LED Lighting and Human Health

Early man was exposed primarily to light from heat-producing sources --- sun and fire. This light was filled with visible red and invisible infrared light. As a result, many of our basic microbiological processes --- metabolism, hormonal regulation, brain function --- became dependent upon continuous exposure to light at the red end of the spectrum.
In the early 20th century we transitioned our evening lighting from fires, candles, and lamps to the incandescent lightbulb. This change posed no health risks to humans because the light provided by incandescent lightbulbs contains substantial amounts of red and infrared light.



Recently, however, our light environment has been changing for the worse. The increasing use of LED streetlights, headlights, and indoor lights, combined with the light emitted from our computer screens, is transforming our light environment from nourishing red and infrared light to blue and ultraviolent light. This problem is being compounded by the coatings being applied to office windows, which are designed to filter out infrared light.

In this episode of EmpowerU Scott Zimmerman, a veteran of the lighting industry, will discuss the research showing the negative health effects of the blue-dominant light environment we're creating, and what we can do to address this problem.