Invisible Light While Sleeping

Dan W

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Remember the sentinal robots from The Matrix? Ever wanted one hovering over your bed?
red-light-creepysentinal.jpg

Yeah, me neither. But I've always been intrigued by Peat's idea that a night spent sleeping in darkness is biologically stressful, and I've been thinking of ways to expose myself to beneficial wavelengths of light without having visible light in the room (Sleepwalker Dan does dumb things when he can see).

So I've been experimenting with the above setup, an Aweek 96 LED security fixture light hung from a chain. It's 850nm, so it's barely visible to the naked eye, and it seems to penetrate a sheet or two just fine. I want to make an infrared webcam so I can get a better idea whether it can get through regular blankets.

I'm curious if anyone has tried anything similar, or figured out an alternate solution. I'm considering wiring up some kind of panel with 880nm LEDs (or even lasers) for dropping the visibility even further, and possibly improving the penetration through cloth. I've also thought about some sort of embedded-LED blankets or panels that would lay directly on the bed, but that seems like a fire waiting to happen.

Anyone else have ideas/experiences to share?
 
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Fletcher

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Dan Wich said:
post 105701 I've been thinking of ways to expose myself to beneficial wavelengths of light without having visible light in the room
I don't have anything to add except that I'm curious about this too.
 
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burtlancast

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Brian

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Well 850-10,000 nm are felt as heat, so wouldn't just keeping warm and retaining your own infrared heat at night essentially be the same thing as having a Near Infrared source shining on you? I notice I sleep very well and wake up much more refreshed when bundled up nice and warm.

I do like using the 850nm 96 LED array once a week on my forehead for about 5 minutes before sleep though. It usually makes me sleep an extra hour and I wake up feeling very clear headed.
 

Sheik

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Wow, that's a great idea! I never would have thought of that. I wonder if something like that would drive up the electric bill.
 

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Dan W

Dan W

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Brian said:
post 105970 Well 850-10,000 nm are felt as heat, so wouldn't just keeping warm and retaining your own infrared heat at night essentially be the same thing as having a Near Infrared source shining on you?
I hadn't thought of it that way, we all need to start bundling up in those reflective space blankets :D

I figure "supplemental" 850 or 880 is probably still helpful, since it will be concentrated in a known-useful wavelength instead of spread out over a broad range.

Sheik said:
post 105974I wonder if something like that would drive up the electric bill.
They're really power-efficient because they generate such a targeted wavelength. I figure the one I have is around a penny per night. But if I build my own 880nm one, I'll make sure it's so powerful that the neighbors' lights dim when I turn it on
 
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Dan W

Dan W

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Hmm, I was joking about building a really powerful one, but I realized higher wattages would also act like a personal space heater in the winter. It'll be interesting to figure out what wattage is necessary to get optimum levels of light through blankets without overdoing it. Particularly since a lot of the data for optimal "treatment" amounts is based around short sessions on individual body parts.
 

Philomath

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I've also thought about some sort of embedded-LED blankets or panels that would lay directly on the bed, but that seems like a fire waiting to happen

I've thought about that too. There are many led embedded clothes you can buy now so I know it's technically possible. I'm no electrician but I think several ir led strips sandwiched between two thin (non flammable) sheets would work well. They don't draw much power so one could probably use a rechargeable DC battery. That would likely eliminate fire and electrocution :2cents:
 
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Dan W

Dan W

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supercoolguy said:
post 106501 The 30lb chain from the ceiling.....what was it used for?
It'd be irresponsible to under-engineer my bed chains. <-- A quote ensuring I can never run for president.

Philomath said:
post 106551 I've thought about that too. There are many led embedded clothes you can buy now so I know it's technically possible. I'm no electrician but I think several ir led strips sandwiched between two thin (non flammable) sheets would work well. They don't draw much power so one could probably use a rechargeable DC battery. That would likely eliminate fire and electrocution
Interesting ideas, I'll have to think about this. It does look like flexible 850nm LED strips are pretty common. I'd need to find some able to withstand hours of use without much airflow.

I'm (perhaps unreasonably) paranoid about batteries, but I suppose it could be wired externally, away from the sheets. Although at that point maybe a DC power converter plugged into the wall could be similarly safe.

If I end up making a suspended 880nm device, I just realized there's no better enclosure than a disco ball.
 
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Sheik

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@Dan Wich Hey Dan, did you ever figure this thing out? Does it penetrate through blankets and does it make you feel less stressed at night?
 
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Dan W

Dan W

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Hey Sheik,
I haven't tried altering a webcam to detect the output yet, and I haven't noticed anything subjectively. But I figure it can't hurt, so I've continued to use it, and have added more lights.
 

lvysaur

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Can't you just use an incandescent bulb with a sleep mask?

Seems like preventing light entry into the eye would be a better solution
 

mt_dreams

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Can't you just use an incandescent bulb with a sleep mask?

Seems like preventing light entry into the eye would be a better solution

I remember a study from a couple of years ago that placed a blue light behind the back of someone's knee while they slept, and their body acknowledged the light via chemical changes. So if you go this route, it would be better to use red lights as incandescents have blue light, and your skin appears just as good as your eyes at picking up blue light.
 

mt_dreams

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cool design. looks like dan likes his heavy duty chains. for anyone considering this, you can probably get away with using a smaller gauge chain and run it straight down like a lighting fixture as the unit I have is not that heavy.

for anybody that has a couple of thousand dollars lying around, there's infrared mats you can purchase that would alleviate any potential problems with penetrating through blankets. there's also knock-offs available on amazon for a couple of hundred dollars, but i'm not sure if those
would be safe. I'm not sure if the tech is the same on these infrared mats, as I assume they are not using led light technology.
 
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