at the living and working environment are adjusted to this. 

Melatonin

Melatonin is the opposite of serotonin. When it gets dark, your body converts serotonin into melatonin. This substance ensures that you relax and become sleepy. Do you suffer from sleeping amnesia? Then it’s extra important to avoid bright light well before going to bed, so that your body can produce enough melatonin. Use for example smart filament bulbs to get in a sleepy mood. As a result, you sleep much deeper and wake up refreshed. That is why it’s important to adjust the light in your home well before going to bed. 

Cortisol

This substance does an incredible amount work in your body. It’s nicknamed the “stress hormone”, and for a good reason. Cortisol gets released when you are stressed, even positively. Like when you put in healthy effort such as exercising or a mental effort such as solving a tricky puzzle. Cortisol ensures that the energy level in your body remains in order during that effort.

Next to this, cortisol plays an important role in your metabolism. It causes your body to break down carbohydrates, proteins and fats. Very important indeed. In fact, cortisol is vital for humans! Is your natural rhythm off? Then chances are your body produces the wrong amount of cortisol. This affects how you respond to exercise and how you process your food, as well as your mood and overall energy level. A good one to keep in mind when you work on your goals!

Natural daylight rhythm in your home

Bringing natural daylight into your home can be complicated. Maybe you don’t get enough daylight, or you work a lot in an environment that is too dark. Fortunately, nowadays there are many smart lamps that allow you to adjust the temperature of the light. 

With smart lights you can set your lamps to bright blue during the day and warm light in the evening. When purchasing these smart lamps, pay close attention to the light quality. Some smart bulb only have RGB color and LEDs. With these LEDs you get very unnatural light, such as bright red instead of warm white. A good smart lamp has separate LEDs for warm light and LEDs for cold light. The color temperature of these LEDs can be expressed in Kelvin. Good quality smart lights have a color temperature between 2500K-6500K. 

With the Hombli smart lights you can easily simulate the natural daily rhythm. You can set up in the app that the color and brightness of your lights changes automatically, depending on the time of day, or you turn your lights on and off with voice control. Would you rather view our smart lights right away? Then quickly head to our product page and discover our extensive product range!