The Right Light
About Light, LEDs and Accessories/Essentials for the 21st century
The thing is that:
As Earth-Humans; our technology has by now, far exceeded the species’ faculties of adaption; that is, the numerous negatives tied to virtually all of our new, fun electronic tools and toys can be quite poisonous and disruptive to our biology and our physiology. I maintain that on scale, in the long term, much of it is just not worth the fun, distraction, convenience, Etc. It is absolutely true that every day lives are saved through the thoughtful utilization of plastic-incased integrated circuits with wireless links and other various modern wonders; still, a greater number of lives are quality-downgraded, and some are even lost due to the constant and consistent artificial and digital insult. It’s a choice.
This categorical acceptance and promiscuous association with untested, barely regulated [some would say] extensions of ourselves, is surely leading to the loss of basic skills of self reliance… That’s connected but another whole story.
Our divorce from nature
I am not suggesting that all things primitive are better than all things modern; not quite. Still, comparing intuitive, instinctual, basic, of-the-land, organic, self-reliant behavior and traditional analog tools/toys;..-… to the market-born, exclusively profit- driven, landfill clogging ‘stuff’, can certainly be instructive, and may/should inform sensible caution. Such considerations, I’m sure should be undertaken before a new tool or toy is mass marketed. That seems never to be the case.
Light sources in human society
For almost all of human history (200,000 years as recognizable humans) people have spent but minuets-a-day looking directly at light sources.
Modern incandescent lighting was only widely commercialized in the 1920s (its for-runner, the impractical carbon filament lamp was introduced in about 1880 and couldn’t make the cut); By 1950 only 9% of American houses had even one small-screened B&W TV (with but three channels; and stations were broadcasting for not more than16 hours a day), and the personal computer has been a household and office companion only since the 80s/90s, and smart phones in common usage is an even newer crutch/tool/toy/companion.
Again, for all of human history, Except for the past few minutes (in geological time; like about 100 years) even when not looking directly at the light source (gazing at a candle or campfire), our world was lit either by the Sun (in the daytime) or by dim (by modern standards) sources which radiated NO BLUE (These natural, homegrown ‘thermal light’ sources give off lots of red-orange-yellow but virtually no blue). That is to say, we bathed in full spectrum sunlight (including invisible infrared – through – invisible ultraviolet, with all visible colors in between, including HEV blue and blue-violet) during the day (that’s appropriate, healthful, nourishing, balancing, healing, evolutionarily designed); then, in the evenings, when we chose to extend ‘lighted time’, we used other ‘thermal light’; fire (candles, campfire, lanterns) or the Moon (reflected thermonuclear light).
Light Spectrum, bar
Blue-rich light by day; but not directly (we saw the world illuminated by sunlight, but did not train our eyes on our star directly), and blue-less, gentle, dim light by night. Basically, even when adding homegrown light, we could generally tell, and our beings definitely instinctively knew, what time of the day and of the year it was. We were, ‘in sync’; part of, and in tune with natural cycles…(there are not only the circadian rhythms, we have infradian rhythms and ultradian rhythms [which means the lunar cycle, the seasonal cycles]) The cycles which our DNA grew up with. That matters.
About a century ago, just a blink in evolutionary time, we started to exercise the option of highly controllable electric resistance light… We could light the night without fire; we could light the night, inside or out if we had electrical service and an incandescent light bulb… Big leap. This began to move us outside of the cycles of the natural world, and there is a price to pay for such a leap. This was still however, ‘thermal light’ which radiated virtually no blue, and we did not, as standard practice, look directly at the source. Then, much more recently, we really changed things. Now there is much man-made blue light in our environment, day and night, indoors and out; and now we stare directly at the sources.
For some decades, most Americans have been staring at TV screens for hours daily, for fewer decades most people in the developed world have been staring at computer screens; a bit more recently we’ve added Smartphone screens to the list. From smartphones to tablets to computers to TVs; Americans, in round numbers, spend 10 hours a day looking directly at ‘blue light backlit’ electronic screens. This behavior represents the braking or bending of several instinctive guidelines by: Exposure to excess blue light, long duration lighting, relatively intense (unnatural) light, night-lighting and gazing directly at the source.
Just for fun… Which auto manufacturer do you think will be the first to replace the safety-glass windshield with a digital screen?..
Not counting ceremonial Sun gazers, a modern human now spends more time looking directly at blue-inclusive light sources in a single day (certainly in one week) than our ancestors (heck, even than our great-grandparents) did in an entire lifetime. That might be meaningful; ya’ think?
Back to ‘night-lighting’ and ‘blue lighting’
Regarding excessive night-lighting and [especially night time] blue light exposure:
It may be true that the biggest contributors to our collective sleep problems are the use of night lighting, blue-rich lighting and electronics at night. All of these bring light to times that are naturally dark, and at least two of these emit light of a blue wavelength, which, even more than balanced light, tricks our brains into thinking that it is daytime. But it goes deeper than sleep.
I fear that what may, for some, presently be manifesting simply as annoying insomnia, is actually signaling deeper physiological disturbances; hormonal, Etc., and forecasting additional physical, emotional and mental complications. Sneaky stuff; people are looking right at it in bright light, but don’t see it…
Normally, a human’s brain starts progressively increasing the hormone melatonin around 9 pm, which brings on drowsiness. Melatonin acts as a marker of your circadian phase or biological timing.
This hormone influences what time of day or night your body thinks it is, regardless of what time the clock displays. Besides regulating your sleep cycle, it also provides other important health benefits; melatonin is the body’s own personal super-important antioxidant, and as hormones are, melatonin is in ‘network contact’ with all other hormones. It’s a critical system, always trying to maintain a delicate balance, while humans are literally staying up nights (under bright lights) inventing new ways to knock it out of balance.
