Windows Night Light is a relatively new Windows 10 feature that aims to reduce the blue light emanating from the screen. It does this by enhancing the redder colors, creating a warm, evening-like appearance, but since the Windows 10 Night Light mode isn’t a mandatory feature, some users opt to leave it untouched forever.
Windows Night Light: The Benefits
Night Light is a helpful Windows 10 feature designed to minimize the negative impact of bright light browsing. To understand Night Light better, we must consider how our bodies operate. That’s because the blue light emitted by a PC’s screen is similar to the natural light we receive from the sun during the day.
For the sake of our discussion, it’s essential to get this out of the way: the blue light that emanates from your device’s screen isn’t necessarily bad. The problem arises when the blue light is used repeatedly (for extended periods) at night.
Naturally, the human eyes tend to respond to environmental changes. And since the amount of light in the immediate environment significantly reduces during nighttime, the human eyes struggle to view bright sources or objects.
Put: reading or looking at a bright light source might interfere with your bodily patterns, specifically the secretion of melatonin, a hormone that helps induce sleep during the night.
According to research on man’s natural circadian rhythm, reducing or limiting the emission of blue light during the night impacts sleep patterns positively. As a result, Microsoft sought to introduce the feature in the Windows 10 Creators Update.
Night Light is a valuable feature that changes your display’s color temperature, reducing eye strain when using a device during the evening hours. Windows 10’s Night Light shares many similarities with Mac OS’s Night Shift feature and third-party applications like f.lux.
Therefore, once turned on, Night Light strategically alters your display’s color temperature, shifting it towards the color spectrum’s redder (warmer) end.Night Light has continued to gain widespread popularity and acceptance among many Windows 10 users. Not only is it easy to use, but it also improves the overall user experience.
Below are some of the main benefits of the Windows 10 Night Light Mode.
Night Light helps maintain regular sleeping patterns
Perhaps the most important attribute of Night Light is its ability to maintain a user’s ordinary sleeping patterns. The intensity of the light emanating from the display is less when you alter a device’s color temperature. This change plays a pivotal role in maintaining normal sleep patterns.
The human body is programmed to respond to changes in the external environment. Therefore, when there’s too much light outside, your body will naturally react by producing reduced melatonin levels. That’s because the body associates light with daytime.
You can modify the display through the Night Light feature in Windows 10, switching to a light temperature that creates an evening feeling. Your body (pineal glands) will respond by secreting melatonin, which helps maintain the circadian rhythm.
The main reason behind Microsoft’s decision to integrate Night Light as a feature in Windows 10 is to help clients who use their PCs at night to fall asleep more easily after finishing!
The normal blue light from PCs can stop this melanin production, making it hard to sleep afterward.
Night Light helps reduce overall eye strain
Another advantage of the Night Light feature is its ability to reduce eye strain, especially when using a device for extended hours. Night Light can’t correct pre-existing eye problems! However, redder and warmer lights are gentler on the eyes while on your PC.
When using your PC during nighttime, chances are your display will be among the brightest light sources in the room, especially when working or browsing on the bed.
That means the bright light produced by the screen might lead to gradual straining, especially if you keep working with blue light at night. However, with Night Light, you no longer have to worry about straining and gradually damaging your eyes.
The setting allows you to regulate the color temperature and set one that matches the amount of light in your room.
You can modify the Settings
The good thing with Night Light is that it can be modified to suit personal preferences. If you don’t fancy the default changes that Night Light makes to your PC’s display, you can easily adjust the settings and choose your preferred warm colors.
The ability to tweak and modify Night Light accordingly makes the feature especially useful for creatives like video and photo editors who spend hours behind the PC.
That means they can set the colors to their preferences to suit the nature of the tasks they’re working on. Some photo editors prefer slight modifications to avoid messing with the color gradient.
Moreover, even students burning the midnight oil when preparing for exams can use the Night Light feature. And since people have various preferences regarding the display brightness, all you’ll need to do is turn on Night Light and input your preferred settings, and voila! You’re good to go.
Easy for beginners to understand
Windows 10 is notorious for having some hard-to-access (and use) features and settings, but that’s not the case with Night Light. Turning it on couldn’t be any easier on Windows 10 devices (as discussed later).
In addition to its ease of access, Night Light is also easy to use and modify. Remember, display settings play a huge role in determining user experience when using a device.
Therefore, it was important for Microsoft to make Night Light easy to use and relatively accessible.The Night Light settings page is simplistic and easy to understand, meaning you won’t need to spend much time getting used to how the feature works.
A button allows you to increase or decrease the color temperature at night.If you prefer a toned-down temperature closer to blue light, you must reduce the color temperature by moving the slider toward the left side.
However, Microsoft recommends keeping the slider toward the middle for the best outcomes.
You can schedule when Windows turns it on and off
Microsoft appears determined to give users complete control regarding Night Light settings.
Users can easily set the Night Light to go on and off automatically. A schedule helps ensure you’re constantly protecting your eyes from straining during the night, thus maintaining your sleep patterns.
