Like water and food, the body uses light in a variety of metabolic processes. The human eye is a window to the exterior world, where light penetrates the retina and stimulates essential biological functions, such as glandular functions. The human eye perceives light, known as the visible spectrum, that ranges from 400 to 700 nanometers. Natural light is divided into colors, which are essential to our health and well being. How well we perceive those colors plays a vital role in the way we feel.

Our inability to perceive colors adequately, as is the case on a grey winter day or under poor artificial lighting, can negatively affect our mood and energy flow. In the winter we invariably have less energy, while in the spring we come alive. For many, these mood swings are severe and typify a condition know as Seasonal Affective Disorder (S.A.D.). Those affected with S.A.D. literally take on the characteristics of animals prior to hibernation. They sleep a lot, usually change their diet, and gain weight.

According to Dr. Julian Whitaker (Health & Healing, Vol.2,No.13,12/92), "light enters your eyes and has a stimulatory effect on your hypothalamus, pineal gland, and pituitary gland--the master hormone-secreting gland of the body. Lights that approximate the sun's full spectrum of energy keep your glands stimulated, happy, and healthy. Lights that do not, can make you sick".

Conventional lighting has an unbalanced spectral distribution, throwing a depressing greenish-yellowish hue upon a room that distorts colors, stresses our eyes, and creates an unpleasant atmosphere. This unbalanced light can produce imbalances in us.

Effects Of "Malillumination"

Just as an improper diet of foods may cause malnutrition, an improper "light diet" may cause malilumination, according to photobiologist John Ott, who coined the term. Ott has been studying the effects of natural and artificial light on plants, animals, and humans since 1929. His experiments convinced him that full-spectrum lighting is so essential that he considers light to be part of the body's nutritional needs.

His assertion of the importance of light on health is based on a number of studies including one in Sarosota , Florida (1973), in which he replaced normal cool-white fluorescent light bulbs in an elementary school classroom with full-spectrum lighting. Concealed time-lapse cameras took random sequences of students and teachers in four first grade classrooms. Under the cool-white fluorescent lighting some students demonstrated hyperactivity, fatigue, irritability, and attentional deficits. In the classrooms with full-spectrum lighting, behavior and classroom performance, as well as overall academic achievement, improved markedly within one month after the new lights were installed. Several learning-disabled children with extreme hyperactivity problems miraculously calmed down and seem to overcome some of their learning and reading problems while in the classrooms with the full-spectrum lighting.

Getting In Sync With The Sun

Our body operates on a very distinct 24 hour cycle controlled by bright light (the sun). As light enters our eyes, it influences every cell in our body by stimulating the pineal gland. The pineal produces the powerful hormones serotonin and melatonin (melatonin is synthesized from serotonin which occurs chemically in the pineal gland). Bright light raises levels of serotonin during the day to keep you alert and full of energy, while the dark of night boosts melatonin to help you sleep.

Our body's inner clock, referred to as circadian rhythms, governs timing of sleep, hormone production, body temperature, and other biological functions. When these rhythms are forcibly shifted, whether by shortened daylight or flying across time zones, our body tries to adapt but is not always successful. Production of serotonin and melatonin is disturbed and becomes erratic. Shift workers, people with sleep disorders, and travellers crossing several time zones feel "out of sorts' because their daily cycle is "out of sync" with the sun.

Was Christopher Hufeland Right?

Throughout history people have noticed the negative effects of too little sunlight. Probably one of the first was Christopher Hufeland, a German physician. In his 1797 book, The Art Of Prolonging Life, he commented on the devitalized state of people held prisoner in dungeons for long periods of time. He suggested their sorry state of health was not due to poor diet and inactivity, but to the lack of sunlight in their cells.

Since Hufeland's day, numerous studies have shown that phototherapy, or light therapy, can fight a variety of maladies ranging from depression to fungal infections, such as athletes foot.

Why Is It Called The Graveyard Shift?

The night shift ( midnight to 8 a.m. ) is often called the graveyard shift, and it is for good reason. People who work nights are two to four times more likely to fall asleep on the job and have accidents, according to the National Commission of Sleep Disorders Research.

The Sleep Disorders Clinic at St. Luke's Medical Center in St. Louis , under the direction of James Walsh, Ph.D., asked 30 graveyard-shift workers to perform a series of tasks every hour for one night. He gauged their sleepiness using standard tests. He replaced their 500 lux lighting the next night with 9,000 lux lights. After only one night under the bright lights, the workers' accuracy showed dramatic improvement, while their sleepiness decreased. "One night's exposure to bright light seems to have shifted their biological clocks," Dr. Walsh explained, " enabling them to perform better on subsequent nights."

Chickens, Eggs and Light

In 1987, the Wall Street Journal reported that chickens raised under full-spectrum lighting lived twice as long, laid more eggs, and were less aggressive than chickens raised under fluorescent lighting. The chickens raised under the full-spectrum lights appeared to be more effective in metabolizing and utilizing cholesterol. The eggs they produced were 25% less in cholesterol than the standard eggs. In addition, the eggs were larger and with stronger shells. Vitamins and Light

Is it possible that artificial light can block the benefits of certain vitamins and minerals? In his book Mega-Nutrients For Your Nerves , H.L. Hembold, M.D., shows how full-spectrum light enters the eyes, stimulates the brain, and facilitates the absorption and utilization of specific nutrients. When some of the energy bands of the light spectrum are missing, certain vitamins and minerals are inadequately absorbed and poorly utilized.

