Looking for the best colors for sleep? You want a light that will make you sleepy and promote relaxation and melatonin production.
I’ve done the hard work of testing and sorting through every light on the market to find the best ones for you!
In this short guide, we’ll go over precisely which colors you want to use, when you should use them, and which ones are best to buy for your home.
Which Colors Are Best for Sleep?
What we want in our sleep lighting is low amounts of blue and green light, and higher amounts of yellow, orange, and red.
This is because both blue and green light falls squarely within the melanopic bell curve.
Inside your eyes is a special cell called an ipRGC or intrinsically photosensitive retinal ganglion cell. These cells detect the blue-green light seen above and tell the body that it’s daytime and to stop producing melatonin.
This can, of course, have drastic consequences on our sleep quality, such as insomnia.
So it’s essential that we choose lighting colors that are warm.
Amber or Orange Light
Amber light is usually anything between 1600-1700K and is a very relaxing warm orange light that gives off a hue similar to the light from a fire. Amber is a good all-around color for most people.
As you can see, amber light still emits some green light. It’s the lack of blue light that gives this color its warmer hue.
Is Amber Light Good For Sleep?
Amber light is the best all-rounder color for sleep and relaxation.
If you have sleeping problems, or trouble relaxing at night, but aren’t ready to pull the trigger on a pure red light, amber is the way to go!
Pros:
Cons:
Red Light
Red light is about 1000K and contains no blue or green light at all. Its color is quite unique and doesn’t activate the circadian system whatsoever.
As you can see, there’s some green light still being emitted from a warm yellow light. The lack of blue light gives this color its warmer hue.
Is Red Light Good For Sleep?
Red light is the best color for anyone with sleep disorders like insomnia since it doesn’t contain any melanopic light.
This is also the ideal light for biohackers and health enthusiasts seeking to maximize their sleep quality.
A red light is also very useful if you need to get up in the middle of the night and want to preserve your night vision afterward.
Pros:
Cons:
The Best Lights for Sleeping
We’ve tested tons of light bulbs here at Optimize Your Biology, so the lights below are currently, to our knowledge, the best choices on the market for their respective categories.
The Best Red Lights
We’ve reviewed all the best red LED lights on the market and we’ve come to the conclusion that Hooga makes the best flicker-free red LEDs.
Hooga 1W Red Light Bulb
These are the dimmest red LED bulbs you can get, which we use in our bedroom and bathroom late at night. They give off a perfect, dim red glow.
- 40 lumens
- 1000K
- 1w
- A15
If you’re looking for a step up in power, for larger rooms I have recommendations in 3, 5, and 7w varieties.
Sunlite 3W
- 1000K
- 3w
- A19
TCP 5W
- 1000K
- 5w
- A15
Hooga 7W Red Light Bulb
The 7W is great for filling up larger rooms with a warm red glow at night.
- 180 lumens
- 1000K
- 7w
- A19
The Best Amber Lights
We’ve selected three options here at various wattage levels so you can find the right one. These are the best of the best!
Hooga 1W Amber Light Bulb
If you’re looking for a dim flicker-free amber light that’s melatonin-friendly but still has good color rendering, this is it!
- 80 lumens
- 1650K
- 1w
- A15
Koze 3.5W Amber Light Bulb
This amber light from Koze has just a bit more lumens to it, making it a great option for reading and chores after dark.
- 300 lumens
- 1600K
- 3.5w
- A15
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Harth 7W Amber Light Bulb
This is the amber bulb to buy if you need to light up a large room at night with melatonin-friendly light, but need to make out still which colors are which.
- 600 lumens
- 1600K
- 7w
- A19
The Best Adjustable Night Light
The only decent adjustable light suitable for evening use is the BioLight series from Block Blue Light.
By flipping your light switch, you can change them from 4000k to 2100k to 1800k.
BioLight Adjustable Full Spectrum
If you’re looking for a do-it-all light to wind down and relax at night, this is the one!
- 600 lumens
- 4300K/2200K/1800K
- 7W
- A19/BR30/GU10/Downlight
🏷️ OPTIMIZE10 for 10% off
Frequently Asked Questions
Does Yellow Light Make You Sleepy?
Yellow light does in fact help to make you sleepy.
Yellow lights are just white lights with much of the blue portion removed. What you’re left with is some green, yellow, orange, and red. And this creates a yellow-looking light.
Since blue light is the main signal to the brain that it’s daytime, removing it tells the brain that the day is ending. This helps to trigger a cascade of events where the brain begins to wind down, produce melatonin, and prepare for sleep.
What’s the Best Color Light to Sleep With?
If you absolutely must sleep with a light on it should be a dim red light. The thing is, red light can still excite the nervous system, even though it doesn’t directly impact the circadian clock or melatonin production.
In this study, researchers subjected 14 participants to 10 or 40 lux of the blue or red LED light.
It was noted that 40 lux of red light increased alertness via alpha brain waves and heart rate increased as well.
This may not be a concern for many, but if you have trouble sleeping, you’ll want to be careful to avoid things that can induce alertness at night, even red light!
