LED Light Bulbs

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I have always been curious as to the effects of artificial lighting on health, especially mental, and have commented on it here before. I was wondering how many people here are familiar with LED replacement light bulbs, and what they can do to one's mental health.

Thanks so much!

Not sure about my mental health but four hours after replacing two ordinary bulbs with LED lights I had a nuclear class migraine. I did some tests and found that the LED light had a strong 50 Hz flicker but the filament of ordinary bulbs filtered this out.

The bulbs went back to the shop the next day.

Vanilla_Slice

LED bulbs have no flicker. It's compact fluorescents that have flicker. Some LED bulbs do buzz a bit, but that's auditory and not visual.

Most LED bulbs have a strong sharp peak in the blue part of the spectrum. This is the only reason I don't use them everywhere; it's not as bad as fluorescent flicker, but it's not perfect either. I do use some "warm white" LED bulbs in high usage locations, but they are mixed with incandescents to soften the spectrum.

I have tried them all, different wattages of incandescents, and the fluorescents "energy saver" bulbs and led bulbs.
By far, my favorite is a blue led bulb. It isnt bright enough to be main lighting, so I have it in the main light, and a regular lamp and desk light for when I need regular white light.
The blue light has a effect on me, hard to describe, but is sooooooo great and calming
They make them in all different colors, so I recommend trying one in your favorite color. Sylvania makes them in blue, yellow, green, red, and color changing, and list them as "mood" lighting.

I learned all about lighting when I worked at a department store, I was in charge of lighting, and you set the lights a certain way, and used specific bulbs on certain merchandise inorder to set the mood. Inproper lighting has a affect on sales. Think of the difference between a place like walmart, that just has lighting, and a place like a high end clothing store, that has less harsh lighting, and a better mood to it.

So yes, lighting does have a psychological/mental affect, and I believe that led bulbs are by far the best for the mind and body, compared to the other options

i can't stand fluorescent light... it flickers, buzzes etc. ... it makes me sick. tunnelvision et al. about to faint. bloodsugar drops suddenly. i then start shaking. also the newer types of this tech is doing that.

the LED lights hurt my eyes and makes me dizzy... makes me anxious. it feels like i panic.

i don't understand that somebody made the decision in europe to forbid old fashioned lightbulbs.... en forces people to have fluorescent and LED light everywhere....

last aleternative i can live with is halogene light.

even carmakers like audi start using LED light in headlights... making it near impossible for me to cope with head on traffic (even though i have no problem with traditional light - even direct head-on sunlight without sunglasses!! !)... in a country that forces cars to have headlights turned on always...

what baffles me even more is that those same LED lights are class 2 lights... usually marked with a sticker warning... meaning you may not stare into the light!! !! it WILL damage your eyes....

the RA of these fluorescent and LED lights (wikipedia says: RA color rendering index is measured on a scale of 1 to 100. Light with just a single colour has a RA of 1 while natural sunlight has a RA of 100) is so bad (typical around RA 85 - where incandescent and halogene lights have RA >95), that they are completely useless when working, reading and stuff!!)

besides that the LEDs are - as mentioned above - very blueish in color, so bad actually... that a warning about the blue-light hazard (<- link!!) should be provided with these lamps...

another thing annoying me is use of really blue LEDs in al sorts of equipment as indicators etc... stop that too!! ! it hurts my eyes!! !!

Would depend on the design/circuitry of the particular bulb. To save money on extra components they could've concievably just series'ed up enough LED's to be able to put raw 120VAC across them -- which would cause maximal flicker.

Those bluish headlights? Ugh I don't like those either.

I've been noticing cars with strobing LED tail lights. Luckily it doesn't make me ill, but seeing a series of dots whenever I move my eyes really bugs me when I'm driving.

Has anyone here tried one of the new LED televisions yet? I haven't checked them out because I've been told they still cost a lot more than the LCD set I currantly watch. I guess some will pay the extra money as the LED sets are supposed to allow you to view 3D movies without special glasses, and are easier to hang on the wall.

LED bulbs have TONS of flicker unless they are running on batteries or DC.

Electricians usually don't know how to make the bulbs run on DC.
The easiest way is to get a DC lamp with a plug-in AC adapter.

I agree. They really do need to work on lightbulbs for the reasons described in early posts. If they could modify non-"old fashioned" lightbulbs to make them easier on the eyes, then I'd be totally over the past. But they bother me.

LED lights do flicker. I've not been able to use them either.

I have a number of LED light bulbs in my house and have not noticed troubles with my sleep since installing them. But recall seeing this article about LED light bulbs suppressing melatonin levels.

"Weekend Link Love: Brain Teaser Edition"
http://www.marksdailyapple.com/weekend- ... r-edition/

I don't know anything about led bulbs, but I hate florescent bulbs. So do most Aspies I know. Incandescents are fine for me, but I am very unhappy they are banning them. The 40 and 60 watts won't be banned till 2013 at least though. Blah!

I had an identical reaction to the LED lighting. I started to meltdown. My anxiety spiked and I was dizzy and disoriented. Extreme panic. It was an awful experience.

I am so glad to hear that someone else has the same reaction - but I am sorry you had the reaction.

I can't stand regular incandescent bulbs. Even the brightest, whitest ones are too yellowish for my taste. They also tend to be too dim for my darkly panelled home. The place came with medium dark wood-look panelling, and I can't afford to replace it. For some years I had been using the "daylight" versions of compact fluorescent bulbs, with a few incandescents, as well. I also have a few yellowish "soft white" compact fluorescent bulbs, which will be changed to the daylight version eventually. I don't like that there is mercury in them, so I am gradually switching over to the "daylight" version of LED bulbs. I have found that they run brighter than the compact fluorescent daylight bulbs, so in places where I have been using 100 watt equivalents of those, I am now going to be using LED 75 watt equivalents.

I am not as sensitive to light flicker as many others on the spectrum, except when the bulb flickers real bad, so I am able to use the energy saver types of lights.

Good to meet a fellow FF7 fan.

I have had issues with LED Light bulbs but only on the very cheap and nasty ones. If you get cheap brands you've never heard of on Ebay, especially the ones with the "yellow chips" then you are in for a bad day. Move your hand rapidly in front of your face and you will see a strobing effect. This can happen just when you move your head. These bulbs should be banned because they can cause extreme eye pain and headaches. I have no idea what they do to someone who has epilepsy but I'm surprised this hasn't been picked up upon already. Buy good brands like Philips and you won't get this issue. I also use a lot of lamps with shades to make the light less direct and diffuse it a bit (and yes look for warm white).