A Guide to Better Lighting: Setup and Automate Your Lights
What smart lights to buy, how lighting can impact your sleep, and how to get the perfect amount of light every time you flick a light switch.
Why You Need Smart Lights That Can Change From Daylight to Cool White
Light has a powerful impact on our bodies, especially on our sleep. This was a revelation to me when I was reading one of my favorite books, Why We Sleep by Matthew Walker, PHD, earlier this year. When we're exposed to bright light during the day, it helps to keep us alert and awake. But when we're exposed to bright light at night, it can suppress the production of melatonin, a hormone that helps us sleep. But the brightness of our lighting isn’t the only thing that can supress melatonin production, so can color temperature.
For decades, we’ve had a choice of light bulbs to put throughout our homes: Daylight bulbs and Warm White bulbs. It turns out one of those bulbs is a really bad choice to put in spaces you're in before bedtime. In fact, 22% of our subscribers on YouTube chose the wrong bulb!
That's why it's important to have smart lights that can change from daylight to cool white as well as adjust their brightness levels. During the day, you can use the daylight setting to help you stay alert and productive. And at night, you can use the warm white setting to create a relaxing and sleep-friendly environment.
Benefits of Using Smart Lights:
Improved sleep quality: Studies have shown that exposure to bright light at night can suppress the production of melatonin, a hormone that helps us to sleep. By using smart lights that can change to a warm color temperature at night, you can create a more relaxing and sleep-friendly environment.
Increased productivity: During the day, bright light can help to keep us alert and focused. By using smart lights that can change to a daylight color temperature during the day as well as increase their brightness, you can improve your productivity and performance.
Common Brands of Smart Lights
There are many different brands of smart lights available. The brand I’ve been using for years is Philips Hue. They were one of the first companies to make smart lights, offer a wide range of features, bulbs, accessories, and are incredibly easy to setup and automate.
Here are some popular brands of smart lights out there (links are Amazon affiliate links):
Philips Hue: Philips Hue is one of the most popular brands of smart lights. They offer a wide range of features, including the ability to change color temperature and brightness.
Lifx: Lifx is another popular brand of smart lights. They offer a wide range of colors and effects.
Sengled: Sengled is a more affordable option for smart lights. They offer a limited range of features, but they are a good value for the price.
Wyze: Wyze is another affordable option for smart lights. They offer a limited range of features, but they are a good value for the price.
Govee: Govee offers not just you’re typical smart LED bulbs, but also cool accent lights and LED light strips that you can make to look like a neon sign.
How to Automate your Smart Lights with Scenes and Automations
Scenes are groups of settings that you can save, such as the color temperature and brightness of your lights. Automations are rules that you can set up to turn your lights on or off at certain times or in response to certain events.
For example, you could create a scene called "Goodnight" that sets your lights to a warm color temperature and low brightness. Then, you could create an automation that turns on this scene at a certain time each night.
Here are the steps on how to set up smart lights, create scenes, and automate those scenes:
Set up your smart lights. Once you have chosen your smart lights, follow the instructions that come with them to set them up. This usually involves connecting the lights to your Wi-Fi network and downloading the app for your smart lights. You’ll then typically need to group the smart lights in different rooms.
Smart Assistants: Most smart lighting brands will work with both the Google Assistant and Alexa, however, not all will work with Apple’s HomeKit. If you’re a HomeKit user, make sure you check if the smart lights you’re considering will work.
Create scenes. Scenes are groups of settings for your smart lights, such as the color temperature and brightness. You can create scenes to match different activities or moods. For example, you might create a scene for "Relaxing" that sets the lights to a warm color temperature and low brightness.
Creating a scene: To create a scene, you'll need to open the app for your smart lights and select the "Scenes" tab. Then, you can choose the settings you want for your scene, such as the color temperature and brightness. Many apps will have pre-built scenes, allow you to create scenes from a photo or let you completely customize a scene.
Naming your scene: Once you've chosen the settings for your scene, you'll need to name it. This will help you remember what the scene is for when it comes time to automate your lights. If you have multiple scenes for a specific room, try naming the scenes in a way where it’s easy to distinguish what time of day you’d like them to turn on. Such as “Bedroom - Morning” or “Sunset scene.” This will help make automating scenes easier.
Automate your scenes. You can automate your scenes so that they turn on at certain times or in response to certain events. For example, you might automate a scene to turn on at sunset or when you come home from work.
Automating a scene: To automate a scene, you'll need to open the app for your smart lights and select the "Automations" tab. Then, you can choose the trigger for your automation, such as a time of day or an event, and the scene you want to turn on.
Testing your automation: Once you've created an automation, you'll need to test it to make sure it works properly. You can do this by manually triggering the trigger for your automation and seeing if the scene turns on as expected.
Here are some additional tips for setting up smart lights, creating scenes, and automating those scenes:
Use different colors and brightness levels to create different moods. For example, you might use a warm color temperature and low brightness for a relaxing scene, or a cool color temperature and high brightness for a stimulating scene.
Use automations to make your life easier and more convenient. For example, you might automate your lights to turn on at sunset or when you come home from work, or to wake you up in the morning.
Experiment with different settings to find what works best for you. There are no right or wrong answers when it comes to figuring out the right balance of smart lights in your home!