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

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

#61

Post by bitL »

graeme wrote: post #45
bitL wrote: post #21

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I bought a huge 10,000 lux lamp that was supposed to emit similar wavelengths to daylight because I found myself to be a bit sleepy during winters all day long. That one managed to "wake me up" and I ended up as productive as in summer. Some people also use it to alleviate their seasonal depression (never had that). I have it illuminating my workspace behind my back. I believe our eyes have some special "wake up" rec…

Interesting. Why behind rather than in front? And which type did you get?

The light is very strong even while diffuse, having it behind my back doesn't hurt my eyes and the effect is same. It's a non-LED one, not sure what is inside but it initially took 10 minutes to light up fully (now it's instant, probably some firmware for initial burn-in). I'll have to find box somewhere to tell you exact type.

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

#62

Post by graeme »

digitalsushi wrote: post #53
bitL wrote: post #21

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I bought a huge 10,000 lux lamp that was supposed to emit similar wavelengths to daylight because I found myself to be a bit sleepy during winters all day long. That one managed to "wake me up" and I ended up as productive as in summer. Some people also use it to alleviate their seasonal depression (never had that). I have it illuminating my workspace behind my back. I believe our eyes have some special "wake up" rec…

for anyone interested - HL-NHB285-NP08B is a 30k lumen light for 150 dollars. it's 5000 kelvin color temperature. i parked one over my home office desk. it's like being outside at the park feeding birds, but inside. says 92 dollars per year power consumption. i dont know the terms of that calculation tbf i know your unit of lux takes into account the distance over which the energy is dispersed and mine of lumens, doe…

I looked up the CRI, and it's 80. That's fairly low, it has a different spectrum from daylight.

It probably works fine for this purpose mind you. I like the idea of mounting it overhead and illuminating the whole room.

https://images.homedepot-static.com/catalog/pdfImages/ee/ee8...

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

#63

Post by graeme »

bitL wrote: post #61
graeme wrote: post #45

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Interesting. Why behind rather than in front? And which type did you get?

The light is very strong even while diffuse, having it behind my back doesn't hurt my eyes and the effect is same. It's a non-LED one, not sure what is inside but it initially took 10 minutes to light up fully (now it's instant, probably some firmware for initial burn-in). I'll have to find box somewhere to tell you exact type.

Ah makes sense. Just checked mine and it's 3360 lux, so yours is 3x stronger.

I checked daylight, sunlight is 100,000 lux, and shade on a day with clear sky is 20,000. Our indoor lighting is way off!

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Daylight

https://www.amazon.ca/dp/B072Q42GXQ/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_api_i_.Fl...

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

#64

Post by yhoneycomb »

wrnr wrote: post #28

I've had insomnia for as long as I can remember and wish there was another culture about sleep. I saw this documentary about the Institute of Advanced Study (IAS) wherein a physicist was staying awake for 48 hours so he can focus on his work. The IAS is famous for hiring the best scientists and letting them work on whatever they want. I am not a genius like him but I wish I could use my restlessness to my advantage a…

sounds hypomanic at the very least, you should get that checked out

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

#65

Post by joveian »

sampleinajar wrote: post #57
greggman2 wrote: post #54

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I'm curious about this idea of insomnia. I'm between jobs right now which means I don't have to get up. That means for whatever reason (my genes?) I find I'm not tired until 5am, 6am often. I sleep 7 hours just fine. So the only thing about it being "insomnia" as in "unable to sleep" would be some artificial reason I have to get up in the morning. Am I making any sense? It seems like it's only insomina because someon…

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Delayed_sleep_phase_disorder

Also:

https://circadiansleepdisorders.org/

There is also a email discussion list (toward the bottom of the left side).

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

#66

Post by bitL »

graeme wrote: post #63
bitL wrote: post #61

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The light is very strong even while diffuse, having it behind my back doesn't hurt my eyes and the effect is same. It's a non-LED one, not sure what is inside but it initially took 10 minutes to light up fully (now it's instant, probably some firmware for initial burn-in). I'll have to find box somewhere to tell you exact type.

