Could More Morning Light Help You Sleep Better?

Sleep can become more complicated as we get older.

So here’s an intriguing idea:

What if part of the solution is getting more light during the day?

A 2026 randomized study looked at 202 adults aged 63 to 92 living independently in Amsterdam, Bologna and Tartu.

Participants were randomly assigned either to use a bright-light lamp in their most frequently used room or to receive no light intervention.

The intervention involved a lamp producing more than 8,000 melanopic lux-equivalent light, used for 12 weeks.

The researchers were interested in whether adding daytime light in real-world homes could influence sleep and daily activity.

And there were some encouraging signals.

Greater daytime light exposure was associated with better subjective sleep quality, more consolidated wakefulness and greater daytime activity.

People who began their supplemental light earlier in the morning also showed greater daytime activity and less fragmented rest-activity rhythms.

But don’t confuse bright light with staring into a lamp.

The study wasn’t simply telling people to buy the brightest light they could find.

Light affects the body’s circadian system, and timing matters.

The intervention was designed around daytime exposure rather than bright light immediately before bed.

And this isn’t proof that a light box will cure insomnia.

The study was relatively small, lasted only 12 weeks, and involved independently living older adults in three European cities.

There’s an easier experiment first.

Before buying anything, consider something much simpler:

Get outside in daylight earlier in the day.

Natural daylight is a powerful signal to the body’s internal clock.

You may not need a special lamp at all if your environment already provides plenty of daytime light.

The Watchdog takeaway

If you’re trying to improve your sleep, don’t think only about what happens at bedtime.

Your morning may matter too.