Somewhere between 50 and 1,000 lux is the activation range within which light will begin to suppress melatonin production. But, wavelength is also important. Red and amber lights will not suppress melatonin, while blue, green, and white lights will.
Now, it has been demonstrated that exposure to blue light can delay/disrupt melatonin production even when eyes are closed. nih.gov/pmc/articles
Update: as little as 5-10 lux has recently been demonstrated to effect melatonin production.
All too obviously, we now live in a world which is saturated with, and by association, our bodies are contaminated by, ‘endocrine disruptors’.
The jump from observed correlation, to verifiable causation happened a long time ago but has been covered up by interests profiting from poisoning the Planet; and any real reporting on the matter has been chronically disallowed by those institutions where most folks go for news (…There is no news there…)
Clear causation (to hormone disruption) is very easy to demonstrate with regards to chemical exposure, but electromagnetic exposure (technically, ‘light pollution’ resides here) is a major contributor to our escalating wackiness as well, and this particular pollutant is growing and spreading at viral rate. Failure to recognize the connection is definitely going to hurt.
About Blue Light
Blue is a light wave band having a spectrum dominated by energy with a wavelength range of roughly 440–490 nm (A nanometer is a unit of spatial measurement that is 1×10−9 m,, or one billionth of a meter).
Of importance regarding light/lighting as it relates to well-being are: Intensity, Duration, Proximity, Spectral balance, flicker characteristics and of course, source, because most have some chemical toxicity associated (in accessing raw materials, manufacture, during use, at [and after] time of disposal, Etc.). None of the new ways (of lighting) are angelic or benign, and most of the old ways come with some minor trade-offs too.
Sources of blue light include the Sun, digital screens (TVs, computers, laptops, smart phones and tablets), assorted electronic devices, and fluorescent and LED lighting. Only one of these sources has been with us for a long time; likely, only one communicates in a particularly kindly way to our cyclic, biological and instinctive selves.
Some of the ‘chemical pollutant’ issues with modern bulbs:
Fluorescents / CFLs contain sufficient mercury for the EPA to recommend a difficult to comply with 11-step process for cleanup of broken ones. And we’re supposed to take discarded bulbs to a special disposal center, but I’m certain that most people don’t ‘bother’. So, hyper-toxic mercury ends up in the air when the bulbs inevitably break, and concentrates in trash cans and garbage trucks, landfills and on the clothes and in & on the bodies of sanitation workers…
LED bulbs contain lead and nickel, specs of various semiconductors and plastic… These never get recycled.
Natural blue light versus artificial (Non-thermal man-made blue light)
Blue light is actually everywhere. When outside, light from the sun travels through the atmosphere. The shorter, high energy blue wavelengths collide with the air molecules causing blue light to scatter throughout the atmosphere; and we are allowed to witness the beautiful blue sky. In its natural form (which is always as one component of a very wide spectrum which expands well beyond the human-visible), the body uses blue light from the sun to regulate the natural sleep and wake cycles; the circadian rhythm. Blue light also helps boost alertness, sharpen reaction times, elevate moods, and increase the feeling of well being; undoubtedly it supports other healthful physiological, mental and emotional processes (which have not as yet been clearly identified) as well. Artificial sources of blue light include electronic devices such as cell phones and computer screens, TVs, as well as energy-efficient fluorescent bulbs and LED lights.
Why should we be concerned about blue light exposure?
Blue light waves are the among the shortest, highest energy wavelengths in the visible light spectrum. Because they are shorter, these “Blue” or High Energy Visible (HEV) wavelengths flicker more easily than longer, weaker wavelengths. This kind of flickering creates a glare that can reduce visual contrast and affect sharpness and clarity. In spatial lighting the flicker is an artifact of, and/or accentuated when the supplied energy is in the common form of AC (alternating current) which reverses electron directional flow 120 times per second; completing a cycle of 60 times per second (60 Hz is the standard in the U.S.); in effect turning non-thermal lighting on and off at this frequency of 120 x/per second.
This flickering and glaring is likely one of the reasons for eyestrain, headaches, physical and mental fatigue caused by many hours sitting in front of a computer screen or other electronic device. The nature of computer (and some other digital light) screens demands intense focusing which is further engaging and stressing. Even if we don’t consider the flicker and glare, the overall point is that there is an extreme over-abundance of the High Energy Visible blue light cutting through eye lenses and slamming into the retinas. Even before we had scientific evidence of the harm to hormonal systems, eye health Etc., we could have reasoned that because such lighting dynamics differ so dramatically from ancestral conditions, it might not be so good for our slow-to-adapt/evolve bodies. Now we have both; mounting scientific evidence, and good old rational reasoning; the same reasoning which cautions us that if a food is not made-by-nature and historically proven to fit our biological design, or if it is used in a way never done historically, we might want to approach it with care; step back, think about it and study it carefully. While, in recent times, some very limited discussion regarding the side effects of night-lighting have taken place, the time-honored ‘precautionary principal’ scientific standard has not, as far as I can tell, been exercised at all with the introduction and wide acceptance of man-made blue-rich light. This seems irresponsible.
It is clear that human eyes’ natural filters do not provide much blockage of, or protection against, blue light rays, whether from the sun, electronic screens, modern fluorescent and LED lighting or whatever. Prolonged exposure to blue light very likely can cause retinal damage and contribute to age-related macular degeneration, which can lead to loss of vision.
I’m not suggesting that we fall into some sort of irrational Blue Light Phobia, but I am suggesting that a certain Blue Light awareness is indeed quite rational.
Going Back
Since long before Great Apes lost most of their body hair and stopped using hands as feet, we (humans) have tended to be active while the Sun is up (it helped for the local environment to be well-lit while we were physically active; safety first…) and relatively sedentary between sunset and dawn (we do not require any lighting while sleeping; light of any color, of any intensity is in fact, absolutely antithetical to quality sleep and the numerous benefits derived from good sleep).
