To learn more about the differences between natural and artificial light, check out the side-by-side comparisons below! As a scientist i’m always curious about our natural world. I carry around a spectrometer which allows me to ‘see’ the mix of colors and intensities in light (much like a prism). The spectrometer records a ‘spectrum’ = basically a chart showing the amount of light at each wavelength (aka color of light). A bright sunny day contains a lot of blue (which signals our bodies to be awake and alert). Sunset contains a lot of red and not much blue (which signals us that it is time to relax). Candle light (and the light from a dim incandescent) contains NO blue and therefore doesn’t interfere with our sleep. See below for a side-by-side comparison of natural light, the light from Sunlight Inside products (mySun and Bottled Sunshine), and artificial light.
Unlike natural light, the mix of colors (spectrum) from regular LED bulbs, fluorescents, and compact fluorescents is fixed and can not change with time of day. Today you have to choose either a ‘cool white’ or ‘warm white’ product – so you have to live with the wrong light half of every day. Furthermore, at night the warm-white products provide too much blue and therefore interfere with our sleep. The light from incandescents is pleasing (contains a good balance of colors) but is permanently stuck on sunset, so incandescents can never help you to feel ‘awake and alert’ during the day. At night incandescents should be dimmed to remove the blue (which interferes with sleep). The simple takeaway is that artificial light sources only offer a fixed color (static spectrum) and are therefore fundamentally unable to provide the daily queues our bodies need to regulate our hormones.
As these spectra also show, most artificial light sources do not contain the balance of colors present in natural light (the balanced rainbow). Missing colors distort the appearance of objects and people – this is why we look unnaturally green under fluorescent light and blue under LED light. Natural light contains a perfect balance of all the colors of the rainbow, at every time of day!
Sunlight Inside harnesses new class of light sources (called light engines) to actively control the mix of colors with the time of day to deliver beautiful and healthy natural light. We pair these light sources with a custom controller set to the time/date/address, so our products automatically deliver the perfect light at every time of day. Furthermore the light from Sunlight Inside products contains a natural balance of colors (full rainbow) so objects and people look their best. This natural and truly ‘full spectrum’ light makes it easier to read. At night the light from our products contains NO bio-active blue, which means you can read or work without interfering with your bio-rhythms. Don’t settle for artificial light, get light the way nature intended!