Why office workers can't sleep and why that's bad • Hacker News Board

Re: Why office workers can't sleep and why that's bad

#11

Post by greenbush » Mon, Oct 14, 2019, 7:53 AM UTC

aussieguy1234 wrote: post #4

This study mentions blue light as from smartphones as a problem. My phone has a blue light filter which I have on all the time. Linux gnome desktop also has one for late night coding sessions.

f.lux is awesome - it's been around for many years, and is free. Available for Linux, Mac, iOS, Android, and Windows! https://justgetflux.com/

Re: Why office workers can't sleep and why that's bad

#12

Post by jraph » Mon, Oct 14, 2019, 8:05 AM UTC

noir_lord wrote: post #7

vfc1 wrote: post #5

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Turned it on just now, thanks for sharing I didn't know that existed.

For those not using Gnome, gtk-redshift is great if using X11. I use it on cinnamon all the time.

There is also a convenient Redshift applet for Plasma. Its package is called plasma-applet-redshift-control in Debian.

Re: Why office workers can't sleep and why that's bad

#13

Post by brobdingnagians » Mon, Oct 14, 2019, 8:32 AM UTC

greenbush wrote: post #11

aussieguy1234 wrote: post #4

This study mentions blue light as from smartphones as a problem. My phone has a blue light filter which I have on all the time. Linux gnome desktop also has one for late night coding sessions.

f.lux is awesome - it's been around for many years, and is free. Available for Linux, Mac, iOS, Android, and Windows! https://justgetflux.com/

I use f.lux on Windows and it awesome.

Also, redshift is available for at least Linux, the BSDs, and an experimental version for Windows.

Re: Why office workers can't sleep and why that's bad

#14

Post by eemil » Mon, Oct 14, 2019, 8:59 AM UTC

greenbush wrote: post #11

aussieguy1234 wrote: post #4

This study mentions blue light as from smartphones as a problem. My phone has a blue light filter which I have on all the time. Linux gnome desktop also has one for late night coding sessions.

f.lux is awesome - it's been around for many years, and is free. Available for Linux, Mac, iOS, Android, and Windows! https://justgetflux.com/

SunsetScreen is good if you live at an extreme latitude. Don't know if this has been addressed in recent updates, last time I used flux it wanted to start dimming my screen at 18.00 in the winter and close to midnight in the summer.

At the time, f.lux's devs seemed completely opposed to any kind of adjustable schedule for people who cannot follow the sun.

Re: Why office workers can't sleep and why that's bad

#15

Post by nucleardog » Mon, Oct 14, 2019, 9:04 AM UTC

aussieguy1234 wrote: post #4

This study mentions blue light as from smartphones as a problem. My phone has a blue light filter which I have on all the time. Linux gnome desktop also has one for late night coding sessions.

You can solve this globally by getting eye glasses that filter blue light as long as you're not doing any sort of colour-sensitive work.

After a day or two you don't notice the colour difference anymore.

Re: Why office workers can't sleep and why that's bad

#16

Post by croon » Mon, Oct 14, 2019, 9:12 AM UTC

nucleardog wrote: post #15

aussieguy1234 wrote: post #4

This study mentions blue light as from smartphones as a problem. My phone has a blue light filter which I have on all the time. Linux gnome desktop also has one for late night coding sessions.

You can solve this globally by getting eye glasses that filter blue light as long as you're not doing any sort of colour-sensitive work. After a day or two you don't notice the colour difference anymore.

If everyone wears them you should to when doing color-sensitive work. Granted that's a mighty big if.

Re: Why office workers can't sleep and why that's bad

#17

Post by mk89 » Mon, Oct 14, 2019, 9:22 AM UTC

globuous wrote: post #9

aussieguy1234 wrote: post #4

This study mentions blue light as from smartphones as a problem. My phone has a blue light filter which I have on all the time. Linux gnome desktop also has one for late night coding sessions.

These things are incredible. I used to turn it on for my eyes, but i noticed that when on my laptop in bed, without it on, i wont feel tired at all. I turn nightshift on and suddenly i feel sleepy :)

Not only that, try to switch it on and off a couple of times. You'll see that when the blue light is ON after having used the blue filter for like a couple of seconds, you'll feel like someone punching your eyes!

It's almost like having a lamp in your face all the time in the night - of course you can't sleep! We just got used to it. Now thankfully someone has implemented such filters.

Re: Why office workers can't sleep and why that's bad

#18

Post by rob74 » Mon, Oct 14, 2019, 9:29 AM UTC

aussieguy1234 wrote: post #4

This study mentions blue light as from smartphones as a problem. My phone has a blue light filter which I have on all the time. Linux gnome desktop also has one for late night coding sessions.

I guess this varies from person to person. Maybe it is a problem if you have trouble sleeping anyway, but as far as I'm concerned, I guess the blue light just keeps me awake as long as I need to finish whatever I'm doing, after that I usually have no trouble at all going to sleep. When using a blue-light-reduced "night mode" however, I find I can barely keep my eyes open...

Re: Why office workers can't sleep and why that's bad

#19

Post by NKosmatos » Mon, Oct 14, 2019, 9:34 AM UTC

nucleardog wrote: post #15

aussieguy1234 wrote: post #4

This study mentions blue light as from smartphones as a problem. My phone has a blue light filter which I have on all the time. Linux gnome desktop also has one for late night coding sessions.

You can solve this globally by getting eye glasses that filter blue light as long as you're not doing any sort of colour-sensitive work. After a day or two you don't notice the colour difference anymore.

I came here to say the same thing, ever since I've gotten a new pair of glasses with blue filter coating, I don't get that match eye strain and headaches in the office. you get used to them immediately and can see the difference in many places you wouldn't expect.

Re: Why office workers can't sleep and why that's bad

#20

Post by NKosmatos » Mon, Oct 14, 2019, 9:40 AM UTC

ehnto wrote: post #8

graeme wrote: post #6

Has anyone tested bright indoor lighting and its effect on their own sleep. I have some LED studio lights for video work by my desk all the time. I'm wondering if I should just turn them on while I work each morning. From what I can tell: 1. LEDs won't cause sunburn/skin damage 2. There's no blue light risk of them if they're not rates above a certain level of light output and you don't stare directly at them. I have…

LEDs could still have all the same issues, it depends on the LED and it's particular output spectrum and the energies for each wavelength. I would check all that before concluding they would be good or bad.

Exactly! Blue light doesn't mean just the colour of the light, but the wavelength, power output, flicker rate and so on. It's a good step, but pay attention to details ;-)