Ack, sloppy click, I tried to vote ‘5′ and missed. Can some admin fix this? This is an excellent page.

My wife and I had relamped our whole house with compact fluorescents over the years (I bought my first ones, from Phillips, literally decades ago, when they cost $40 apiece, they’re still working).

When I came across the Brainerd et al. study on the photoreceptor that controls melatonin, it was an eye opener. We’d both had insomnia in recent years, and tended to read in bed under a little CFL til, oh, midnight, one am … then I’d wake at 4 or 5 am.

So — I got some amber LED lights (did you know they’re certified by the Florida fish and game people? Here’s their wonderful page, any of these would be great evening lights indoors:
http://myfwc.com/seaturtle/WildlifeLighting/index.htm

Amber is good for use near sea turtle hatcheries, so the baby turtles head toward the rising moon over the ocean instead of toward the beach houses?).

I also found low-blue-light CFLs (GE “Post Light Bug Light” compact fluorescents are very low blue, not “no blue” so there’s some color vision remaining).

Check CFL spectra here:
http://ledmuseum.home.att.net/spectra7.htm

This is the GE buglight we find very good:
http://ledmuseum.candlepower.us/seventh/cflbl1.gif

No insomnia that night. None since. We turn down the bright/blue lights at about 8pm. By 10pm, I’m yawning and can’t keep my eyes open.

Haven’t fallen asleep like this since I was a kid.

Oh, and it’s really helped the winter depression I’ve fought for decades, getting _enough_ sleep like this. March and April used to be the worst months, while everyone else was cheering up and I’d still be sunk in gloom.

Not this year.

NOTE, there are a lot of states (California) and countries (Australia) proposing to get rid of incandescent lights and push compact fluorescents.

Be afraid.

And if you live near the SF Bay Bridge, you’ve noticed the huge, bright, blue-led billboard next to the Oakland end. It’s stunningly bright blue light. Imagine every billboard glaring that bright — brighter than life, bright as the blue daytime sky.

Scary.

P.S. — for covering existing lights, you can use the yellow polycarbonate drinking water bottles from Walgreen’s, etc (don’t let them overheat, though).

For covering lights AND computer screens (and flashlights) you can get Rosco theatrical gel filters at any good photo or theater lighting supplier, for about $7 for a 20×24″ piece. Deal!

This is “Daffodil”
http://www.rosco.com/images/filters/roscolux/310.gif

That blocks most light below about 470nm (though you’d want to add their ultraviolet blocking filter as well, for any fluorescent light)
http://www.rosco.com/

Credit the idea of using Rosco gels to Murray Waldman.

The Rosco Chroma Green (to _pass_ not _block_ the range that affects melatonin) is mentioned in this patent as an example:

Therapeutic light method - US Patent 5447527
… In case a broad spectrum bulb is used, a ROSCOLUX™ type Chroma Green #75 filter can …
http://www.patentstorm.us/patents/5447527-description.html

That’s using green light (whether from a green source or using that kind of filter) to _provide_ rather than _block_ part of the range that affects the melatonin receptor, for treating winter depression.

Check his site — http://www.sunnexbiotech.com — for a lot of good science info; Sunnex now sells a green light for SAD that I use and can recommend.

Note at the LEDMuseum website I mentioned in the earlier post, have a look at all the fluorescent (and white LED) spectra Craig has posted there. Both fluorescent and white LED emit a _lot_ of blue light. Fluorescents are mercury vapor emitters with phosphors; “white” LEDs are blue LEDs with phosphors, to convert some of the primary emission to longer wavelengths in the visible range.

Got a light you wonder about? Box it up and mail it to Craig at the LEDMuseum page; he checked the ones I sent him, the spectrum I linked above for the GE ‘post light bug light’ is one of those.

NOTE the LEDMuseum is a one-person website, it’s world famous among those of us who like that sort of thing. Craig’s a great guy, with a quirky sense of humor. So if you want his help, send him a sample of the light you’re curious about (and a contribution, if you will).

Quite a few manufacturers do this; so do a lot of us individuals who are curious. That reminds me, I’ve got a couple more possible “low blue” emitters to mail him to see what he makes of them.

——–> Last thought —-> There’s debate whether NO or LOW blue light is the criterion; I’m no scientist, just an avid reader. See also the cataract replacement lens science (one search merely as an example):

http://www.google.com/search?q=cataract+IOL+%22blue+light%22+mental+alertness

There’s debate whether IOLs for cararacts should block blue light.

Looks to me it appears that it’s not wise to block it with an intraocular lens …. and, hmmm, maybe natural yellowing of lenses cuts down on how well our brains work??? Could that be one reason older people’s sleep patterns fall apart, and supplemental bright light’s helpful? just speculating there).

Whew …..

I am currently legally disabled due to nearly life-long recurring clinical depression which has tended (as is often the case) to get worse with each major recurrence, and I finally became functionally debilitated several years ago [I am 52], despite some pharmaceutical relief. (My body reacts atypically to most anti-deps, and only Nardil, an old MAOI rarely prescribed today, has proven to be reliably useful.)

