By Tophik · Updated 17 October 2026 · 7 min read

This guide is general information, not medical advice.

On Sunday 25 October the clocks go back an hour, and for anyone who works at home the light at the window starts running out before the working day does. By the shortest day, 21 December, London gets less than eight hours of daylight.

That matters to a lot of people: more than a quarter of working adults in Great Britain (28%) were hybrid workers in early 2025, according to the ONS, and more work from home full time. This guide shows how to set up the light around a small desk so the last hours of the day aren't spent squinting at a bright screen in a dark room. Most of it costs nothing.

In short

  • Use the daylight you still have: sit side-on to the window, not facing it or with it behind you.
  • Don't let the screen be the only light in the room. Light the desk and the wall as well.
  • Aim desk light down onto the work, never at the screen, and check for reflections with a small mirror.
  • In the evening, turn the screen brightness down to match the room.
  • If winter brings low mood that won't lift, talk to your GP. A desk lamp is not a treatment.

In this guide

  1. What changes when the clocks go back
  2. Use the daylight you still have
  3. Don't let the screen be the only light
  4. Three layers of light for a small desk
  5. Warm or cool light in the evening?
  6. When it's more than the dark
  7. Questions people ask

1. What changes when the clocks go back

In the UK the clocks go back one hour at 2am on the last Sunday in October, and the country returns to Greenwich Mean Time. This year that is Sunday 25 October. The mornings get lighter for a few weeks, but the afternoons get dark an hour earlier, and the days keep shortening until the winter solstice on 21 December.

For an office worker, the change is felt at the desk around mid-afternoon. In summer, the window did most of the lighting work. From November, the same desk needs a plan for the last part of the day, when the window has gone dark and the screen is suddenly the brightest thing in the room.

2. Use the daylight you still have

Daylight is free, and in winter it is worth arranging the desk around it.

  • Sit side-on to the window. Northern Ireland's Health and Safety Executive advises placing the desk and screen so you are not directly facing windows or bright lights. With the window behind you, it reflects in the screen instead.
  • Use blinds to control glare, not to shut the light out. The HSE's workstation checklist asks whether window coverings work, and notes that blinds with vertical slats can suit better than horizontal ones.
  • Get outside while it's light. The NHS advice for winter low mood includes getting as much natural daylight as you can, going outside in the daytime every day. For a home worker, a lunchtime walk is the simplest way to do it.
A small desk by a window in a London flat, with a laptop, a notebook and a mug
Side-on to the window: daylight falls across the desk, and the window stays out of the screen.

Try this (2 minutes): sit in your normal position and hold a small mirror flat against the screen. Whatever lamp or window you can see in the mirror is what reflects in the screen. This is the test the HSE suggests. Move the light, the screen or the desk until the mirror shows only wall.

3. Don't let the screen be the only light

Working in the evening by the light of the screen alone is common, and it is the set-up the guidance warns against. The HSE checklist asks whether the lighting is suitable, "not too bright or too dim to work comfortably". It suggests local lighting such as desk lamps, with one condition: make sure the light doesn't cause glare by reflecting off walls or other surfaces.

The American Optometric Association lists poor lighting and glare on a screen among the causes of digital eye strain, and says those most at risk spend two or more continuous hours at a computer. Its advice is to position the screen to avoid glare from overhead lights or windows, and to follow the 20-20-20 rule: every 20 minutes, look at something 20 feet (about 6 metres) away for 20 seconds.

The surroundings matter too. The European standard for workplace lighting, BS EN 12464-1, revised in 2021, sets light levels for walls and ceilings as well as the desk, partly to avoid the impression of gloominess. A bright screen in a dark room is the opposite: a small lit rectangle in a lot of shade.

Woman writing at her desk under a monitor light bar, its light falling on the keyboard and notebook
Task light aimed down onto the notebook and keyboard. The screen stays clear of reflections.

4. Three layers of light for a small desk

A small desk doesn't need much, but it helps to think in three layers. You may already own everything on this list.

Layer What it does How to set it up Watch out for
Room light Lifts the shade around you, so the screen isn't the only bright thing A ceiling light, or a floor or table lamp bounced off a pale wall A bare bulb in your line of sight
Task light Lights the keyboard, notebook and papers A desk lamp or screen bar, aimed down and slightly forward onto the work Light pointing at the screen or reflecting off a glossy desk
The screen Should match the room, not outshine it Turn brightness down as the room gets darker; most laptops and monitors let you Full brightness in a dim room in the evening

Two small habits make the layers work. First, switch the lights on before you need them, around the time the window starts to dim, rather than noticing an hour later that you are working in the dark. Second, a matt surface under the keyboard helps: the HSE suggests a keyboard with a matt finish to reduce glare and reflection, and the same logic applies to the desk top.