To be clear; this is not about anti-light or anti-blue
It’s easy to appreciate that, In fact:
The biggest things in the world are BLUE:
The daytime sky looks blue (as sunlight passes through)
The oceans and other large water bodies look blue (as sunlight illuminates them).
Both the clear sky and the deep sea appear blue because of an optical effect known as ‘Rayleigh scattering’.
…And the Planet as a whole is sentimentally connected to BLUE:
Carl Sagan referred to our home Planet as ‘The Pale Blue Dot’
NASA officially named a photograph of the Earth snapped by the crew of the Apollo 17, ‘The Blue Marble‘
I have long referred to our home as a ‘Blue Gem’
And Father Guido Sarducci (SNL) called The Earth ‘The Stinking Ball’
OK, no BLUE in the Father’s tag; but all accurate characterizations…
Wait; let’s do just a little more blue-appreciation:
Blue is cool stuff. I’ve often identified blue as my favorite color; actually it’s the favorite of half the humans.
Blue is special, you might say, sacred, as evidenced by, or perhaps because of its relative rarity on this blue Planet.
A few animals display some blue; mostly when it’s time to be showy; and a relatively few plants show some blue also – for the same reason.
Very few foods are blue, and those folks who subscribe to the claim that there are NO blue foods suggest that the common blue foods; corn, berries, eggplant are actually purple.
Even in the digital world it’s rare; in a JPEG compressed image, the blue channel gets only half the bandwidth of red and green.
While being rare in nature, blue signifies the presence of very valuable nutrition and medicine. It’s the natural color of valuable phytonutrients, such as ‘anthocyanins’, and since it is rare, it’s easy for us to find and identify the blue foods offering the goodies we’re after… Plants really like blue and rely on it; plants like to absorb it, because it’s so ‘high energy’. Chlorophyll absorbs blue more than anything else. Interestingly, the highly nutritious – powerfully curative compounds with the blue signature which we can spot with keen eyes in the wild (or the market) are ‘specifics’ for, and particularly supportive of good eye/vision health… Don’t ya’ just love the connectedness…
Both the clear sky and the deep sea appear blue because of an optical effect known as Rayleigh scattering. When sunlight passes through the atmosphere, the blue wavelengths are scattered more widely by the oxygen and nitrogen molecules, and more blue comes to our eyes.
Blueless blue eyes: An optical effect called Tyndall scattering, similar to Rayleigh scattering, explains blue eyes; which have no blue pigment.
Distant objects appear more blue because of another optical effect called atmospheric perspective.
Man-made blue is not so rare, we like it. Artists use blue to create moods and emotions; it’s been a popular color for military and police uniforms. In the 20th century, because blue was commonly associated with harmony, it was chosen as the color of the flags of the United Nations, and dark blue is the most common color for business suits; and blue is the color most associated with intelligence, knowledge, calm and concentration… It’s ‘chill’, it’s smart, it’s focus, it’s royal – dignified.
…Just past the middle of the 20th Century, we witnessed a wonderful transformation in thinking and behavior do in no small part to the popularizing of a still very popular clothing item which has historically been colored with indigo dye (the color between blue and violet). Indigo is considered the color of compassion; and symbolizes a mystical borderland of wisdom, self-mastery and spiritual realization. So there…
OK, where were we?
Oh yeah, Blue, the love – hate; no, the Love – Love with caution thing
We must talk about RED in order to have a discussion about BLUE
Many different varieties of light from numerous different sources:
What Is Light?
The definition of light, as applied to artificial light sources, is rather distinct. Light is visible to humans only between 400 nanometers (nm) and 780 nm, but “light” is actually more than just what your eye can perceive.
An explanation by Dr. Wunsch:
“When we look at sunlight, we have a much broader spectral range, from somewhere around 300 nm up to 2,000 nm or so. For our energy efficiency calculations (choosing the best bulbs to save energy), it makes a big difference whether we are talking about this broad natural range or if we are only talking about vision performance (the human-visual range).
The definition concerned only with the visible part of the spectrum [focused on originally in the 1930s] …led to the development of energy-efficient light sources like the fluorescent lamps or what we have nowadays, the LED light sources, because they are only energy efficient as long as you take only the visible part of the spectrum into account …
For example, lamps providing phototherapy with red light can be used in medical therapy to increase blood circulation, dissolve ‘stagnations’, ‘feed’ the body, provide penetrating warmth, Etc., and this is a part we are taking away as long as we only look at the visible part.
Physicists think that infrared radiation is just thermal waste. But from the viewpoint of a physician, this is absolutely not true; in the last 30 years there have been hundreds of scientific papers published on the beneficial aspects of a certain part in the spectrum, which is called near-infrared or infrared-A.”
Infrared-B (mid-infrared) feels warming, feels really good
Infrared-C (far-infrared) feels warming, feels really good
Infrared-A (near-infrared) gets in there, goes deep, nourishes, heals
What Makes Near-Infrared so Special?
We don’t feel near-infrared as heat, and we cannot see it, but it’ has a major beneficial impact in terms of health. Importantly, near-infrared is what’s missing in non-thermal digital light sources like LED.
Also there is an important difference between analog and digital forms of light sources, and this difference is another part of the complexity. These are two separate but related issues: The analog v. digital light source problem, and then there are the spectral wavelength differences.
Starting with the latter, when you look at the rainbow spectrum, the visible part of light ends in red (at the red end of course). Infrared-A or near-infrared is the beginning of the invisible light spectrum following red. This in turn is followed by infrared-B (mid-infrared) and infrared-C (far-infrared).
