If you struggle with sleep in later life, chances are you’ve already tried supplements, trackers, or stricter bedtime rules. A large European research project points somewhere far simpler.

Light.

The ENLIGHTENme project studied bright light exposure in older adults living in cities, and its findings offer something the sleep world genuinely needs more of: hopeful, practical, evidence-based guidance.

The Study: Real Homes, Real People, Real Light

Most light research happens in laboratories under tightly controlled conditions. This project took a different route. Over 200 participants aged 63 to 92 across Tartu, Bologna and Amsterdam took part in the first real-world study of its kind, using full-spectrum lamps in the rooms where they spent most of their time.

The results were consistent across all three cities. Those with higher daytime light exposure showed:

• Higher levels of daytime activity

• More consolidated wakefulness during the day

• Better self-reported sleep quality

Blue-enriched light therapy also led to earlier bedtimes and more regular sleep patterns. This offers a non-pharmacological, low-cost way to support healthy ageing.

That last point deserves emphasis. This is an intervention with decades of laboratory evidence behind it, is now demonstrated in people’s actual homes.

Why You May Be Getting Less Light Than You Need

As you age, the eye changes. The lens becomes thicker and more yellow, the pupil becomes smaller, and the number of light-sensing cells reduces. Less light reaches the biological clock in the brain, which makes it harder to time and regulate the sleep-wake cycle.

This is normal ageing physiology. Your brain and body are working exactly as designed. They are simply receiving a weaker signal.

Add urban living to the picture and the signal weakens further. If you spend the vast majority of your time indoors, you’re getting far less light than your circadian system needs. In the study populations, average outdoor light exposure was under 20 minutes a day.

💡 Indoor lighting typically provides a fraction of the light intensity of even an overcast day outside. Your body clock notices the difference, even when your eyes do not.

Timing Matters as Much as Brightness

One of the most useful findings concerns when light does its best work.

Participants who identified as morning types and began their light supplementation earlier in the day were significantly more active.

The practical protocol used in the study is refreshingly simple:

• Use the lamp in the morning, in the room where you spend the most time

• Switch it off several hours before bed, so the evening signal stays dim

The second half matters as much as the first. Bright light in the evening tells your body clock that daylight is still present, which delays the natural wind-down towards sleep. Getting strong light early and gentle light late gives your circadian system a clear, honest signal about where the day sits.

There is also emerging evidence that afternoon light plays a larger role than previously assumed in consolidating sleep and wake in older adults. The overall principle holds either way: generous light during the day.

What This Means Beyond Sleep Itself

A well-aligned body clock supports far more than the night. When you get more morning light, your internal rhythms synchronise better with the external world, showing up as more stable daily activity and fuller engagement with your day.

This aligns with something I return to constantly in my work as a sleep therapist. Progress with sleep and progress with life happen in parallel. You do your best work on sleep when you keep moving towards the things that matter to you, rather than putting everything on hold until the nights improve.

Light therapy fits that philosophy neatly. It asks nothing of you at bedtime. No striving, no monitoring, no anxious effort. It works with no effort – and with a cup of tea and the radio on.

A Sensible Note of Caution

Bright light supports the circadian system. It is one important pillar among several.

Chronic insomnia usually involves more than a mistimed body clock. It typically includes a heightened arousal system and learned patterns of worry around sleep, and those respond best to evidence-based approaches such as cognitive behavioural therapy for insomnia and acceptance-based methods. Light therapy complements that work well. On its own, it addresses one part of a larger picture.

⚠️ Anyone with an eye condition or who takes photosensitising medication, or who have any mental health disorders should speak with their doctor before starting bright light therapy.

The Takeaway

The evidence from this project supports a genuinely hopeful message for you, and for anyone who cares about your sleep.

Your sleep can improve at any age. The changes that come with ageing eyes and indoor living are understandable, measurable and addressable. A lamp, used at the right time of day, moved the needle on activity, mood and sleep quality for people in their sixties through to their nineties.

Three simple starting points:

• Get outside in the morning when possible, even briefly

• Brighten the room where you spend your mornings

• Dim the lights in the final hours before bed

None of this requires perfection. Your circadian system responds to patterns over time, and a rough night here and there changes nothing about the overall trajectory.

Good sleep in later life remains fully within reach. The research keeps confirming it, and the tools keep getting simpler.