You can choose a Sunset to Sunrise setting that automatically updates daily based on location. Or, you can set a manual timer to determine when the Night Light setting will go on and off. Either way, the ability to set the on and off time means you’re likely to have an easy time when using the PC.
Suitable for heavy & light PC users
If you’re the type that sits behind the PC for extended periods during the day or night, then you’ll probably find Night Light to be a useful feature.
Working for long hours during the day and working through the night without a change in display colors means your internal clock might still think it’s daytime, making it difficult to catch some much-needed sleep.
However, with Night Light, users can rest assured that their PCs won’t interfere with their normal sleeping patterns, nor will it worsen eye strain.
You don’t have to use it all the time
As an optional feature, Night Light will only become active when you decide to use it. That means that the feature won’t modify your PC’s display without turning Night Light on or scheduling it to turn on and off.
Night Light can sometimes be helpful and distracting when performing gaming and video editing tasks.
Therefore, the ease of turning it on and off gives users the freedom to make the most of their PCs, which plays a massive role in improving the overall user experience.
Disadvantages of the feature
Night Light has many advantages that contribute to its ever-increasing popularity.
However, the feature is far from perfect, and there are some instances where it won’t improve your performance. Here are the most common disadvantages of this feature:
Night Light alters color accuracy
Perhaps the most significant disadvantage of Windows 10 Night Light mode is the alteration of primary display colors.
While this issue might not affect everyone, it can compromise the accuracy of creative professionals who edit videos and photos using Windows.
Creatives might need to turn the settings off to maintain high accuracy when formatting images and videos.
It might lead to adjustment issues
If you get used to using the setting all the time on your device, you might have adjustment issues when switching to other devices.
This can enhance eye discomfort, especially when working on lengthy projects using a device without Night Light mode. As a result, only use it when working at night.
How to enable Night Light
As mentioned earlier, enabling Night Light in Windows 10 is pretty straightforward. But adjusting your Windows settings can be a little confusing the first time around. If you’re new to this feature, here’s how to activate it on your PC:
1. Open the Settings App and Choose System
The first step to turning Night Light on is to use the settings app. There are several ways to access settings in Windows 10. You can click the Start button at the bottom left of the screen (with the Windows logo). Or, you can click the Windows + I buttons on your keyboard (simultaneously) to access the settings app.
Once you are in settings, click System to access the display settings.
2. Click on Display and Tap the Night Light Toggle Switch
Once you’ve clicked on display, you’ll see several display settings on the right side of the screen. Tap the toggle switch beneath Night Light to turn the setting on.
Night Light is now on!
However, if activated during the day, the Night Light setting will remain turned off until nighttime, as per Microsoft’s default settings.
Or, you can turn the Night Light mode on through your PC’s Action Center. To access the Action Center, press the Windows key + A or click the last icon (towards the right) in the task panel.
The Action Center’s settings menu has a button that allows you to access the feature immediately. Click on Night Light to turn the feature on without going through the setting route.
How to adjust it
If you’ve enabled the feature and want to adjust to a different color temperature or set a schedule, then this section will tell you everything you need to know. Here are a few ways to adjust your settings:
Open Settings, Click on System, then Display
To modify the Night Light, you’ll first need to go to settings where you can make the necessary changes. Once you’ve clicked on settings, double-click the System button before pressing Display.
Click on the Night Light Settings button
You’ll spot several settings on the Display page, but you must focus on the Night Light settings button. Clicking this button will allow you to choose from either of the following settings:
- Set the temperature. Windows 10 gives you the freedom to choose your preferred color temperature. You’ll spot a slider, which you’ll drag to set to your preferred warmth.
Avoid dragging the slider to both ends to maximize the feature. - Set a schedule. The good thing about the feature is that you can easily set an on/off schedule to suit your preferences. Click the Schedule button on the Night Light settings page, then press the Set hours option to set your preferred timelines. On default settings, Windows will turn the feature on at night, but you can also allow Windows to detect your location and turn the feature on or off automatically.
FAQs
Although frequently mistaken to mean the same, Night Light and Dark modes perform different roles in Windows 10.
Dark mode is a theme that changes the overall appearance of your OS from the traditional white background to a dark one.
And while Dark mode helps reduce eye strain, it’s yet to be proven to improve sleep patterns as Night Light does. You can use Night Light and Dark modes together.
In its default mode, Night Light won’t harm your eyes. On the contrary, default settings help reduce eye strain, which can greatly reduce the risks of long-term eye damage.
However, Night Light can damage your eyes if you set the color temperatures to very high warm colors.
Therefore, when setting the color temperature, Microsoft recommends keeping the colors towards the center, as both ends of the spectrum will limit the effectiveness of the setting.
If you’re editing photos and videos, it’s better to turn the feature off and turn it on later.
While you can use night light all day, it’s better to use it at night, preferably a few minutes or hours before sleeping.
Night Light’s sole purpose is to reduce eye strain, which can negatively affect your sleeping patterns.
But if you prefer to use night light all day, you can adjust the color temperature to suit your preferences. However, it works best when used during the night.
