Headaches, Fatigue, Stress and Performance Effects
Health effects of over-illumination or improper spectral composition of light include increased headache incidence, worker fatigue, medically defined stress, decrease in sexual function and increase in anxiety. The health consequences are particularly significant of improperly matching the color spectrum of sunlight when illuminating the workplace.
Migraine headaches have been cited by some individuals as being caused by excessive light. In one survey over-illumination was listed as the number two trigger for migraines, with 47% of the respondents reporting bright light as the principal trigger of their migraine episode. Not only does bright light induce headache, but certain spectral distributions can increase the incidence of headache.
Fatigue is a common complaint from individuals exposed to over-illumination, especially with fluorescent media. Some studies have shown that the flicker and over-illumination combined in some fluorescent systems yield particularly high fatigue incidence. Research on circadian rhythm in humans indicates that one reason for fatigue stems from the incorrect color spectrum of fluorescent light.
Stress and anxiety are frequent outcomes from working in a setting of intense (especially fluorescent) lighting. Research has shown that annoyance from bright light leads to medical stress. It is clear that brighter, less spectrally correct light induces clinically measurable stress, and it is suggested that for children this over-illumination may interfere with the learning process. For example, children experiencing any form of stress are more likely to struggle with dysgraphia, a problem in learning to write. Task performance can also be compromised for people conducting work under artificial (e.g., fluorescent as opposed to natural light). The annoyance with purely artificial light and preference by office workers for natural light has been demonstrated by a number of studies spanning eastern and western cultures. Fluorescent lighting has also been linked to aggravating other psychological disorders such as agoraphobia.
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