Amber vs Red Night Light
Which is the best night light for sleeping? My recommendation would be to use red night lights if they’ll be used while sleeping.
Red will disturb your night vision for less when you get up in the middle of the night and need to see. And it has far less of an impact on your circadian system than amber light does.
When Should You Use a Sleep Light?
I recommend turning on your sleep lights about two to three hours before your bedtime.
So if you want to be asleep by 10, turn on your dim warm lighting at around 7 or 8. This will help you wind down and produce the melatonin you need for a good night’s sleep.
Conclusion
Grab yourself a few lights from the above recommendations, they’re the best out there! And start using them a couple of hours before bed, if you aren’t already doing this, I promise the improvement in the quality of your sleep and the following day will be worth it!
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Very nicely written. But the color is only half of the story. The intensity/lumens of the light should be reduced greatly reduced around bedtime… In my experience this makes a world of a difference.
I believe Dr. Jack Kruse has a graph somewhereof melatonin reduction from various types of light sources (fluorescent/LED’s being the worst, while candles, or candle-like OLED’s would be the best).
I couldn’t agree more! You want very little to no blue/green in your pre-bed lighting, but even a purely red LED can excite the nervous system if it’s bright enough. That’s why we only use very low wattage red lights late at night.
I wish you guys had suggestions on night lights. My best guest suggests a red night light that shines back on the wall to further diffuse its light instead of having a bright spot you can see. I haven’t found anything yet to try. A lot of companies do not state output, so it’s hard to know if something will work well.
Hey Brady, this is something I’ve been meaning to look into and do a post on specifically… you make good points though, I think something diffuse would be the most pleasant at night. I’ll see if I can find some decent stuff to review!
P.S. I found a very scanty wivety website where these lamps aren’t even included, however there is a possibility that their remotes are simply IR, rather harmless from the EMF pont of view, if they are all like this one: https://wivety.net/products/wivety-color-changing-led-light-bulbs-70w-equivalent-2700k-warm-white-a19-e26-screw-edison-base-rgbw-dimmable-12-color-choices-timing-infrared-remote-control-included
I have been happy with these, granted i have not tested the light output nor have I tested them against another product.
https://a.co/d/7NDquZM
Good find! Those look nice.
Hi Derek,
as usual nothing of these is available in Italy/europe.
The only similar one is this Wivety:
https://www.amazon.com/Wivety-Control-Blocking-Therapy-Nursery/dp/B0DBZQ4J4J?
but I don’t know if it’s good. It’s 1600K and they say no flickering and its 9W dimmerable with a remote. But if the remote is not using IR but some kind of radio waves it is an EMF source.
What is your opinion?
Thanks
Looks decent enough? But yeah there’s no way to know for sure unless tested. I wouldn’t be too concerned about the remote even if it were RF since it will only emit upon button press. The exposure would be very very minimal.
I didn’t buy them yet, I was waiting for an opinion, if it’s flicker free as they say and the spectrum is what they show they should be decent, but I haven’t a spectrometer to check the actual spectrum..
I’ve no doubt they’re blue free, if they’re amber colored. You could check flicker with slo-mo on your phone, won’t pick up HF flicker but it’ll catch if there’s any LF waveforms.
Hi Derek,
I bought these but I forgot to update you. With my cheap spectrometer they are actually blue-free and flicker-free. Great for night-tables and bedrooms and very cheap too, about $20 for 4 bulbs.
Great to hear!
Did you by chance check out YUJILEDS Well24™ Dim to Flamewarm light bulbs? I’m curious how it stacks up against the other lights that you mentioned here.
Good question Christa! I need to get my hands on one of those to try it out, looks great though.
Awesome, thanks!
One other question about using light at night. I noticed that you only listed LED options. Are there any incandescent bulbs that seemed promising?
If you found a red/amber filtered one! Otherwise incandescents do put out some short wavelength light. They also flicker, and a decent LED won’t do that.
I have 2. 1. How about reading lights for kids before bedtime recommendations. 2. Can you test the prospek blue light glasses line.
Hi Rocky! I’ll add that to my project list! And I have their glasses on the way 🙂
When will your Sunsy bulbs be available in the UK? Also, is there a reason you don’t release a halogen line? It seems increasingly hard to obtain quality ones that last these days.
Hi Henry!
Unfortunately we don’t have a timeline yet for UK availability for Sunsy bulbs. International shipping is definitely on our radar but we’re still working through the logistics and regulations. I know that’s not the answer you’re hoping for, but it’s something we’re actively thinking about!
As for a halogen line, I’ve definitely considered it! The main issue is that good quality halogens are still relatively easy to source (at least in the US), so it hasn’t been a priority compared to developing high-quality LED options which are much harder to find with good spectral output. That said, I do think there’s a gap in the market for reliable, quality halogens, especially as you’ve pointed out they’re getting harder to obtain.
For now in the UK, I’d recommend looking into reptile supply shops for halogen and incandescent options. They tend to be more reliable sources since those industries still rely on these technologies.