Bedtime Bulb: The Origin Story

Bedtime Bulb, the low-blue light bulb for healthy sleep, was just released on Amazon* last week. Bedtime Bulb drastically reduces sleep-interrupting blue light and headache-inducing flicker in a simple, affordable package.

The product itself has been in the works for almost a year, and I’ve been obsessed with the problem of blue light at night for the better half of a decade. Here is Bedtime Bulb’s story so far, along with where we’re headed.

My story

This photo was taken with a very early prototype bulb. The final product has a more premium satin finish.

My first word was “light”—literally.

From age six, I built an animated holiday light show that won the city contest so many times, it was disqualified.

In college, I worked in a lab studying the links between light and health. I designed light fixtures and color-changing controls for research on individuals with dementia and mental disability.

I then started one of the first circadian lighting controls companies, which was acquired. We made lighting change color automatically throughout the day to support human circadian rhythms.

I led human-centric lighting strategy and product development at a major lighting components company, launching multiple successful product lines.

Through all of this, I learned that the market really needs healthy lighting products that are simple and affordable. In October 2017, Bedtime Bulb was born.

Killing 2+ birds with one stone

Blue light at night leads to circadian disruption, causing a cascade of detrimental health effects. Flicker, a rapid flashing inherent to most LED lighting, can lead to headaches and eyestrain. Most lighting products produce too much blue light for the nighttime and too much flicker to boot.

When designing Bedtime Bulb, we adopted a first-principles approach to address these two issues. How could we drastically reduce the amount of blue light compared to common lighting? How could we get rid of unhealthy flicker? How could put it in a beautiful package and sell it at an affordable price?

We also designed the product to reflect market realities. In our research, we discovered:

• Most people would prefer dimmer, warmer lighting at night, but very few people have dimmers in their bedrooms.
• Most have very little idea what lighting technical terms, like lumens and color temperature, mean.
• Today’s lighting purchase experience is broken. You are likely to walk out of the lighting section at your local retail store confused and dissatisfied.

Finally, there was a dearth of good solutions for lowering blue light at home. People who purchased amber or red lighting were unlikely to use it over the long term because of its impracticality. Other light bulbs lowered some blue but cast a strange color and were too bright. Orange goggles eliminate blue but are socially unacceptable.

The solution

Bedtime Bulb solves all the issues mentioned above:

• LessBlue™ Technology drastically lowers sleep-disturbing blue light, to levels even lower than incandescent and halogen lighting.
• FlickerSafe™ Technology eliminates eyestrain- and headache-inducing flashing, and Bedtime Bulb has even less flicker than lighting claiming to be flicker-free.
• Bedtime Bulb is bright enough for nighttime activities like reading and watching TV while casting a warm, relaxing glow. It’s the first lighting product engineered specifically for the end of the day.
• Bedtime Bulb produces more vivid colors than nearly all light sources, meaning your environment simply looks beautiful under this light. It also makes it easier to see the printed page without increasing brightness.

Bedtime Bulb not only checks all the boxes from a technical perspective, but it’s also something you’ll want to use to wind down your day.

The road ahead

In the world of startups, there’s a concept called the MVP, or minimum viable product. It’s a product people in your target market will be happy to purchase, but it’s not bloated with nonessential features that add cost and delay time to market.

Bedtime Bulb is our MVP. We just think it’s a very, very good one—over 50 beta testers have told us the same thing. The feedback on the prototype was so overwhelmingly positive that we went to market with no major product changes.

With that said, our work is far from done. Our mission is to make the all the lighting in the world healthy through simple, affordable, and beautiful products. We’re listening to feedback and already working on our next moves.

Join the #healthylight movement

We’re a young company with a bright future. But we need your help to accelerate our vision. Here’s how you can help us:

• Order your Bedtime Bulb today on Amazon*
• Like our Facebook and Instagram pages
• Share Bedtime Bulb with one person who would love it

Thank you, and sweet dreams.

*We may make a small commission from purchases made after clicking Amazon affiliate links. See our privacy policy.

Bedtime Bulb: The Origin Story was originally published in Hacker Noon on Medium, where people are continuing the conversation by highlighting and responding to this story.