While they cannot be seen, the mid- and far-infrared range can be felt as heat (wood stove, fireplace, steam radiators, the sun on a clear day…). It is thanks to these bands (IR-B and IR-C) that you can stand outside in a 40’ temperature on a sunny day (especially in a relatively arid atmosphere and at an altitude significantly above sea level) and feel absolutely comfortable; even feel warm and cozy.
This does not apply to infrared-A, however, which has a wavelength between 700 and 1,500 nm.
With infrared-A (near IR) there is only very low absorption by water molecules, and this is why this particular band of radiation has a very high transmittance; it travels well because it is not well absorbed by water-laden body tissue.
That is to say; it penetrates very deeply into your tissue, so the energy distributes in a large tissue volume. This near-infrared A is not heating up the tissue so you will not directly feel any effect of heat. But baby, it’s getting in there; and your blood loves it, your lymph loves it; all your tissue, probably at least to one inch in depth ‘feel’ it directly… It is nourishing, it is healing… This is way on the other side of the spectrum from blue.
This significantly changes when we increase the wavelength, let’s say, to 2,000 nm. At that point along the spectrum, we are in the infrared-B range (mid IR) and this already is felt as heat. And from 3,000 nm on to the longer wavelength, we have almost full absorption, mainly by the water molecule, and this is felt as heating.
Exposure to infrared-B range (mid IR) and infrared-C range (far IR) feels very good to most of us most of the time.
But the infrared-A range (near IR); wow… It is food and it is medicine.
Near-Infrared Is Critical for Mitochondrial and Eye Health.
Of course, what is good for Mitochondrial health is good for the whole being.
Mitochondria are considered the powerhouses of the cell. They are organelles that act like a digestive system which takes in nutrients, breaks them down, and creates energy rich molecules for the cell. The biochemical processes of the cell are known as cellular respiration.
These Mitochondria are the energy factories of the cells. The ‘energy currency’ for the work that animals do is the energy-rich molecule adenosine triphosphate (ATP). The ATP is produced in the mitochondria using energy stored in food.
The near-infrared range affects your health in a number of important ways. For example, it helps prime the cells in your retina for repair and regeneration.
LEDs have virtually no infrared, but do have an excess of blue light. That HEV BLUE generates reactive oxygen species (ROS) (considered the most potent and damaging endogenous free radical). This helps explain why LEDs are so harmful for your eyes and overall health.
Chromophores are molecules that absorb light. There’s an optical tissue window that ranges from 600 to 1,400 nm, which means it is almost completely covered by the infrared-A part of the spectrum (the infrared-A band is between 700 and 1,500 nm). This optical tissue window allows the radiation to penetrate at least an inch or more into the tissue.
Chromophores are found in your mitochondria and in activated water molecules. In your mitochondria, there’s also a specific molecule called ‘cytochrome c oxidase’, which is involved in the energy production within the mitochondria. Adenosine triphosphate (ATP) — cellular energy — is the end product.
ATP is the fuel your cells need for all of their varied functions, including ion transport, synthesizing and metabolism. We talk a lot about ATP when explaining important functions of MegaHydrate. It’s pretty important stuff, this ATP; it is the energy that animates the body. As a matter of fact, your body produces your body-weight in ATP every day. A human would expire in fewer than 15 seconds if ATP manufacture were to cease.
MegaHyrate increases energy production (adenosine triphosphate or ATP) by up to 4 times
Lighting Plays an Important Role in Biological Energy Production
This is another reason why the issue of lighting is so important. Light is a sorely misunderstood and overlooked part of the equation for biological energy production, specifically at the mitochondrial ATP level. The cytochrome c oxidase, which is the light-absorbing molecule, is the final step before the ATP is finally produced in the mitochondria inside each cell. This means that light in a wavelength range between 570 nm and 850 nm is able to boost energy production, especially in cells when energy production is depleted … See; Mom was right when she told you to eat your light.
Wound Healing and Anti-Aging Procedures Make Use of Near-Infrared
These beneficial effects can be seen in wound healing and anti-aging procedures where near-infrared is employed. Since the cytochrome c oxidase is responsible for an increased production of ATP, the cell has a better supply of energy, which allows it to perform better, and this is true no matter where the cell resides.
This means liver cells with more ATP will be able to detoxify your body more efficiently; fibroblasts in your skin will be able to synthesize more collagen fibers and so on, because ATP is crucial for all cellular functions. According to Dr. Wunsch (one of the preeminent authorities on ‘photobiology’), as little as one-third of the energy your body requires for maintaining the thermal equilibrium comes from the food you eat. The electrons transferred from the food, primarily the fats and the carbohydrates (and MegaHydrate and conventional antioxidants), are ultimately transferred to oxygen and generate ATP (body fuel). The more near infrared you get, the less nutritional energy [from food] is required for maintaining thermal homeostasis.
To be clear; most of the metabolically used energy does come from food. But there is a thermodynamic aspect to it as well. Maintaining a normal body temperature (98.6 F or 37 C) involves two mechanisms: Energy production in your mitochondria from food, and ‘photonic energy’ (near-infrared radiation from sunlight and incandescent lighting) which is able to penetrate deeply into body tissue, even through clothing.
Also, the beneficial (near IR) radiation can enter your body and then be transformed into longer wavelengths in the infrared bands. They are very important for supporting the temperature level, the thermal energy level, of our body. A lot of energy comes in the form of radiation and this is supporting our thermal balance.
The key point here is that your body’s energy production involves not just [what we think of as] food intake. You also need exposure to certain wavelengths of light in order for your metabolism to function optimally. This is yet another reason why sun exposure is so vitally important for optimal health. This apparently is the case for most Earth-born complex life-forms; an exception might be mushrooms.
Note: Animal bodies radiate lots of IR. One reason that sleeping with a partner is extra healthful is that we send and receive each other’s infrared energy; we nourish each other all night long; that’s good for our shared ‘economy’.
