Full Spectrum Light Bulbs-
What, Why, Where and When?
Importance of Light Light, specifically natural sunlight, plays a very important role in our life. Exposure to Sunlight affects the Hypothalmus, which is perhaps the most important part of the brain and which controls and oversees the nervous system and the endocrine system and most of our body functions. Sunlight activates the Pineal Gland and affects the balance of the Melatonin and Serotonin hormones produced in our body. With decreased light exposure, production of Melatonin goes up and causes fatigue; with increased light exposure, production of Serotonin increases and elevates your mood and makes you more mentally alert. Our body clocks are instinctively attuned to the sun's progress through the day. We get up in the morning, we go to bed after the light fades. Any changes in this rhythm upsets our balance, as people suffering from jet lag or those who switch work schedules abruptly from day shifts to night shifts will attest.
What is Full Spectrum Lighting? Full Spectrum Lighting is optically balanced artificial lighting that duplicates the clarity and color intensity of noon time sunlight. It is a clear, bright white light that has a 90-100 CRI (Color Rendering Index) and 5000-5500 Degrees Kelvin (Kelvin Temperature). Full Spectrum Lighting, like its name suggests, includes the entire gamut of light rays from UV (ultraviolet) to VIBGYOR (Violet, Indigo, Blue, Green, Yellow, Orange and Red) to IR (infrared). Full Spectrum Earth Phospors are used to manufacture Full Spectrum Light Bulbs. Lights Bulbs not meeting these specifications should be avoided.
Why should you go for Full Spectrum Lighting? Full Spectrum Light is less stressful to your health than other artificial light like Fluorescent lights. Since they replicate natural sunlight, Full Spectrum Lights reduce the levels of Melatonin and Cortisol hormones in your body and thereby you experience less stress. You will suffer less eye strain, headaches, and general fatigue. Full Spectrum Lighting helps improve the immune system, helps decrease blood pressure problems, and helps decrease insomnia. Full Spectrum Lamps are used as an effective form of Light Therapy to treat people who suffer from seasonal depression or what was traditionally known as 'Winter Blues' and sometimes as an alternative to taking chemical anti-depressants in the treatment of regular annual depression.
Installing Full Spectrum Light Bulbs in offices has had a proven beneficial effect on the mental and physical well-being of the office staff. It has been found to reduce work stress and irritability, and increase energy and concentration levels. This naturally leads to improved work performance and better production.
Aside from this, Full Spectrum Light Bulbs have many other positive attributes. They are very durable, and can last for over 10,000 hours or 417 days. They may be a tad expensive to purchase, but that extra expense balances out with their longer life expectancy and the fact that they also consume a lot less energy than usual light bulbs (which is good news for the levels of your electricity bill), and are environmentally friendly.
Many people say that using full spectrum light bulbs
has helped their Seasonal Affective Disorder or SAD. The full spectrum of light wavelengths emitted by these bulbs closely resembles summer sunlight, banishing Winter Blues.
These bulbs give off light of many different wavelengths or frequencies, in the same way that the Sun does. We see the Suns light as white, but if a narrow ray of light is passed through a prism, the white light splits up into its different wavelengths. The same happens in nature when we see a rainbow during a rain shower.
Conventional incandescent and ordinary compact fluorescent bulbs (CFL bulbs) do not give out all wavelengths of light, there are some important blue wavelengths missing from their light output.
Full spectrum bulbs give out similar light to that given out by SAD lights, but at a lower intensity. There is anecdotal evidence from many users who say that using these bulbs has improved their SAD and the low feelings that they experience in the winter.
Full spectrum bulbs cost slightly more than ordinary CFL bulbs, but they have similar energy efficiencies. The ordinary CFL bulbs do last longer.
Given the extra cost and shorter life of these daylight bulbs you should experiment with one or two for one winter. Use them where you spend a lot of time, in front of the computer, perhaps. If your family is less moody and happier, then buy extra ones next winter.
Full spectrum, daylight, bulbs give a noticeably whiter light, that gives better color rendition. This is important to any painter or cross-stitch enthusiast. Using a daylight bulb in a studio extends the artists day well into the evening.
Nobody has claimed that full-spectrum lights are harmful. Everyone has at least a neutral comment on their effects, most people say they are beneficial. Check out the comments on Amazon and the only critical ones relate to the quality of the bulbs manufacture.
Everyone seems to benefit in some way, though SAD sufferers really need a more intense light source or a SAD light box to improve their condition.
People say their teenaged daughters are made human again and that they smil in the mornings. It is worth trying just for that.
Where you live governs how many months of the year you should try out these daylight effect bulbs. If you live in Scandinavia or Canada you might need them for six months of the year. If you live in Britain or Ireland you might only benefit from using a full spectrum light source for four months of the year.
Given their extra purchase cost and shorter life, many users change their bulbs in spring and autumn. Switching to the full spectrum bulbs when they start feeling the Winter Blues hit.
It seems that our eyes are sensitive to certain wavelengths of light, sending messages to the bodys endocrine system to produce certain hormones when those light wavelengths are present.
Historically most humans spent many hours a day outside, so even in the winter most people had good light levels. It is only since the Industrial Revolution meant that most people live and work inside buildings that we have needed supplementary light sources through the winter months.
You can buy traditional incandescent bulbs still that give out a full spectrum. These use as much energy as an ordinary incandescent filament bulb, and have a very short life compared to CFLs. Filament daylight bulbs also give out a lot of heat, so it is uncomfortable to work very close to one.
Compact fluorescent bulbs have the largest part of the daylight bulb market. They are available in many different shapes, with spiral tube bulbs being the most common. Some CFLs come with a diffuser fitted. They look like a large conventional bulb, with a frosted glass diffuser case hiding the coiled fluorescent tube inside. Daylight effect CFL bulbs use a similar low level of electricity to ordinary CFL bulbs. They give out some heat, but it is comfortable to work with one even at very close quarters.
Not all full spectrum bulbs are created equal. Some give a fuller range of light wavelengths than others. Cheaper bulbs might typically give out 85% of the light wavelengths that the Sun does. More expensive bulbs will give out 88% to 92% of the Suns range of light.
Artists who need as accurate color rendition as possible should choose the bulbs that give the best approximation to the Suns light.
12, 18, 24 and 25 watt full spectrum daylight CFL bulbs are commonly available. These low wattage bulbs equate to 40W to100W incandescent bulbs in terms of light output. They will have a marginal effect at best on a SAD sufferer. 32Watt daylight bulbs usually give out enough light that most SAD sufferers say they notice an improvement if they work close to it for long enough. A 32W compact fluorescent bulb is roughly equivalent to a conventional 150W bulb.
Full spectrum daylight bulbs and fluorescent tubes are available in the same range of fittings as ordinary bulbs and tubes.
Be careful when you buy a daylight bulb that it has the correct fitting, screw or bayonet, small screw or small bayonet, etc. European light fittings are conventionally for bayonet cap (BC) bulbs, but many lamps use the American style Edison Screw (ES) fittings.
You can replace any non-daylight bulb or tube with a full spectrum one because these are available to suit every fitting on the market
You can find high power 100W CFL Daylight bulbs, equivalent to a 400W tungsten filament bulb. These are used in projectors and photographic darkrooms.
Be careful that the bulb you buy is designed to work at your supply voltage. US bulbs are designed for 110v, European bulbs are designed for 220v. Europeans might be tempted by the low priced daylight bulbs on US websites, but they will blow in two seconds in Europe.
iAutoblog the premier autoblogger software
No comments:
Post a Comment