Night routine: an evening routine built around light

Why does light in the evening matter?

Light in the morning can shift the body clock earlier, and light in the evening can shift it later. An international expert consensus agreed on this statement (Spitschan et al., 2025).

A 2026 policy brief turns this into a 24-hour pattern: brighter light in the morning and during the day, less light in the evening, and darkness or near-darkness during sleep (Piper et al., 2026). Evening light does not have to go to zero. It can often be reduced, while the bedroom should be as dark as you can make it (Piper et al., 2026).

Daylight earlier in the day may play a part too. Several studies suggest that brighter light earlier in the day can soften unwanted effects of evening light (Brown et al., 2022). The expert consensus did not agree on how far daytime light offsets light at night, because research on this question is only beginning (Spitschan et al., 2025).

Even ordinary room light counts. In a 9-day study, 23 healthy young volunteers got a single 6.5-hour light exposure early in their biological night. Dim room light of about 100 lux shifted their body clock later by half as much as bright light of about 9,000 lux, which gave the largest shift (Zeitzer et al., 2000). That is just over 1 percent of the light. These were many hours of light in a study, not a normal evening.

Body clock running late? How to shift it earlier.

How dim should lights be at night?

Melanopic EDI is not the number a normal lux meter shows. It describes how strongly a light acts on light-sensitive cells in the retina that contain melanopsin, given as the lux of standard daylight that would act just as strongly (Brown et al., 2022). Common lamps act on these cells much less than daylight with the same lux (Brown et al., 2022).

At home in the evening, a normal lux meter commonly shows around 30 lux (Brown et al., 2022). In one study of evening light at home, melanopic EDI was already at or below 10 lux on nearly half of the occasions. Many of the brighter cases could have met the evening value just by using lamps whose light acts less on these cells (Brown et al., 2022).

There should still be enough light to see and move around safely (Brown et al., 2022). The values apply to healthy adults aged 18 to 55 with regular daytime schedules. An international expert panel gives three values for indoor light, each measured at the eye in the vertical plane, about 1.2 m above the floor (Brown et al., 2022):

• Daytime: at least 250 lux melanopic EDI.
• Evening, starting at least 3 hours before bedtime: at most 10 lux melanopic EDI.
• Sleep: at most 1 lux melanopic EDI. The sleep environment should be as dark as possible.

How bright daylight is compared with light at home.

Screen time before bed

A screen puts light close to your eyes. On its own, a display can give more than 60 lux melanopic EDI (Brown et al., 2022), several times the evening value. Changing the colors of a display lowers this only modestly, by about half (Brown et al., 2022).

For the three hours before bedtime, the policy brief suggests dimming electric lights, avoiding very bright screens close to the eyes, or using settings that reduce short-wavelength light when you need a screen (Piper et al., 2026). The CDC lists turning off electronic devices at least 30 minutes before bedtime among its sleep habits (CDC, 2024).

A study compared reading on a light-emitting eReader with reading a printed book in the hours before bedtime. With the eReader, participants took longer to fall asleep, and their body clock ran later (Chang et al., 2015). The study tested an eReader, not a phone.

What does Huberman recommend for evening light?

On his podcast, Andrew Huberman recommends dimming the lights at home on most nights. The lights you do use should sit low in the room: desk lamps or lamps near or on the floor instead of overhead lights (Huberman Lab, 2022). He suggests using only as much artificial light as you need to do things safely, and turning screens down as far as you can while still seeing them (Huberman Lab, 2022).

In his sleep newsletter, Huberman recommends avoiding bright lights, especially bright overhead lights, between 10 pm and 4 am (Huberman Lab, 2021). He also recommends waking up at the same time each day and avoiding caffeine within 8 to 10 hours of bedtime (Huberman Lab, 2021).

Research points the same way on dimming: the expert panel and the policy brief both ask for less light in the evening (Brown et al., 2022; Piper et al., 2026). Brown 2022 ties the evening value to your own bedtime, not to a clock time. It applies from at least 3 hours before bed, so from 8 pm if you go to bed at 11 pm. Neither source sets a rule for how high a lamp should be. The policy brief only asks to use night lights when needed for safety and to keep them low, shielded and away from direct view (Piper et al., 2026).

The CDC also advises going to bed and getting up at the same time every day (CDC, 2024). For caffeine it gives no number of hours and advises avoiding caffeine in the afternoon or evening (CDC, 2024).

What is sleep hygiene?

Sleep hygiene is the name for a set of everyday sleep recommendations. A review covers recommendations on exercise, noise and sleep timing, and on avoiding caffeine, nicotine, alcohol and daytime naps (Irish et al., 2015). The same review notes that the direct effects of single recommendations on sleep remain largely untested in the general population (Irish et al., 2015).

The habits the CDC lists include going to bed and getting up at the same time every day, keeping the bedroom quiet, relaxing and cool, and avoiding large meals and alcohol before bedtime (CDC, 2024).

A night routine for the last 3 hours before bed

Each step comes from the sources above. Count the hours back from your own usual bedtime.

In summer it can still be light outside late in the evening. For those weeks the policy brief points to late-evening daylight and bedroom darkness (Piper et al., 2026).

1. About 3 hours before bed, dim the lights (Brown et al., 2022; Piper et al., 2026). Huberman Lab suggests lamps placed low in the room instead of overhead lights (Huberman Lab, 2022).
2. If you need a screen, don’t hold a very bright one close to your eyes, or use a setting that reduces short-wavelength light (Piper et al., 2026).
3. Skip caffeine in the afternoon and evening (CDC, 2024).
4. Turn off electronic devices at least 30 minutes before bed (CDC, 2024).
5. Make the bedroom dark: close the curtains, use a sleep mask if you like it, and switch off lights you do not need overnight (Piper et al., 2026).
6. If you need a night light for safety, keep it low, shielded and out of direct view (Piper et al., 2026).
7. Go to bed and get up at the same time every day (CDC, 2024).

Early or late type? Take the chronotype quiz.

What this is not

This routine is a suggestion for everyday life. It is not medical advice and promises no particular result, and LightOtter is not a medical device. People differ a lot in how they respond to light (Spitschan et al., 2025). If you regularly have problems sleeping, talk to a doctor. The CDC advises the same (CDC, 2024). LightOtter is not affiliated with Andrew Huberman or Huberman Lab.