Manual Bedtime
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I have a very flexible schedule. Is there a way that I can tell it on a daily basis with some key command perhaps that it's time to get ready for bedtime or that it's time to start waking up? I sleep far more quickly after waking up most days than it imagines because I often have to get up far earlier the next morning. I'm just wondering if there is a way to manually switch from wake to sunset to bedtime rather than its assumed times. Thanks.
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I have EXACTLY The same question. I have had a concussion and just need to keep it bedtime all the time (the lower the blue light the better). So far been using movie mode during the day, but need more protection.
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I have the same question, I would like to kick it to "bedtime" much sooner than it's automatically set to. I don't understand why we just don't have the option to set the hours ourselves? Not everyone functions on the same schedule, so to believe just because we're in a certain time zone, everyone wants to have the levels change at the same hours is crazy.
Please tell us there's some way to manually change the timing. What if we enter a very different location, that seems at the moment, one workaround. If we put one a few hours ahead of where we are, it will go to bedtime mode that much sooner, no?
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You can change your wake time on Mac OS. We'll offer more custom options in the future, but a good thing to keep in mind is that most of the circadian-related clocks in your body operate on a regular schedule that's close to 24 hours… changing lighting up drastically every day may not be the best idea.
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I had this question when I started using f.lux, and it took me a while to figure out. It comes up regularly on the forum, so I'll try to make a good answer to point people to in the future.
Until new f.lux versions come out, you have these options for manual settings:
From the f.lux menu, choose "Options: Expanded daytime settings" and make sure it's checked. Then you'll be able to open f.lux's Preferences and drag the slider, to manually set a lower colour temperature at any time of the day. If you want your screen to stay a constant colour all the time, set the Daytime, Sunset, and Bedtime colours all the same.
Note that if you lower your daytime setting, it may also lower the sunset and bedtime settings too. But when you raise the daytime setting again, it won't raise the others. So you might have to do some adjusting to set things back the way they were, or just choose "Recommended Colors" from the menu to reset to the defaults.
Setting the time of the automatic Daytime-->Sunset transition can be done by changing your location setting. The closer to the Equator you set it, the more stable the sunset time will be as the seasons change. You can adjust what time it happens by moving farther east or west.
Setting the time of the automatic Sunset-->Bedtime transition can by done by adding eight hours to your desired bedtime, and setting that as your wake time. It doesn't really matter if you don't actually wake up at your wake time. But if you're working in the morning when the sun is up, and your screen is still tinted, choose "Disable: for an hour".
Remember that the overall brightness of the screen is important, so you should manually dim it at night, in addition to changing the colour temperature with f.lux. Also dim or turn off your room lights.
If you change f.lux's Preferences panel often, you can set a hotkey or trackpad gesture to open it - see How to create keyboard shortcuts. However, you may find that there's less need to manually adjust things than you might think.
F.lux is designed to help avoid artificial light at night, especially blue light. If you're working late, try to resist adjusting your bedtime colour or your screen brightness higher, or your bed/wake time later, even for one night. It will affect your body's circadian rhythm more than just staying up late does, and make it harder to wake up and fall asleep on the following days - basically it will give you a case of jetlag.
Light in the late afternoon and early evening has little effect on circadian rhythm. The later it gets, the more sensitive you become to light. That's why f.lux gradually reduces blue light during the evening. The aim is to never be exposed to an amount of light that will negatively impact your natural body clock. If you decide to go to sleep early, it shouldn't be necessary to reduce your screen's colour temperature earlier than usual, if you have it set up correctly. You can just go to bed.
In other words, bright blue light in the evening artificially keeps you awake and changes your body clock. But dim orange light doesn't artificially make you sleepy - it doesn't do much of anything.
