Sunlight,
re-imagined.

While Vitae can fit any light fixture with an ordinary E27 Edison screw, it is most suited for more localized eye-level light sources like desk and nightstand lamps or floor lamps. This is the case for all bulbs, not only Vitae, as singular bulbs are not good ceiling lights in general – the majority of the time they shine light downwards, which dazzles our eyes and creates a so-called cave effect. This means the ceiling is dark and heavy, which results in an overall claustrophobic effect. Also, the downward shining light creates unattractive high-contrast shadows not only in the room but also on our faces with pronounced undereye circles.

We feel Vitae, like any bulb, can work as a ceiling light in smaller rooms wherein you do not spend a lot of time, like the bathroom. However, do note that the orange light feels more natural and relaxing when it comes from below eye level, thus imitating firelight – light coming from above always has an alerting effect, which is not desired with the pre-sleep orange light (and, simply put, it does not look good and feels strange).

We recommend Vitae for localized lamps with non-transparent shades such as desk, bedside, and nightstand lamps in bedrooms and children's rooms, as well as sofa reading lights and night-time lights in the bathroom and the toilet. In the evening it is advisable to use lights that shine below eye level, just like the firelight does. Make sure Vitae does not protrude out of the lampshade as such light shines in all directions and is dazzling.

This varies greatly for each individual as it heavily depends on many factors and your overall circadian rhythm and its desynchronization. Normally positive results can be observed after one week’s use. It is very important to note that 90 minutes before sleep (to be precise, 9 and a half hours before waking up in the morning), no blue or green wavelengths should be hitting your retina (i.e. specifically wavelengths below the 550 nm threshold). Vitae’s orange phase will not have a beneficial effect on your sleep and melatonin secretion at night if other full-spectrum lights that emit blue or green wavelengths are used concurrently such as:

- full-spectrum white or warm-white LED lights
- RGB LED lights that that mix blue and red to create light we perceive as orange
- undimmed incandescent light bulbs
- fluorescent light bulbs
- computer screens and mobile phones without red screen enabled (Apple’s Night Shift is unfortunately not sufficient as it still allows for blue light emission – see how to turn the red filter on your iPhone and PC monitors here)
- TV screens

The key is to protect your retina from blue and green wavelengths (i.e. light) roughly 90 mins before sleep and throughout the whole night. For instance, if you use Vitae 90 minutes before sleep in your bedroom only, the full-spectrum white or warm-white light in your other rooms (e.g. before sleep or during a night bathroom visit) will still suppress your melatonin secretion. The same happens if you watch TV or use your smartphone or computer without a red filter prior to sleep. As a result, you will likely not benefit from Vitae’s orange phase, which is devoid of blue and green wavelengths below the 550 nm threshold. In cases when you can’t avoid such blue-rich and green-rich lights (e.g. when travelling or for an urgent work email before sleep), use blue-blocking red glasses (do note that transparent glasses cannot, by definition, be blue-blocking and are a scam).

Yes, it is – Vitae is optimized for desk, bedside, and nightstand lamps in bedrooms and kids’ rooms as well as sofa reading lights and night-time lights in the bathroom and the toilet. For ceiling lights, see [question 1].

We believe in simplicity. Remote app control requires the use of another device, a smartphone, which without a red screen suppresses melatonin secretion at night and poses an extra control step, a more complicated one than manual control. As such, remote app control is not child-friendly, especially during night-time bathroom visits. Vitae is purposefully designed to be controlled manually with your lamp's switch, always easy to use as well as transport with you on vacations or work travel. Vitae does not need any remote socket plug-in devices, it is solely controlled with any lamp's switch. Also, app-controlled lights are always in a standby mode and never properly turned off, thus emitting electromagnetic radiation and using energy at all times. When turned off, Vitae truly is off and does not emit any light.

90 minutes before sleep (to be precise, roughly 9 and a half hours before waking up in the morning), no blue or green wavelengths (i.e. approximately all wavelengths below the 550 nm threshold) should shine into our eyes and hit our retinas. (What are wavelengths? You can mostly substitute the word "wavelengths" for "light" – simply put, the wavelength is a property of light and denotes its color.)

