Don't Let the Darkness Get You Down

It is estimated that about 4 to 6 percent of people may have winter depression and another whopping 10 to 20 percent may have a mild version of Seasonal Affective Disorder. Light plays a big part in shaping how many feel but have you ever thought about your lamps in that way?

Over the past year, many have also moved to more rural areas, experiencing a dark night unfamiliar to their urban senses, and are coping with it in many ways, from early bedtimes to a near nighttime house arrest. Could a helpful trick be so close at hand? Last year, we experimented with moving lights around in rooms, adding lights, and taking cues from friends who never-turn-off certain lamps. What we found is that various light sources do help stave off the humdrum of winter to some degree. 

Tricks we have learned:

1. Place lights at various heights in the room; place some low, like uplights, place some high on shelving, along with the normal table lamps and floor lamps you might already have. Varying the heights and time these lamps come on. In a smallish 15x 20 room, there may be as many as five or six light sources.

2. Use automation. Smart plugs can help by automatically varying light at certain times of the day. Much like sunlight comes in a window, light coming from another room adds a sense of energy; the automation and randomness makes it seem more nature-driven. If you truly want to switch it up, get a random timer.

3. As unpopular as this idea might be, use different temperatures of bulbs and use different watts. Try a low warm light late or early in the evening.  A cool and high wattage light early in the eve. Maybe even a mix of a cool bulb and a warm bulb mid-evening or a few days a week, anything that creates a bit of randomness and unpredictability. Natural light changes during the day and week from warm to cool, aim to mimic that. Play around to find what might work for you, there really isn't a wrong answer. If you want to get really wild, you can add some color bulbs to your scene but sparingly.

4. Lastly, move your lamps around. One favorite trick is chrome-tipped LED bulbs in simple cheap plug-in lamp sockets, this keeps it easy (and safe to touch) to put a lamp low or move it around quickly.  Find a small table lamp or floor lamp that is easy to move around, portable lamps make it easy, and stylish to move your lighting on a whim.  And whatever you do, please, don't use the overhead light—ever.

In short, have fun with your lighting and lamps, and don't let the darkness get you down.

(article written for afternoonlight.com in 2022)