ZeitLight

Battling the Bulb Effect:

ZeitLight is a product that aims to solve the problem of a condition caused by what I call, the Bulb Effect.  Since the invention of the electric lightbulb in the late nineteenth century, humans have been exposed to much more light than evolutionary accustomed to.  Humans, as animals have evolved to deal with the natural world in its most raw sense - without the sun early hominid is virtually blind.  Our physiological evolution has not prepared us for the massive technological explosion of the last 150 years, including the effects of artificial light on the body.  The human body has evolved to work during the day and rest at night.  The natural twenty-four hour light cycle of the earth was something that governed behaviour, physiology, and culture undoubtedly.  One of the strongest influences on human behaviour is light, which governs key biological processes such as the production and secretion of vital hormones such as melatonin, seratonin, prolactin, and cortisol.

The problem is that since the invention of the light bulb, we are exposed to too much light.  The body needs both light exposure, and periods of complete darkness.  Zeit-Light is inspired by a German word, Zeitgebers, meaning “time-givers”.  These are the stimuli, or environmental cues that aid our hormone production.  The aim was to create a product that could mimic the earth’s natural transition of light to day to aid the human transition from wakefulness to drowsiness.  In essence, it is a bedside product that mimics the positive effects of natural sunsets - connecting “modern” human with their physiological roots.