Analog versus Digital Lighting
LED lamps are a form of digital non-thermal lighting, whereas incandescent light bulbs and halogens are analog, thermal light sources.
Opinion:
LED lighting
Digital non-thermal LED lighting produces bargain priced visible light and is impact-stable, very robust and very long lived. So it may be considered a great deal if one cares not what the spectral character is, and further considers only the visible bands to be important (which is to say that one totally discounts the tremendous value and essential nature of some of the invisible [beyond red] bands of the light spectrum). LED lighting is, at the current stage of development, virtually devoid of the super-beneficial reds and invisible reds, but is loaded with the harmful High Energy Visible blue bands… it’s full of the stuff that hurts, and offers none of the stuff that feeds, nourishes and heals.
The Government Mandated Incandescent Ban
BTW, one clue, for me anyway, that both fluorescent and LED lighting might not be safe and wellness-promoting is the forceful gusto and aggressiveness with which the Federal (and lower) government has been promoting the products/technologies and forcing a conversion to them – away from traditional thermal lighting. I mean come on Congress, do you really care about saving energy; trading out one Big Mac in favor of a veggie burger, will save more greenhouse gas-releasing energy than switching all the incandescent bulbs in an office building to fluorescents or LEDs.
Because of the government push (initiated by industry lobbying), LED lighting is wacking things out all night long, along endless miles of highway, and is already being recognized as a fiasco. The harsh glare of certain blue-rich designs is disrupting people’s sleep patterns and profoundly messing up and confusing nocturnal animals. I’m certain that ‘artistic lighting mania’ is screwing up plants as well… It hurts to think about all the friendly plants in beautiful yards all around the County (and elsewhere) who never get a break from light, as solar-LED yard lights proliferate like fertile plants themselves.
Ban, no ban; what’s the deal. In short, yes, there is a [partial] ban.
You may have noticed… The partial phasing out of the incandescent light bulb in the U.S. which started in 2012 with the 100-watt bulbs, then 2013 / 75-watt and 2014 / 60 & 40 watt bulbs.
B.S. fertilizes the claims that the incandescent light bulb ban was imposed to fight global warming or save energy. The motive behind the bulb ban has always been money: Incandescents have a low profit margin.
BTW, we were actually manufacturing zillions of standard incandescent in the U.S. The ban helped multinationals quietly close domestic plants and move production of fluorescents, LEDs and saleable incandescent to China, Etc.
Anyway, the ‘ban’ (which is not really a ban) has forced manufacturers to make more efficient bulbs (they could go a lot further with incandescent efficiency, but so far won’t admit it or do it). So now, a standard 60watt bulb has evolved into a 43 watt-er with the same light output as an old 60W. So that’s cool
Some good news is that halogen-incandescent bulbs are not included in the ban, nor are ‘heat lamps’, which we use therapeutically.
Thermal lighting – Analog lighting
Well, the Sun speaks for itself; and it is obviously the perfect daytime lighting; either that’s the case or God got it wrong.
Homegrown (and naturally occurring Earthbound [fires]) thermal lighting (such as resistance filament lighting; tungsten, tungsten -halogen, and firelight, e.g. candles, campfires, fireplaces) are very rich in the reds, including the invisible infrareds, while being very low to virtually devoid of the HEV blue (which is great outside in the daytime but problematic otherwise).
Confessions of an LED Lighting Enthusiast
Personally, I’ve been enamored with LED technology for a long time and have watched its development with great interest… Wow, making light without [much] heat; big deal. I manufactured the first two LED flashlights that I’d ever seen, probably at least 25 years ago, before any were on the market; you could run the thing, with its big red LED for weeks on two AA batteries, and you couldn’t break the bulb if you tried; taken for granted now, but a big deal then. I still have mine, my nephew got the other. In an experiment, I kept a small LED lit continuously for 18 months on one set of common batteries; nobody else noticed, but it impressed me… Space-age stuff. The LED is younger than me, but in a few decades it’s come a long way.
Now it’s mainstream.
The LED offers some very useful properties when used as a light source.
Largely as a result of energy efficiency, there’s been a major transition to using LED as a primary indoor light source. In this regard, it works like a charm, reducing energy requirements by as much as 90 percent compared to incandescent thermal analog sources of lighting.
However, the heat generated by incandescent light bulbs, which is infrared radiation, is actually beneficial to your health, and hence worth the cost differential.
To Be Fair
Remember, the tremendous ‘energy efficiency’ demonstrated by LED lights as compared to incandescent lights is base on the appreciation only of the visible bands, and assumes that the spectral character is healthful, or at least is safe. In fact, a common LED light bulb floods the lighted environment with [one could say] ‘toxic blue’, but virtually no ‘healing red’ (that’s kida’ like eating steak for nourishment; by a crazy stretch of terminology, you may call it ‘food’ and it does provide calories, but it floods the body with deadly poisons of various types; yet provides zero fiber, zero antioxidant, zero carbs for clean-burn energy, zero health-promoting/healing phytochemicals).
The energy efficiency equation used by LED lighting promoters also disregards the fact that; while most of the energy emanating from traditional tungsten filament-thermal light bulbs is in the form of thermal energy (heat), the heat may be considered not at all a waste during the cold weather-heating season… So, for much of the year in many places, there is no waste as heat. The portion of energy radiating from traditional light bulbs which is in the form of heat, warms the space around it; and it goes further still; as the more that the red and especially infrareds broadcast as the particular spectral character of the incandescent bulb, the more of that heat is actually warming things that it ‘sees’… it is acting as an IR radiator, like a steam radiator, wood stove, Etc. This type of heat in very efficient because it transfers the heat energy very directly to the objects in the space (people) without the inefficient wastefulness of heating the air… This (‘radiation’, as opposed to conduction or convection) is the best way to warm the people in the space.
