Extremely high priority
Top ChoiceLight Health
The single easiest upgrade for your sleep.
Cost$12
TimeNone
EnergyEffortless
ImpactHigh
04Very importantEvidence: solid
Evening light dimming
Amber bulbs from sunset on.
Priority Matrix
The numbers.
Four dimensions, scored 1–6, where six is always the good end: cheapest, quickest, easiest, highest impact. Priority is Impact squared, divided by what it costs you in energy, money and time.
Cost$12
Time-
EnergyEasy
ImpactVery high
How sure we are
SolidGood trials pointing the same way.
Kept separate from the priority score on purpose: confidence in the evidence never raises how worth-it something is.
What we read
- Evening use of light-emitting eReaders negatively affects sleep, circadian timing, and next-morning alertness
Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences · 2015
In a 12-adult crossover, four hours of an evening eReader delayed melatonin about 1.5 hours, cut evening melatonin by about 55%, and left people sleepier the next morning than a printed book under the same light.
- Exposure to Room Light before Bedtime Suppresses Melatonin Onset and Shortens Melatonin Duration in Humans
Journal of Clinical Endocrinology & Metabolism · 2011
Ordinary room light before bed suppressed melatonin in 99% of people studied and shortened melatonin duration by about 90 minutes compared with dim light.
Research from Brigham and Women's Hospital · Harvard Medical School. We cite their published work. They have no involvement with Anew.
Where this falls down
Still unknown. Amber bulbs are a convenient way to dim the short-wavelength load — they have not been shown, on their own, to outperform simply turning the lights down.
Topics
Where it fits.
Related products
The gear.
Products that share a topic with this intervention. Same matrix scoring, same restraint.
- Nice to have
Top ChoiceLight HealthSunrise Alarm Lamp
$40–120Wake to light, not noise — especially in winter.
Cost$40–120TimeNoneEnergyEffortlessImpactModerate
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