The discussion revolves around the effects of different types of artificial lighting, particularly fluorescent and full-spectrum lights, on human health and well-being. Participants share personal experiences and concerns regarding headaches, photophobia, and the impact of lighting on mood and productivity in various environments such as workplaces and classrooms.
Participants generally express a range of discomforts and preferences regarding artificial lighting, with no consensus on the best type of lighting or its effects on health. Multiple competing views remain regarding the benefits and drawbacks of fluorescent and full-spectrum lights.
Limitations include varying personal sensitivities to light, differing definitions of "full-spectrum," and unresolved questions about the long-term health impacts of different lighting types.
This discussion may be of interest to individuals concerned about workplace lighting, those with sensitivities to artificial light, and professionals involved in designing lighting for educational or healthcare environments.
Feng Shui is all about energy, and light is the strongest manifestation of it. Your body reacts to everything around you, and you either get nourished or drained by the energy that surrounds you.
“Malillumination” is the term coined by Dr. John Ott, a pioneer light researcher, to describe sunlight deficiency and the negative, harmful effects of artificial pink or cool-white fluorescent lighting on human's behaviour, learning and health.
Do you know that the use of cool-white fluorescent lights has been legally banned in Germany at a Federal level? I strongly encourage you to become aware of the quality of light in your environment and its influence on your health and well-being.
That's the opposite of my problem, lights that are too bright make me and other's ill. Some nut bought into that Feng Shui crap and put in high powered lights and within days people were going home sick and they had to remove the brighter lights. Cost the company a fortune.edward said:According to this article cool white fluorescents take the Feng out of your Shui
http://fengshui.about.com/od/thebasics/qt/light.htm
For many years I have been an advocate of putting more natural full spectrum lighting in classrooms.
Evo said:That's the opposite of my problem, lights that are too bright make me and other's ill. Some nut bought into that Feng Shui crap and put in high powered lights and within days people were going home sick and they had to remove the brighter lights. Cost the company a fortune.
Danger said:Full-spectrum bothers me. I'm severely photophobic; I can't go outdoors in daylight without my dark glasses. Incandescent or regular fluorescent bulbs are fine, but I have to put my glasses back on for the FS ones. Since my glasses are triggered by near-UV, I must assume that FS bulbs put out more of that.
Danger said:One thing that just occurred to me, though, which might or might not be covered by your post, is whether or not FS lights screw up circadian rhythms more than other types.
That's actually what I was referring to, but backwards. I was wondering about people who work under FS at night maybe losing more sense of day-and-night than others. You're talking about deprogramming someone who is off kilter; I'm thinking of reprogramming one who isn't.Moonbear said:No reason to think so. Actually, when people experience disorders associated with circadian or seasonal rhythms, a simple treatment is daytime exposure to full-spectrum lighting (usually in a light box, not to illuminate an entire building).
jimmysnyder said:In fact, I tried it three times and the bulbs never lasted longer than a day.
jimmysnyder said:What's more, the bulb above my front door is a pain to change. So I went with flourescent for that light. The bulb lasts longer so I don't have to change it as often. In theory. In fact, I tried it three times and the bulbs never lasted longer than a day. Either there is a need to retrofit sockets, or there is a serious QC problem with the bulbs themselves. Any ideas?
Really? I put them in all of my outdoor lighting fixtures and places like ceiling fans and 12' ceilings where I don't want to keep climbing, and going on 10 years, I've never had to replace a single one. Of course I used brand names like GE and Sylvania. These bulbs cost me like $12 a piece, but well worth it.Moonbear said:I've never had any luck with them either...and they're awfully expensive to burn out so fast. I don't like them for rooms where I need to do things like read or fine detail work, but thought I would put them in places like a hall and laundry room, where I just need them to keep from bumping into things, but they turned out to be a collossal waste of money for me.
Well, regular fluorescents do, so why not?Evo said:Perhaps the newer ones are built to die quicker, I mean how can you make money on lightbulbs that last 15-20 years? Those first bulbs may be things of the past.
Chi Meson said:I have mostly CFs in my house. Many of them have much better color balance than the standard tube fluorescents. Still, I keep a few low-watt incandescent bulbs here and there. The combination of the green-blue dominant fluorescent and the red-orange dominant filament bulbs gives the most-natural light. It only takes about one 40 W incandescent bulb per three CFs to provide a pleasing overall light-cast.
Oh, yeah... bounce that light off the ceiling whenever possible.
And stay away from halogens.
And say no to drugs.
That's silly. Diffusing light doesn't change the spectral output.baywax said:Bouncing light off the ceiling was the clinic's response to the suggestion that they get full spectrum lighting in place for the health of the staff and the patients.
Dubiousfluorescent lighting is proven to cause health issues
They don't need to be.and they are on all day and all night.
No way are fluorescents anywhere near the danger-level of smoking or even secondhand smoke. Unless you are repeatedly breathing in the vapors of cracked fluorescent bulbs, on a daily basis, the "health issues" raised are insignificant in the face of the rest of our "health issues."There should be a warning label on the packaging not unlike cigarettes.