For The Life Of Mice

A study, conducted by Dr. John Ott, revealed that mice living under fluorescent lighting live an average of 7.5 months, whereas those living under natural unfiltered daylight were much healthier and lived an average of 16.1 months.

Product Studies and Findings

Visual Acuity

The glare-free light produced from Chromalux bulbs and Lumichrome full-spectrum fluorescents, increase black and white contrasts, improve readability, and reduce eye strain, allowing optimum visual comfort.

The New York Association For The Blind(New York Lighthouse Low Vision Service) is studying Chromalux lamps for possible benefit to low vision patients. According to Dr. Eleanor E. Faye, ophthalmological director, favorable responses have been elicited from patients with retinitis pigmentosa, optic atrophy, glaucoma with visual field defects, and diabetics with proliferative retinopathy who have undergone panretinal photocoagulation.

In an article published in the newsletter of the Lighthouse Center for Vision and Aging, Robert Rosenburg, O.D.(Professor of Optometry, State University of New York, College of Optometry in New York City), indicates that Chromalux bulbs may be helpful for people with macular degeneration.

Color Rendition

In evaluating Chromalux lamps, New York lighting engineer and consultant Daniel Karpen, considers them superior to standard incandescent lamps in color rendition due to Neodymium Oxide, a rare earth compound in the glass of the bulb that is able to absorb the yellow light emitted from the filament of the lamp. The reduction in the yellow increases the color saturation of greens, reds, and blues, making them more vivid. Karpen also recommends the lamps for use in any retail environment to improve the appearance of all merchandise.

Based on the American National Standard for graphic arts and photography (ANSI PH2.30-1989), the Eastman Kodak Company recommends a light source of 50000 K (Kelvin) with adequate amounts of red, green, and blue light which result in a high Color Rendering Index, for color viewing. Lumichrome Full Spectrum Fluorescents are ideal in meeting the requirements for these applications and where optimum light is desired.

Eyestrain: Effect On Productivity

Eyestrain is considered to be the greatest workplace health hazard by workers in 15 countries, in a private study conducted by the Steelcase company, according to an article "Work Place Utopia" by John Patrick Zmirak (Success Magazine-March 1993). The same article also describes a program undertaken by Control Data in Sunnyvale, California, where ordinary fluorescent lighting was replaced by full-spectrum lighting in a computer operation. In one year the error rate was reduced to the extent of $ 235,000.

Cornell University psychologist James Maas reported less fatigue and better visual acuity among students after four hours under full-spectrum lighting, as compared to four hours under fluorescent lighting. Dr. H. Richard Blackwell at Ohio State University designed tests that simulated actual working conditions. Dr. Blackwell found an 11.7 percent increase in productivity when he replaced high-pressure sodium lights, known to be the most energy efficient, with full-spectrum lights. The sodium lights actually turned out to be more costly in terms of reduced visual performance.

Con Edison of New York has converted their offices to Lumichrome full-spectrum fluorescents to improve productivity and working atmosphere.

From The Booklet "Light,N Up Your Life" Copyright 1996 by Ray Allard #TX4-455-683

Another Study Shows Sunlight Improves Lung Health

According to new findings, as reported in Reuters News (12/05), higher amounts of vitamin D could help make it easier to breathe, offering possible good news for smokers, asthmatics and other people with respiratory problems.

Researchers at the University of Auckland in New Zealand found people with higher levels of the vitamin in their systems showed better lung function than those with lower amounts. While the vitamin, which people get mostly from sunlight, is linked to lung health, the exact relationship is unclear, they said.

"Although there is a definite relationship between lung function and vitamin D, it is unclear if increases in vitamin D through supplements or dietary intake will actually improve lung function in patients with chronic respiratory diseases," said Dr. Peter Black, who led the study. Black, an associate professor in the university's Department of Medicine, and his team analyzed information from the U.S. National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey. The team collected data on 14,091 people from 1988 to 1994. Their new analysis found those who had higher levels of vitamin D were able to inhale and exhale more air.

That link was seen in blacks and non-Hispanic whites and was stronger in people older than 60 and smokers. Non-Hispanic blacks and Mexican-Americans showed lower levels of the vitamin compared to whites. The study, funded by the Health Research Council of New Zealand, also found levels of the nutrient were higher among men and lessened as people aged or gained weight. Dr. Rosalind Wright, a professor at Harvard Medical School's Department of Society, Human Development, and Health, said the vitamin could be an easy way to boost lung function. "Vitamin D would be a relatively simple, low-cost intervention that would likely have high compliance to prevent or slow loss of lung function in susceptible subgroups," said Wright, who wrote in an editorial accompanying the study.

She added that more studies are needed to see who would benefit most. Other recent studies have suggested Vitamin D may help strengthen bones as well as prevent some cancers and multiple sclerosis.

Link to more information regarding Seasonal Affective Disorder (S.A.D.). Click here.

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