Ah makes sense. Just checked mine and it's 3360 lux, so yours is 3x stronger. I checked daylight, sunlight is 100,000 lux, and shade on a day with clear sky is 20,000. Our indoor lighting is way off! https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Daylight https://www.amazon.ca/dp/B072Q42GXQ/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_api_i_.Fl...

I use similar ones for cinematography. Never occurred to me to use them at home as well :D When I think about it now, studios have huge lights that take a bit to warm up but then it feels like daylight, maybe my 10k lux is a similar tech...

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

#67

Post by MaximumYComb »

greggman2 wrote: post #54
MaximumYComb wrote: post #29

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I had medically diagnosed insomnia for a period. If your insomnia is anything like mine then you'd have a decent idea about if you're going to sleep that night or not. If it's 1am and I'm still wide awake then I'm not getting quality sleep that night. What do you have to lose by going to your PC at that time and working for 6 hours before work? You're going to be tired tomorrow anyway any attempting to sleep for anot…

I'm curious about this idea of insomnia. I'm between jobs right now which means I don't have to get up. That means for whatever reason (my genes?) I find I'm not tired until 5am, 6am often. I sleep 7 hours just fine. So the only thing about it being "insomnia" as in "unable to sleep" would be some artificial reason I have to get up in the morning. Am I making any sense? It seems like it's only insomina because someon…

Mine wasn't related to a schedule. I had medication-induced insomnia and it was a complete inability to sleep. I would feel incredibly tired but my mind was wide away. I'd lay in bed but whatever makes you fall asleep just wouldn't happen. In the first week, I slept [0,0,2,0,2,0,2] hours.

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

#68

Post by Dylan16807 »

imgabe wrote: post #27

The main reason why offices have gotten dimmer is that energy conservation codes limit the amount of power you can use for lighting. Most office type spaces are only allowed 0.9 - 1.1 watts per square foot compared to 3 watts per square foot in the past. Part of that reduction is also that lights are vastly more efficient, but designers are also incentivized to use as little lighting power as possible. Lighting power…

> 0.9 - 1.1 watts per square foot

So with LEDs, one and a half 60 watt equivalents per square meter? That's pretty bright. If I'm doing my math right that's enough for 1000 lux.

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

#69

Post by MaximumYComb »

dominotw wrote: post #44
MaximumYComb wrote: post #29

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I had medically diagnosed insomnia for a period. If your insomnia is anything like mine then you'd have a decent idea about if you're going to sleep that night or not. If it's 1am and I'm still wide awake then I'm not getting quality sleep that night. What do you have to lose by going to your PC at that time and working for 6 hours before work? You're going to be tired tomorrow anyway any attempting to sleep for anot…

> medically diagnosed insomnia What is the difference between this and just regular insomnia. Did you have sleep studies done?

I used to term to mean I sought medical help and wasn't self-diagnosed. There is a lot of self-diagnosis on the internet, especially in relation to conditions like this or psychological ones.

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

#70

Post by imgabe »

Dylan16807 wrote: post #68
imgabe wrote: post #27

The main reason why offices have gotten dimmer is that energy conservation codes limit the amount of power you can use for lighting. Most office type spaces are only allowed 0.9 - 1.1 watts per square foot compared to 3 watts per square foot in the past. Part of that reduction is also that lights are vastly more efficient, but designers are also incentivized to use as little lighting power as possible. Lighting power…

> 0.9 - 1.1 watts per square foot So with LEDs, one and a half 60 watt equivalents per square meter? That's pretty bright. If I'm doing my math right that's enough for 1000 lux.

I'm not sure how you're calculating that, but if you're just looking at the lumen output of the bulb, the lighting level is measured at the work surface. In an office, that's at 3' off the floor and the light is at the ceiling which is at 8'-10'. Lighting intensity decreases with the square of distance, so if you have 1000 lux right next to the bulb, you're going to have considerably less 5' - 7' away.

Add to that that those aren't the kinds of fixtures that are used in offices. People don't want to look at bare bulbs (and they also create glare) so most lights have some sort of lens that is going to reduce the light output somewhat.

The target lighting level for offices is 30 footcandles or about 322 lux. Even 1000 lux is nowhere close to being outside on a sunny day which is more like 100,000 lux.

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