Hacker News Reader

Comment by apatters | Hacker News Reader

This is very interesting. I think a lot of us have come to believe the claim that blue light exposure keeps you awake.

So what do we know? That excessive exposure to any kind of light at night keeps you awake?

It looks like there are several studies on the f.lux page discussing blue light specifically, but fair point that they could be cherry-picking just the studies that support their product.

View on HN

I have been using f.lux for a decade, since the first version, and it has been a huge benefit to me. So far all native OS implementations simply don't compare. f.lux is doing more than just filtering blue light from the color buffer. They may take donations, but when the project started it was a far cry from the company that exists today and it began with research, as opposed to cherry-picking research after the fact as OP is sort of insinuating.

f.lux and Twilight for Android (inferior but best in class) massively contributed to the reduction of my late night migraines and insomnia.

Try an experiment: code for a few hours late at night with f.lux set to match the white temperature in your room. You can do this by holding up a piece of printing paper next to your screen and matching the color.

After a few hours, change f.lux to the default temperature. Take it as bright as it goes. Then put it back at a temperature which feels comfortable and natural to you. If this is the default color temperature, let me know.

Nobody's saying the affects aren't real or that there aren't benefits. Just that the conclusions are still out on the subject.

BTW, I can program on my computer with super bright neutral LEDS (my preference) lighting up the room and my monitor set to 90 percent neutral lighting, right until bed time and be asleep in 10 mins. Anecdotal evidence is just that, anecdotal.

Did you also measure the quality of your sleep, circadian timing, and next morning alertness as well? You're missing out on a lot of the relevant metrics.

Edit: See the studies - https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=21346344

Did you? Has anybody to any degree of scientific certainty? I think once you review the studies, you will find the answer to be no.

Some of us are less sensitive to it than others. In particular I am prone to migraines in bright conditions, and on a bright summer day I have difficulty looking at the sky, which will be coated in thousands of bright and distracting microscopic floaters *

* https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Blue_field_entoptic_phenomenon

And yes, I'm offering anecdotal data-- but I've already provided the relevant studies so this is just a bonus. In my case, the slightest thing will keep me from sleeping. My A/C was out last night and I got scarcely and hour of sleep because of the heat. I am manic depressive and sometimes I will stay up for days if I don't make extra effort to fall asleep. f.lux particularly made a very noticeable difference to me within days of adopting it.

If you search for articles and studies on blue light and sleep the overwhelming majority (that I was able to find) say that there is an effect. I posted a number of sources in another comment

Reply on news.ycombinator.com