I've become depressed since using flux caused by reduced blue light intake
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Okay this might sound really corny or stupid but after trying things and detecting the issue, this is very real. I just recognized that I was always at home using computer working and reading last 6 months since I downladed and used flux and these last months are specially winter months and I didn't go out that much. But my blue light intake was severely reduced by flux, okay before bed cutting blue light is understandable etc. but flux starts to cut the blue light like 5-6 before my sleep time? How is this good? Blue light increases cognitive sharpness and alertness decreases depression too, why does it cut it at the most productive hours of day? And how cutting blue light at winter months that early makes sense? And I start to feel very sleepy and exhausted which made me take naps and I noticed I crushed my circadian rhytm too. And also I recognized I was having very disturbing eye strain with that dimmed colors of flux, and I thought it was because that my eyes needed a examination, but after putting the blue light and closing the flux my eyes are feeling quite good and at ease. And however I change my location to Istanbul, Turkey it always gets stucked and targets the another city in Turkey which is İzmir. I just don't get it this program supposed to help us but I noticed it made me have eye strain for 5 months and caused me body pain and cognitive decline and unable to concentrate anything on the screen by that strain which without the program I have laser like reading and I don't even count the blue light reducing and causing me sleepiness dizziness and low mood increasing in these winter months. Who made this program? I don't want to sound resentful but I feel frustrated, I trusted this program and started using at Recommend Colors by setting it up, and I just recognize maybe opening up for 1 hour before bed might be good, otherwise I recognized how unhelpful and damaging this program was. Who is gonna answer those issues?
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@mert-efe yes you should see sunlight in the morning and stop relying on your monitor or indoor lights to provide circadian rhythm stimulus. If the contrast of your monitor is this poor then try a less warm f.lux preset and dim your desktop monitor to lower levels.
If possible, increase the contrast setting slightly when using f.lux and return it to 50 during daylight so color and brightness are not distorted.
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@tungsten_smooth thank you. could you tell me what do you mean by preset?
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@mert-efe You have kept the default "recommended colors" which puts your screen at 3400K or maybe oranger (warmer) if it's an older monitor. Get to the f.lux menu by clicking the menu button on the left, or right clicking the icon of f.lux by the taskbar clock. In the menu, choose the item that talks about colors, I believe it's called "options" but I can't remember--haven't changed settings for a while.
Set the "sunset" color option to 3900K. Set the "bedtime" color to somewhere near 3500K. Change these color options at night so you can test the contrast.
Please remember to reduce the monitor's brightness at night using the buttons on the monitor, and let me know if you already frequently do so as it makes a significant difference in the lighting's ability to delay your sleep cycle!
If you have a smartphone, it will more than likely have a built in light sensor to adjust the brightness automatically--you can install simple apps that will read the hardware and return a numerical light level in "lux". If it's a great sensor you'll see over 100,000 lux at full direct sunlight. My point is if you're getting many cloudy (overcast) days then you may need to supplement by using very strong indoor light, ideally light boxes.
If you live in a northern climate then you're getting less light in the winter than I, and I strongly suggest the investment in a 10,000 lux light box. You can probably find these devices for about $60 to $70 and use it extensively during overcast winter days. This will do much more than f.lux can as its more important to have a strong difference between your bright daylight vs dark, light cycle than only avoiding altering light at night.
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@tungsten_smooth hey tungsten I just did what you offered and pulled the sunset to 3900k and bedtime to 3500k and damn what a difference! I'm at 10pm here and it was 3400k! Do you think it does this (pulling to 3400k) because it is an old monitor? And do you think 3400 is too low? Damn I was having hard time staying at the computer man. Yes and I try to reduce the brightness by my monitor. Any more advices? Btw I live in Turkey Istanbul would what you gave to me work with my location? Damn man I can't believe I used this program poorly. It's like I had a very bad eye strain that never passed and I didn't know why it was
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3400K is simply the default in f.lux. The default settings in f.lux have nothing to do with your monitor - not with your computer or any other computer. It's just the default for everyone. All he was telling you was that no two monitors will show colors the same way. Some monitors have superior color accuracy, some are very poor (cheap monitors especially).
I personally feel 3400K is too high when I'm getting ready for bed (but that's due to how it makes me feel). I use 800K, and I reduce my monitor's brightness all the way down to 0. I also use pure red light from my LIFX smart lights as well, and I use an extremely low brightness. When I'm finally ready to go to sleep, I set my LIFX lights to fade to off over a period of 30 minutes (it's the longest setting available in the LIFX app). I love it!
While I'm awake (during the day), I just use 6500K and very bright light from my LIFX lights.
I think you're just over-thinking all of this stuff. Keep your light exposure bright during the day, and very warm or perhaps even red (and very dark) during the last few hours of your day. It doesn't have to be complicated or anything. Just try to make sure you're getting plenty of light when you wake up and while you're awake, and make sure your light exposure isn't alerting at night. That means, at night, you want very warm orange and reddish light. The whole idea is to avoid blue light as much as possible at night, and to get plenty of blue light during the day when you're awake. Don't make it any more complicated than that.
The best way to do this is by getting plenty of sunlight during the day, and then to only use dim warm orange/reddish light at night.
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If you have depression we recommend talking to a doctor.
However if you want more blue light up until bedtime, try the "Working Late" preset.
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@twocables About your lifx bulbs, I want to know how much aqua (cyan) light they produce so I'd appreciate it greatly if you'd do the following:
Go get any type of silver film disc and have a thin color spectrum shine on the CD from the output of the bulbs--with sunlight you'll see all visible light.
Let me know how much cyan light is produced (does it stop after green or continue a bit, maybe take a picture with a blank backdrop on the cd reflection). It's not easy finding color spectrum data for multi color led bulbs.
I assume there will be very little aqua as it may just be red / green / blue with no phosphor coatings to reflect aqua just as Philips Hue is, along with most LEDs skipping the color as well.
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Unfortunately providing medical advice is beyond the scope of an internet forum. I'm closing this thread - please follow up with a physician / eye doctor about these questions.