Chi Meson said:That's silly. Diffusing light doesn't change the spectral output.
Dubious
They don't need to be.
No way are fluorescents anywhere near the danger-level of smoking or even secondhand smoke. Unless you are repeatedly breathing in the vapors of cracked fluorescent bulbs, on a daily basis, the "health issues" raised are insignificant in the face of the rest of our "health issues."
Nothing beats natural sunlight of course. The first step should be windows. Next step, light tubes.
Low-energy bulbs 'worsen rashes'
The switch to energy-saving light bulbs may put thousands at risk of painful skin reactions, health charities warn. Fluorescent bulbs can exacerbate skin rashes in people with photosensitive skin conditions, experts said.
The government is planning to prevent the sale of conventional bulbs by 2011 to cut carbon dioxide emissions.
Several groups including the British Association of Dermatologists called for exemptions to allow those affected to continue using traditional bulbs.
But representatives of the lighting industry said there would be alternatives to fluorescent lighting available.
Health conditions which can involve some form of light sensitivity, include the auto-immune disease lupus, the genetic disorder Xeroderma Pigmentosum (XP), certain forms of eczema and dermatitis, photosensitivity, and porphyria.
It has been estimated about 100,000 people in the UK with these skin conditions will be affected.
Low-energy bulbs 'cause migraine'
Energy-saving light bulbs could trigger migraines, say campaigners.
The Migraine Action Association says members have told them how fluorescent bulbs have led to attacks.
Full spectrum lights mimic the sun and can reduce seasonal affective disorder or SAD especially during our northern winters when natural sunlight is limited.
But some full spectrum bulbs also produce high frequencies that some people are sensitive to. This sensitivity is known as electrical sensitivity (ES) or electrohypersensitivity (EHS) and is becoming a growing concern because of our increasing exposure to electromagnetic energy from electronic equipment and wireless devices.
As many as 3% of the population have full blown EHS and are unable to live is a modern electrical environment. Many complain that they cannot be in a room with fluorescent lights because they feel "unwell". These people have difficulty shopping in large department stores because of the lighting and often go with list in hand and spend as little time in the store as possible. Their cognitive functions diminish and some have difficulty recalling where they parked their car (editor: I'd be doing that from a candle-lit room).
(11 = Light, an overlooked factor in healing. Let's Live 1977; Aug:30-36)A Chicago area elementary school suddenly reported five times the national average incidence of leukemia. All but one of the afflicted children were being taught in rooms where teachers kept the blinds drawn and the children were exposed all day to fluorescent light. When even the amount of UV-rich daylight that can get through windows was let in and the dangerous fluorescent lights were turned off, the leukemia cluster disappeared! [11]
Evo said:Really? I put them in all of my outdoor lighting fixtures and places like ceiling fans and 12' ceilings where I don't want to keep climbing, and going on 10 years, I've never had to replace a single one. Of course I used brand names like GE and Sylvania. These bulbs cost me like $12 a piece, but well worth it.
Perhaps the newer ones are built to die quicker, I mean how can you make money on lightbulbs that last 15-20 years? Those first bulbs may be things of the past.
They are not very bright and they are annoying. But for some reason the incandescents were buring out every couple of weeks and it was making me crazy. They were the store brand though.Moonbear said:I think the first one I got was an off-brand, and I assumed that was the reason for it not lasting, but when the brand-name ones at $15 or $16 a pop were dying faster than regular bulbs, and I didn't really care much for the light they produced anyway (they never seem as bright as a regular bulb), I was definitely not going to try any more of them.
Others I've seen that seem to last are irritating as all get-out for another reason...they seem to need to warm up S L O W L Y before they'll reach full brightness. If I walk into the kitchen for a glass of water at night, I want the light to come right on, not fumble around in the dark and only have the light finally on at full brightness just when I'm ready to turn it off. The color on those ones seemed okay, but not very useful unless it's a room you're going to leave the lights on a long time (maybe a kids' playroom where they run in and out and keep forgetting there's a light switch).
baywax said:Most of these are not peer reviewed articles: note, and remain as such since we are not peers either.
Not anymore, they can't. If people don't replace their old, obsolete, less efficient, less pleasing fluorescent tubes and fixtures with new ones, that's their own fault. It isn't the fault of the technology, which is perfectly fine.baywax said:If you follow my links to the site about Epilepsy you'll see how fluorescent tubing can trigger episodes of that condition.
That's people who are already sick. Fluorescent lighting does not cause these conditions. Warm water makes a sunburn hurt more too, but it doesn't cause the sunburn and you can't call warm water a health hazard for that reason.Here's more news about people with photosensitive disorders in the UK
Well, yes. The US has tabloid journalism and nut-job special interest groups too, of course. No one's on this particular cause though. And like you said:But, that's just the silly English talking... and they keep on going to claim that...
Exactly.Most of these are not peer reviewed articles.
That one's just nonsense and its easy to see why: what's the rate of childhood leukemia? (1:25,000) How many cases does it take for a school to have 5x the normal rate? (1 per decade for a school of 500 would do it)Another report on the "dangers of fluorescent lighting".
[on leukemia]