Considering all this, LEDs still ‘shine’ for use in locations where replacing the bulb is very difficult or dangerous, where it needs to stand up to much physical stress, where the bulb must be relied on to work reliably for very long periods without regular maintenance Etc., especially where its light will not be the sole source used for long periods by living things (people); good examples being: antenna towers, safety beacons on high rise buildings, maybe vehicle lights, and certainly in flashlights and emergency lighting.
…Something to think about…
These days, school kids spend much of their in-school time looking at computer screens, then more time looking at computer screens, smartphone screens and TV screens after school; this starts in the earliest grades, and mounts as the kids progress. Here’s the question; are we creating generations of adults who will have heightened senses of hearing and smell?
Filtering:
The world we’ve created compels us to filter and shield basic elementary necessities of life.
Every American home, office and commercial space (with forced-air HVAC; that’s the vast majority) filters its air; and always has; most homes filter their water (and this is a secondary filtering, because the utility or well system has already filtered it); we filter our food when we discard funky spots, inedible parts Etc. It should be no stretch to understand the importance of filtering our light (not pure sunlight or perhaps other ‘natural’ thermal-light)… Actually we already [negatively] filter our ‘indoor sunlight’ making it less healthful and more damaging (window glass filters out the largely safe/healthful/Vitamin D synthesizing/antioxidant initiating UVB part of the spectrum, but it lets through, the damaging (to our bodies) UVA; it’s just a glass thing; so a bright, sunny room, made so by expansive window area is not at all like being outdoors and is not as healthful as the same room, but with big holes in the wall where windows would otherwise be. And when outdoors, many people filter natural sunlight (to their detriment) by wearing sunglasses which randomly skew the spectrum, and with the application of poisonous sunscreen lotions (slick marketing and government misinformation have successfully associated fear with the Sun in people’s minds and convinced many people to hide from the life-giving Star and to smear toxic concoctions, which are readily absorbed into the bloodstream through the skin… Most sunscreens also filter out primarily UVB but let in the UVA). .
We’re beginning to realize that it behooves us to filter [some of] the light that we make, just as we filter the air we’ve made (we started with clean air and crapped it up), filter the water we’ve made (we tend to treat it all like toilet water). Very few would argue the importance of filtering our water (at least, that which we ingest; although it is certainly a good practice also to filter utility tap water which comes in contact with our skin and/or that we breath the vapors of, even if we don’t drink it… many municipal tap waters in the U.S. are evidently harmful to skin on contact and to the body through the lungs when the chlorine (and other) vapors are breathed in, and thanks to the irresponsible Fracking boom, this also is the case for many well and spring waters. And now that we can ‘see’ the air, we get it, that modern air comes with problematic unmentionables too. Well, it looks like we are making some rather toxic light these days and until we clean it up, and especially if we insist on shooting those photons directly at our retinas (and our skin for that matter), and insist on brightly lighting our living-spaces well after sundown, we might do well to block out some of the most offensive constituents of our man-made light.
Basically, modern humans, it would appear, are bass-ackwards when it comes to ‘light’. Case(s)-in-point:
Allow me to analogize: After sunbathing (heliotherapy) (which, in moderation, is a healthful practice, especially near high noon), a person will typically, the same day, thoroughly scrub her body with soap and water; the daily bath, right; this is a process that I refer to as ‘Sunshine Bulimia Nervosa’.
… This is like the unfortunate person suffering from Bulimia Nervosa who may eat a particularly healthful meal, but minutes later, before any nutrition can assimilate, flushes all the pro-health nutrition away; it’s a waste. (Forgive me; it’s an imperfect analogy, because ‘binge’ sunbathing is not a requirement, just beneficial sun exposure…) Well, light-science now says that Vitamin D synthesis occurs in the outermost layer of the skin and that it is dependent on the presence of natural oils. Soap is the stuff basically designed to marry fat/oil to water so that all the stuff not belonging to the soiled substrate (clothing, car bodies, skin Etc.) can be liberated and washed away. While rinsing the skin only with water may leave the natural skin-oil matrix somewhat intact, scrubbing with soap and warm water probably interrupts the delicate process of Vitamin D (and other essential photo-bio-chemicals) synthesis. Just as you need to allow time for digestion and assimilation of good food so that it becomes nourishment, you need to allow time (maybe as much as 48 hours) for the intake of good ‘potential’ sun nutrition to become ‘realized’ nutrition; otherwise the effort of healthful sun exposure is partially wasted. Remember, the daily bath, especially augmented with harsh, stripping soap is also a recent adoption to human society.
Filtering out the blue
We now have available, numerous products designed to absorb or reflect some percentage of the blue and blue-violet wavelengths from various light sources.
Whole-screen shield sheets can be placed on TV, computer and phone screens; and apps are available which reduce the overall intensity of light and reduce proportionally, the amount of blue emanating from electronic screens.
Blue-blocking glasses (non-corrective) and blue-blocker coated corrective glasses can be used to filter some of the poison out of blue-rich light.
The basic Blue-Blocking prescription
Some recommendations for dealing with the ‘nighttime light’, ‘blue-rich light’, ‘digital and non-thermal light’ and ‘screen mania’ are as follows:
Filtering screen sheets are a healthful addition to all electronic digital screens.
Apps and programs to dim and reduce the blue content on these screens is also recommended.
Both the sheets and the apps block only some of the blue; this may not be enough to get the job done, and they may not dim enough either, if lots of time is spent looking at the screens.
Selective filtering lenses (Blue-Blocking glasses) should be warn when in blue-rich lighted environments between sunset and sunrise. In many cases, Blue Blockers should also be used in the daytime as well. If the room is well lit with generous sunlight it is less important to where Blue Blockers; if the room is not quite as well lit with sun and/or other blue-weak thermal light, it is recommended to where Blue Blockers.
