Exposure to light directly affects the human body. With moderation, sunlight nourishes our health, giving us vitamin D and positively affecting our sleep/wake cycles and mood, as it interacts with our brain's pineal and pituitary glands. Artificial fluorescent lights, on the other hand, improperly match the color spectrum of sunlight and have been reported to cause and aggravate certain health issues, such as migraines and stress, especially in light-sensitive individuals. Fluorescent lights also contain mercury that may contaminate the environment and be hazardous to human health if disposed of incorrectly.
Stress and Depression
Cool white fluorescent light bulbs have nodes that emit X-rays, and the light they give lacks the healthy rainbow-colored spectrum of natural light or full-spectrum bulbs. Exposure to cool white fluorescent lights is believed to contribute to a raised level of adrenocorticotropic hormone (ACTH), a hormone produced by the pituitary gland, resulting in a higher level of stress for humans. The radiation leaked by often depletes the brain of serotonin, increasing the chance of depression and seasonal affective disorder.
Migraine Headaches and Eye Strain
Fluorescent lights with magnetic ballasts produce a flicker with a rate of 120 cycles/second. This rate most commonly goes unnoticed, since the human eye is capable of detecting flickers of a rate up to 50 cycles/second. But the fact that the flicker is not visible does not mean it does not affect our health. The flickering of fluorescent lights is reported to cause eye strain and mild-to-severe headaches. It can also trigger migraines in those who are prone to getting them. Newer fluorescent bulbs come with a higher frequency electronic ballast that reduces this flickering effect.
Toxic Mercury
The amount of mercury present in a bulb is about 5 mg, enough to barely cover the tip of a pen, but potent enough to pollute up to 6000 gallons of water, beyond a safe drinking level. If these bulbs are not disposed of correctly, by taking them to a specialized recycling facility, they will more than likely break in the trash can, potentially polluting the soil in landfills and leaking into underwater rivers, contaminating the environment. Because of the increased number of fluorescent light bulbs being purchased, this amount of mercury making its way to our waste stream is a big worry for human health. A broken fluorescent light bulb emits dangerous vapors coming from the mercury that should be handled properly by airing out the room where the light bulb has broken, and picking up the mercury with black tape and disposing of it at a recycling center for hazardous materials, to avoid mercury toxicity in the bloodstream.
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