Home Sweet Circadian Home🏡

🪶 What might an informed interior designer say about making your home more circadian-effective?

Last weekend, Energies published a literature review about designing buildings for circadian rhythmicity. This info is meant help architects design for better visual and non-visual light cues. It's amazing and forward-thinking, and will likely be regulated in the future.

Circadian-effective Interior Design

But for the rest of us here and now, what can we glean from these insights? Here are some tips for existing homes and buildings:

• Remove exterior elements that block sunlight from the windows.

• Move furniture and workstations closer to windows. Face things so eyes naturally point towards (or perpendicular to) windows.

• Cover walls with neutral tones and reflective paint to increase indirect light.

• Install overhead lights (choose bright ones, like the sun!).

• Choose light-colored shading devices that don't block the sky (such as horizontal blinds).

• Use night-specific lights with red/amber tones and low lux. They recommend <10 lux for the 3 pre-bedtime hours and <1 lx for sleep (think candlelight…