The [closest we can get to] ideal use of BBs at night is BBs with good wrap around edges, such that even most light coming from the periphery is filtered. But when watching TV or working on a screen device in a well-lit daytime setting (indoors or out), natural thermal (sun) reaching the eyes from the periphery (sneaking in behind the glasses) is probably good. We want to block the HEV blue emanating from the digital screen and still get some of the goodies from the Sun… (in the daytime, natural blue as part of full-spectrum Sunlight is healthful) . When working in front of a digital screen or watching a TV in the daytime, it is recommended to flood the room generously with sunlight.
Indoor Home Lighting
Do not use fluorescents or LEDs in any major fixtures.
Use traditional tungsten filament bulbs and halogen bulbs (thermal electric light) preferably with clear (unfrosted globes) and safe / non-toxic firelight.
Addendums
In the suprachiasmatic nucleus (SCN) (part of the hypothalamus), of the human brain, is the ‘master biological clock’. Signals initiated by varying intensities of light (and lack of), in the SCN tell the pineal gland when it’s time to secrete melatonin (and how much), and when to turn it off.
Melatonin levels rise and fall with light and darkness, physical , mental and emotional health is intricately tied to the rhythmic play of light and dark. It is safe to assume that other (all) wavelengths and frequencies within the electromagnetic spectrum are ‘noticed by’ and have effects on our whole organisms’ system as well… There is another whole story behind that sentence…
Come back later and see these articles:
Dangerous Complacency with Radioactivity and EMR
Microwave Ovens
People still occasionally ask me if microwave ovens are safe
Just to re-re-re-state: The main point here; the darker it gets (beyond a certain level), the more melatonin levels increase – the more you are relaxed and sleepy. The brighter the space (and/or the bluer the spectrum), the more alert and awake you are. BTW, bright lighting and blue-rich light well into the night has numerous negative effects; sleep quality is but one which is easy to identify; a bright night also screws up cognition, attitude, demeanor, ‘energy, endurance Etc. during the following day(s), just as dim/sunless days will degrade sleep quality; and on and on; round and round… And it takes only a very low intensity of night-light to make a mess.
This means that a thoughtful adjustment to evening lighting (lower intensity and ‘less blue’) and a reduction of exposure to EMFs from all man-made sources is a sensible, non-drug, essentially free, initial step to improved sleep and overall well-being.
When we cheat on the ‘light (sun) in the day; dark at night’ thing, it’s easy to assume that it’s all good if major symptoms are lacking or unrecognized. Big mistake. [better-than] Common sense suggests, and mounting scientific evidence demonstrates, that even when effects/symptoms are only sub-clinical, stuff is going on. I promise you that, if you use hyper-controlled lighting to tell your body that you are in the Yukon in the summer, while you’re actually in Mexico in the winter, all manner of things (in your being) will be confused.
The notion that ‘corrupting light’ and night-time blue light exposure can cause only insomnia but no other complications or health issues, is like an assumption that contaminated water simply tastes bad or produces bitter tea but is otherwise perfectly healthful.
A prime recommended patch for the space-age problem:
Uvex Skyper Blue Light Blocking Computer Glasses deliver short and long term protection for your eyes. The Orange Lens features Spectrum Control Technology (SCT), which absorbs more than 98% of the blue light emitted from your laptop, computer, iPad etc. The result is additional screen contrast with sharpened details.
Uvex Skyper Blue Light Blocking Computer Glasses with SCT-Orange Lens; about 7,8 or 9 bucks. Let me tell you; based on performance and comparing to other blue-blockers these are a deal.
Here’s what they and I have to say about the product:
Orange Lens features Spectrum Control Technology (SCT) to absorb 98%+ blue light emitted from laptops, computers, iPads, Fluorescent and LED lights, TVs etc.
Result is additional screen contrast with sharpened details, which improves focus, reduces eye fatigue and helps inhibit vision problems like cataracts and age-related macular degeneration
3-position ratcheting lens inclination system and patented, adjustable-length Duoflex comfort cushioned temples for optimal screen viewing; molded-in nose bridge for long-wearing comfort
Wrap-around uni-lens design with integral side shields offers exceptional clarity; Uvextreme anti-fog coating; easy and economical lens replacement system
Meets the ANSI Z87+ standard and is certified to the requirements of the CSA Z94.3 standard; made in the U.S.A.
Computer Vision Syndrome [CVS] is an increasing problem, with nearly 70% of U.S. adults experiencing digital eye strain. Uvex Skyper Blue Light Blocking Computer Glasses deliver short and long term protection for your eyes. The Orange Lens features Spectrum Control Technology (SCT), which absorbs more than 98% of the blue light emitted from your laptop, computer, iPad etc. The result is additional screen contrast with sharpened details. This improves your focus and reduces eye fatigue while viewing your screen–especially in a dark environment. More importantly, it means these computer glasses can also help inhibit vision problems like cataracts and age-related macular degeneration. Uvex Skyper Blue Light Glasses also offer exceptional comfort for optimal screen viewing. Features include a 3-position ratcheting lens inclination system, adjustable-length Duoflex comfort cushioned temples, a molded-in nose bridge and wrap-around uni-lens.
Uvex Skyper Blue Light Blocking Computer Glasses
Uvex Skyper Blue Light Blocking Computer Glasses
Below are two partial fixes for computer screens and some other devices:
IRIS for two bucks
f.lux for free
Recommendations and sources for therapeutic infrared light products:
Generally, the DIY-ers are using these bulbs in a typical reflector, clamp-on work-light fixture.
It’s worth noting that ‘heat-lamp’ bulbs and ‘infrared’ bulbs are efficient space heaters, invaluable therapeutic/healing tools and actually sources of very direct nutrition… Light up!