Our eyes had been evolving for millions of years under the influence of sunlight – as a result, our circadian rhythm, our inner biologic clock, is synchronized via light. Sunlight emits all visible wavelengths (i.e. colors) during the day, but as evening and sunset approach, the short blue and green wavelengths are filtered out thanks to the Earth’s atmosphere. Therefore, the resulting light at sunset appears warm and orange-red.

The missing blue and green wavelengths serve as a signal to our body that the night is approaching and melatonin secretion should begin. If these wavelengths are still hitting our eyes before sleep and at night, they serve as a fake daytime signal, they desynchronize our inner clock, and our circadian rhythm, and suppress or completely inhibit melatonin production. Consequently, it is very important not to hinder or delay this process in the evening or during the night. Melatonin is a very important hormone that plays a crucial role in sleep, metabolism, and immune response. It also serves as a very potent antioxidant that has anti-cancer properties (tumor suppression) as well as a potent protective agent in cardiovascular health.

Unfortunately, there will be no such model as Vitae’s heat exchange surface does not allow for this. Vitae needs perfect cooling – with an E14 screw, the bulb would overheat quickly.

A proper test involves a spectrophotometer, but a quick at-home test can also reveal flicker. To test if your lights are flicker-free you just need a smartphone. Approach a light you would like to test and view it through the phone’s camera roughly 10–20 cm away from the source – if you spot vertical lines running through the light, it is very likely such flickers and as such can induce headaches and/or eye strain. The second option is to shoot a video of the light with the slow mode turned on.

Apps like F.lux or Apple's Night Shift often only limit blue and green wavelengths emitted by screens, but they don’t eradicate them completely. Consequently, 90 minutes before sleep, we recommend you wear our red glasses in case you need to work late on your phone or computer (of course, using electronic devices before sleep should not be the norm). It is not necessary to wear red glasses if a filter ensures no blue or green light is emitted by the screen. Also make sure no backlight is on (most monitors have white LED backlight, often installed in the frame).

Filters that can completely block blue and green light are Iris and Apple's free native red screen color filter set via Accessibility Shortcuts (work for iPhones, iPads, MacBooks, and iMacs).

For how to set a red screen color filter on your Apple devices see instruction videos on our YouTube channel. Links: red screen filter how-to for iPhone/iPad and for MacBook/iMac

Iris app is a cross-platform app that can fully eliminate blue and green wavelengths. Available for desktop computers, tablets and smartphones – Mac, Windows, and Linux systems are supported.

Unfortunately, for Android users we are not aware of any app that would work well and block all blue and green light, therefore we advise you to wear red glasses 90 minutes before sleep or whenever you wake up and need to check your phone during the night.

Unfortunately, many "blue-blocking" glasses on the market are fully transparent or transparent with a faint yellow tint. These, by definition, cannot block blue light – only fully colored glasses can. In general, orange glasses block blue light and red glasses block both blue and green light, which is more advisable before sleep and during the night as green light also suppresses melatonin secretion and desynchronizes the human circadian rhythm (biological clock).

Blocking blue and green light is necessary only pre-sleep and during the night – as such, we do not see any use in transparent "blue-blocking" glasses. These sometimes can negligibly block blue light, but they mostly block violet light – which apart from old fluorescent lighting, is not emitted by light sources or screens. If you feel a benefit from wearing these during the daytime for computer work, you can by all means continue using them.

However, if your computer screen is too bluish-white and causes eye strain, apart from lowering its brightness, you can definitely benefit from a daytime screen filter. Do note that during the daytime, the warm screen filter is there to ease eye strain, but you still should sit in a well-lit room with bright white light, ideally close to a window. A screen filter can achieve a much stronger suppression of blue (and green) light than any transparent glasses can – and most importantly, it is free and tweakable. F.lux is a good daytime filter option – pre-sleep and during the night it cannot fully block blue and green light, but for daytime work it absolutely is sufficient. Set it from your default blue-white color temperature (CCT) of 6500 K to a more neutral-white 4000 K or even lower for a warmer screen depending on your preference and color fidelity needs.