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Emotional Effects of Natural Vs. Fluorescent Lighting

Whereas natural light is crucial to all life on earth, cool-white fluorescent lighting, also known simply as fluorescent lighting, can have detrimental effects on our health, suggests Magda Havas, a professor in environmental studies at Trent University. Frequent exposure can lead to elevated stress levels and other kinds of emotional instability. Fluorescent lighting affects mental health in part because, unlike natural lighting, it emits almost no radiation in the ultraviolet range of the electromagnetic spectrum. Exposure to blue and ultraviolet light helps the brains stabilize mood. Fluorescent lighting also emits microwaves, which, according to Havas, can have adverse health effects.

  1. Natural Lighting

    • Natural light comes from the sun or the moon. About half of the sun's solar radiation lies in the visible range of the electromagnetic spectrum and the other half lies in the near-infrared and ultraviolet parts of the spectrum. Moonlight is sunlight that strikes the moon and subsequently reaches earth.

    Fluorescent Lighting

    • Fluorescent lighting emits light that is imbalanced in the electromagnetic spectrum. Virtually none of the radiation from fluorescent lighting lies in the ultraviolet range of the spectrum, and some lies in the microwave range between the very low-frequency long-wavelength radio waves and the infrared waves. Full-spectrum fluorescent lighting mirrors sources of daylight with emissions in all parts of the visual spectrum and some in the infrared and ultraviolet ranges.

    Health Effects of Natural Vs. Fluorescent Lighting

    • Unabsorbed ultraviolet radiation can cause tissue damage, eye damage and promote skin cancer. But ultraviolet radiation also appear to have beneficial effects on well-being. John Ott, director of the Environmental Health and Light Institute in Sarasota, Florida, and a pioneer in analyzing the effects of artificial light on health, reports that mice continually exposed to the full light spectrum have longer life spans than mice that grow up under fluorescent lighting with little radiation in the ultraviolet range of the electromagnetic spectrum.

    Research on the Psychological Effects of Artificial Lighting

    • Researchers have studied the question of how lighting conditions affect mental stability for decades. In the 1940s, Luckiesh and Moss studied how fifth- and sixth-graders in well-lit and poorly lit classrooms performed on the New Stanford Achievement Test. Those in well-lit classrooms scored significantly higher than those in poorly lit classrooms. Since then, numerous researchers have studied the effects of fluorescent lighting. In a 2002 Guardian News article, Michaele Wynn-Jones investigated fluorescent lighting in prisons. Wynn-Jones concluded that fluorescent lighting is a likely cause of the headaches, depression and sleep disorders prisoners frequently experience.

    Symptoms and Risks

    • According to researchers at the H.E.S.E project, the most common symptoms of having been exposed to too much fluorescent lighting and too little natural lighting are headaches, mood swings, irritability, insomnia and inappropriate behavior. John Ott further notes that continuous exposure to fluorescent lighting can lead to a depletion of the brain chemical serotonin. Known as a mood stabilizer, serotonin helps to keep mood disorders such as generalized anxiety disorder and depression at bay. Depleting the natural resources of serotonin in the brain can thus have serious and lasting consequences for emotional stability.

    Prevention

    • The best way to prevent the detrimental effects of fluorescent lighting is to increase your exposure to natural lighting. According to Ott, full-spectrum fluorescent lighting has fewer detrimental health effects than cool-white fluorescent lighting. Full-spectrum fluorescent lighting emits some radiation waves in the ultraviolet range of the electromagnetic spectrum. But even full-spectrum fluorescent lighting emits some microwave radiation. Researchers still need to determine the dangers of exposure to full-spectrum fluorescent lighting.

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