May the healing do no harm…
There are other considerations important to consumers with absolutely every ‘manufactured’, ‘harvested’ or ‘extracted’ item: The chemistry; chemical elements and compounds which may off-gas or otherwise bleed into the living space and onto / into the bodies of individuals present. Chemicals used in the manufacture and various industrial processes, but which are not released during use, are still typically problematic as well, due to exposures and releases at the time and location of manufacture and in the waste-stream at disposal time. These events poison the environment broadly, and so, harm everyone, everywhere, for some time.
And there are health challenging aspects to consider with every electrical (plug-in and battery) item in our world too. The electromagnetic pollution (EMP) emitted by many common items is consequential indeed. Obviously, computers, cellphones, and some other modern appliances are powerfully poisonous in this regard. The use of virtually all plug-in electric lighting can expose the user to measurable EMP depending on; design, grounding efficacy, wiring configuration of fixtures, house wiring particulars, distance and duration, Etc.
That said; both the RubyLux and TheraBulb companies produce products with attention to these aspects.
RubyLux:
Paraphrased from RubyLux site:
RubyLux NIR-A Near Infrared Bulb
The company assures us that their incandescent NIR-A Near Infrared Bulbs: emit no UV and will expose users to no Teflon, no Fluorinated fumes, no Mercury Vapor; in fact, no Toxic Substances and no FAR Infrared; and are CE certified and the safest brand on the market.
https://rubyluxlights.com/
With regards to environmental (personal and planet) (chemical and electromagnetic) standards:
I encourage you to read everything on this page:
RUBYLUX CERTIFICATION AND QUALITY STANDARDS
https://rubyluxlights.com/pages/quality-standards
I have warm feelings and great appreciation for Bambi Iversen – the energy behind the RubyLux company. I like to interact with the company directly and have always had satisfying (very ‘human-to-human’) exchanges with the folks there. Good with service, information, transparency, communication; I’m just sayin’…
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TheraBulb:
And you can read what TheraBulb has to say bout their company and products here:
https://www.therabulb.com/pages/frequently-asked-questions
I have no affiliation with either company other than I’m a fan, and recommend products from both companies.
Browsing both companies will allow you to see a greater variety of IR bulbs with respect to: Wattage, wavelength/frequency of emitted light and bulb type, as well as fixtures Etc. and related products.
For various reasons, with consideration to the present state of development, I generally recommend ‘incandescent’ not LED bulbs.
TheraBulb Infrared Bulb NIR-A Near Infrared Bulb Small Form 150 Watt
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Philips 415836 Heat Lamp 250-Watt R40 Flood Light Bulb
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Dr Larry Wilson (http://drlwilson.com/articles/HEAT%20LAMP.htm ) offers this:
A single reddish 250-watt “heat lamp”, which is really a near infrared lamp, is an excellent healing device. The use of a single heat lamp or a sauna made with three or four of these lamps is an integral part of almost all nutritional balancing programs.
WHERE TO BUY A SINGLE REDDISH HEAT LAMP
These are found at most hardware stores. Ask for a 250-watt “heat lamp”. It is not called infrared. Any brand will do, and these include General Electric, Philips, Sylvania, Havel-SLi, Westinghouse, Feat or perhaps another.
Here are two links for a clamp light socket:
http://www.walmart.com/ip/Bayco-10.5-Brooder-Clamp-Light/14003468
Light adulteration and excessive and wrong-time lighting is actually one form of EMP (electromagnetic pollution); EMP is one form (comprising many variations) of macro-pollution (the larger umbrella of pollution in general). You may have noticed that the development of polluting technologies is a key hallmark of human (more accurately; corporate-business) activity.
Knowing this should keep us keen to the importance, and the responsibility of careful and thoughtful development and use of everything we come up with.
While the attempted forced conversion to poison lighting is much about corporate pandering, LEDs and fluorescents are acctually energy conservative (in some cases, not so much, when the complete life-cycle and the integral chemical pollution is considered, and if the beneficial invisible wavelengths of other sources isn’t counted) and can certainly be considered a step in the right direction. They are however, only appropriate in limited applications if our well-being is to be valued; so the job is not finished. If we want energy conserving, non-polluting, physically tough, long lived and healthful light sources, the R&D guys need to stay close to the drawing board and keep at it. Selfish corporate influence aside, the development of something as amazing as modern LED lighting is a testament to the power of market-demand… The takeaway is that (as Patti Smith sings so well) the “people have the power!” So let us push hard every day, with each purchase and all forms of support for products and services which are truly deserving of that support… Our bodies, our homes, our Planet, and certainly our grandchildren deserve the very best. And let’s not kid ourselves; if we settle for sub-quality stuff, that’s what we’ll get, and it won’t get better; if we demand top-shelf stuff, we can have that too. We (humans) are nothing if not creative, innovative, so keep using the 100+ year old incandescent lighting and clean-burning firelight (safely) for most home uses until something good enough to replace it broadly is available, and help others to know about the terrible tradeoff that comes with current modern flat screen devices (TVs, comps, phones Etc.). Safer toys are already in development. Big business will make what we demand. Demand!
“> Patti Smith – People Have The Power
Namasté,
Billy
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‘Electromagnetic spectrum’ refers to the spectrum of electromagnetic radiation.
The electromagnetic (EM) spectrum is the range of all types of EM radiation. Radiation is energy that travels and spreads out as it goes.
The visible light that comes from a lamp and the radio waves that come from a radio station are just two types of electromagnetic radiation.
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Visible bands within EM spectrum
Light Spectrum, Visible bands within EM spectrum
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Light spectrum comparisons:
Sunlight spectrum (visual)
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Visual light spectral peculiarities, w/melatonin suppression ratings, multiple sources, comparison
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Light-Spectrum, digital screens
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White light’s visual components
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