The Longest Night of the Year | How to Spend Your Evenings during the Winter Solstice

The winter solstice in December is the day with the shortest daytime and longest nighttime of the year. With less sunlight, we spend more time indoors under artificial light.

Precisely because the nights are long during this period, adjusting the lighting from evening until bedtime can make nighttime more comfortable.

Nighttime: The Light After Sunset

The Ministry of Health, Labour and Welfare's "Sleep Guidelines for Health Promotion 2023" recommends dimming room lights at night and avoiding strong light before bed as an environment for comfortable sleep. The long nights of winter make it easier to be mindful of this "dimming at night" recommendation.

How to Manage Light from Evening to Bedtime

• Dinner/Family Time: Bright white light, bright enough to easily see faces and food
• Relaxation Time: Switch to a warm, incandescent-like color, with dimmer brightness
• Before Bed: Create a pre-sleep environment with minimal light, illuminating only what's necessary close at hand

One Device to Dim the Light Over Time

With a dimmable and color-tunable ceiling light, you can have bright white in the evening and a warm, incandescent-like color at night, gradually dimming the light over time. For minimal light before bed, also refer to Light for 1 Hour Before Bed.

In the Case of lipro

The Sunlight Ceiling Light supports color temperature adjustment from 3000K to 5000K and brightness dimming from 0% to 100%. Even during the long winter nights, you can adjust the brightness and color temperature from evening to night, creating an ideal environment before sleep.

Summary: Consider Your Lighting Habits on the Longest Night of Winter

The winter solstice, with the longest night of the year, is a good opportunity to reconsider how you use light at night. Simply dimming the lights gradually from evening can make your nighttime a little more comfortable.

References

• Ministry of Health, Labour and Welfare "Sleep Guidelines for Health Promotion 2023"
  https://www.mhlw.go.jp/
• lipro "Sunlight Ceiling Light"
  https://jp.lipro.com/ja-jp/products/ceiling-light-ja