Try this (10 minutes, at dusk): sit at the desk when the window has gone dark. Switch on one room light and one task light. Do the mirror test again, then lower the screen brightness until white areas no longer feel like a torch. Note the setting so you can go back to it tomorrow.

5. Warm or cool light in the evening?

Many lamps and screens now let you choose warm or cool white. Warm light (around 3000K) looks like a traditional bulb; cool light (around 6500K) looks closer to a bright overcast sky.

The research on evening light is real but narrower than headlines suggest. The best-known study, by Anne-Marie Chang and colleagues at Brigham and Women's Hospital and Harvard Medical School (PNAS, 2015), had 12 adults read for about four hours before bed, for five evenings on a light-emitting tablet and five evenings from printed books. After the tablet, they took longer to fall asleep, produced less melatonin in the evening, had a later body clock and were less alert the next morning. The authors suggest the short-wavelength (blue-enriched) light from the device as a likely cause.

What it doesn't show. It was a small laboratory study, with long reading sessions on a tablet held close, in a dim room. In a published letter, the sleep researcher Jamie Zeitzer questioned how far laboratory results like this apply to real life. And no study we know of shows that the colour of a desk lamp, on its own, changes how you sleep.

The sensible reading is modest: in the evening, turn the screen down, use warmer settings if you have them and prefer them, and stop when the work is done.

A small wooden lamp glowing warm on a desk in the evening
A small warm light beside the screen lifts the shade around the desk. It adds atmosphere; it isn't meant for reading a page.

6. When it's more than the dark

For some people, winter brings more than tired eyes. The NHS says the main symptom of seasonal affective disorder (SAD) is depression that happens in the winter. Symptoms include low mood, a lack of interest in things you usually enjoy, and being more tired and sleeping more than usual.

The NHS suggests getting as much natural daylight as you can and regular exercise. It also says light therapy, using a bright "SAD lamp" or light box, is not usually available on the NHS because there isn't enough evidence to tell whether it works, and that you should speak to a GP before trying one. An ordinary desk lamp is not a light box and is not a treatment.

If you think you might have SAD, or your mood stays low, see your GP. If you have thoughts of suicide or self-harm, get urgent help: call 111, or 999 in an emergency, or Samaritans on 116 123.

7. Questions people ask

Should my desk face the window? Usually not. Facing the window puts a bright background behind the screen, and with the window behind you, it reflects in the screen. Side-on is the standard advice, with blinds to control glare.

Is a desk lamp or a monitor light bar better? Both can light the desk. A light bar sits on top of the screen and saves desk space; a lamp can be placed more freely and can also light the wall. What matters is the direction: down onto the work, not into the screen or your eyes. Check with the mirror test either way.

What colour temperature is best for working? There's no single right number in the guidance. Pick the light that lets you read comfortably without glare. If you work late, a warmer setting and a dimmer screen are reasonable choices, but the evidence that lamp colour changes sleep is limited (see section 5).

The short version

Before 25 October, move the desk side-on to the window, do the mirror test and put a light on the wall behind the screen with a lamp you already own. If your desk has no room for a lamp, our Crest Monitor Light Bar clips onto the top of the screen and lights the desk below in warm, neutral or cool white; for a softer evening glow beside it, there's the Ember Wooden USB Desk Lamp.

Sources

  1. GOV.UK, When do the clocks change?
  2. Royal Museums Greenwich, When is the winter solstice? The shortest day
  3. Office for National Statistics, Who has access to hybrid work in Great Britain? (June 2025)
  4. Health and Safety Executive, Display screen equipment (DSE) workstation checklist
  5. Health and Safety Executive for Northern Ireland, Display screen equipment
  6. American Optometric Association, Computer vision syndrome
  7. CIBSE Journal, Work-light balance: key changes to workplace lighting guidance (2022), on BS EN 12464-1:2021
  8. Chang AM, Aeschbach D, Duffy JF, Czeisler CA, Evening use of light-emitting eReaders negatively affects sleep, circadian timing, and next-morning alertness, PNAS 112(4), 2015
  9. Zeitzer JM, Real life trumps laboratory in matters of public health, PNAS, 2015, and the authors' reply
  10. NHS, Seasonal affective disorder (SAD) (reviewed December 2025)