Cards on the table : I have an a/c fitted in part of the house - but not the office.
The office, I’m trying to survive with the blinds shut during the day, windows open at night… but it’s so dark and gloomy!
How do people survive with darkness all day?!
move the office temporarly to the living room. Send the kids to the badi 
I love darkness in the office the whole year around. But then I go for a swim soon, every day. No air condition in my Swiss home.
I guess after all these years here I’ve become accustomed to gloom, either because the sun is AWOL all summer (last year) or because the house has to go into mausoleum mode to survive a heatwave (this year).
I take frequent breaks outside in the garden to catch a little light. Which in this heat then makes me grateful for the relative cool the dark house affords.
We have AC, which works well up to a week of 30 degree weather. To make it work, though, we still have do the open at night, mausoleum during the day thing.
It’s the lack of sleep due to opening windows after midnight then getting up to close them at 05:00 that hurts more than the dark.
No lights in your office?
It’s seriously depressing. I’ve taken to going to the air-conditioned office every day where possible. But on days where it is not possible, I’ve spend multiple days essentially in darkness and it has not had good effects on my mood and health.
Going outside? By 18h00 it’s already cooler and still plenty of light.
It also helps that my home office window has another apartment building like 15m away, so I’m not missing anything at all 
I typically take a pause from work for dinner, and then continue working again until 21:00 or so…
Lights yes - but that’s the point, lights end up being gloomy and depressing… I don’t have full spectrum lights…
Going out at 18h00 doesn’t mean the work ended. I go out, have dinner later, then come back for personal issues from the other country 8h later where “late” is the right time to get things done.
I have a therapy light for SAD which I use in winter. No need in summer, even when I need to turn on a reading light because the shutters are down - ours are easily adjusted to reflect direct sunlight but let in diffuse light.
Do they actually work? I was suggested one two decades ago as a sunrise light, but I just slept through it…
it is not designed to wake you up, just help with depression - do they work? Very difficult to answer as almost everyone uses them in addition to some other treatment(s). It is easy to drink coffee in front of one for 30 minutes in the morning so no real downside.