I have also had atypical (and frequently shifting) sleep patterns all of my life. I wouldn’t call it “insomnia”–but my system seems completely divorced from the “normal” diurnal cycle. Even as a child, I seemed to be built more for a 36-hour day than a 24-hour one. As I’ve gotten older, my sleep-cycles have gotten even more erratic and unpredictable.

What’s more, it has often been remarked upon–by my psychological caseworker and others–that I tend to have a much better emotional affect on the days when I’ve been up all night, than on the days when I’ve gotten the “normal” amount of sleep.

As far as I know, I am unique in this. Does anyone know if similar cases have been documented and studied? I would love to know as much as possible about such cases, if so.

Thank you.

I tried yesterday; if this is a duplicate, please discard it, but I don’t see yesterday’s reply here.

Sam — search Google Scholar — you’ll find good information about how losing sleep lifts mood. Try:

+”sleep deprivation” +antidepressant

For sleep cycles and patterns try
http://www.cet.org
They’ve got an online questionnaire that you may find helpful, and a lot of good information.

I hope you’ve read the articles linked in the original article above about light and dark therapies. In particular, the lack of help from the newer antidepressants and some research about low mood make sense — Dr. Phelps has a _lot_ of good information as is pointed out above (and info about how to talk to a doctor who doesn’t know about it, as well).

Note in the first response above, the link given is to the spectrum from an 11-watt GE “Post Light bug light” compact fluorescent (rated for 6,000 hours).

New info — here below is the spectrum from the 14-watt GE compact fluorescent ‘bug light’ (rated for 10,000 hours).

This spectrum also from the LEDMuseum site. There’s nobody like him for this kind of good info.

I’m glad to see this size is also quite low in the blue band.

It’s a noticeably brighter light source, a bit closer to yellow-green than to yellow-orange I’d say. Both are quite tolerable for evening light.

We’re using a mix of both kinds, along with the amber LED bulbs.

Note these CFLs both take two or three minutes to come up to full brightness. Don’t switch them on and off frequently, that reduces the lifetime.

http://ledmuseum.candlepower.us/eighth/gecflbl.gif

Aside — these are pricey at retail; I found them recently for about $7/apiece:
Amazon.com, searching there for
+CFL +bug +GE
Hunt around patiently if you’re looking for them, the pricier stuff shows up more prominently.

Couple more filter notes.
Rosco generally:

http://www.rosco.com/us/filters/roscolux.asp#colors

That’s the brand I’ve got handy at a nearby theater/photo store; another one often available is a company named GAM. Google ….

Another good blue-blocking Rosco filter, #312 “Canary” — cutoff sharp at 500nm so it blocks a bit more of the blue-green.

(Note at short wavelengths most all color filters pass the UV emission present in ordinary fluorescent light; see spectra):

http://www.rosco.com/images/filters/roscolux/312.gif

This is Rosco’s UV filter (I use layered with my color filters) — optically completely clear:
Roscolux #3114: UV Filter (Transmission = 100%).

For winter blues, the “Chroma Green” — mentioned in the patent noted earlier — has a new number now, #389: http://www.rosco.com/images/filters/roscolux/389.gif

This DESPERATELY needs to be more widely talked about, and tried. I followed Hank’s directions- and for the first time in 15 years, I am able to sleep without medication. Do you understand how astonishing that is?

What happened 15 years ago? I installed a compact fluorescent bulb as my bed/reading lamp. It’s unplugged now; currently using amber LEDs, which are plenty bright for reading.

My exact situation- for 15 years, I’d take diphenhydramine at bedtime- and have to read for 2-3 HOURS before I could drop off to sleep. Without the diphenhydramine- I’d wake up at 1 or 2; and be totally unable to get back to sleep. Devastating.

Literally- I am now UNABLE to keep my eyes open more than 15 minutes after getting into bed- with the amber LED’s. No matter how exciting the book..

Hank. It’s changed my life.

Looking back, please credit the article by Janet Raloff from Science News Online as a source for information; it’s by far the best single summary, with thorough footnotes — model science writing. I just reread it and was reminded how much of the useful information I know came from here. It’s in two parts; the second part is what I found very informative:

http://www.sciencenews.org/articles/20060527/bob9.asp
Science News Online
Week of May 27, 2006; Vol. 169, No. 21
Light Impacts
Hue and timing determine whether rays are beneficial or detrimental
Janet Raloff
This is part two of a two-part series

Shop around; Jim Phelps points to a source for yellow-filter glasses for $40; here’s a better price. These pass 65%; I used them before we changed our lights and put the Rosco yellow filters on my laptop screen; then I gave them a neighbor.
http://www.noir-medical.com/uv_yellow.htm#Percents
Search engines can find them on sale.

These look even better, haven’t tried them yet:
http://www.noir-medical.com/glareshield.htm

These folks
http://store.lsgc.com/Wildlife-Friendly-C14.aspx
have the best brightness-per-dollar amber LED lights I’ve found; shop around, watch out for really dim amber LED lights for too much money. Amber LEDs emit zero blue light, they can be quite bright and not interfere with sleep, in our experience. We’re using the older variety now, mixed with the low-blue “bug light” GE CFLs.

Their newer amber floodlight promises twice the brightness for the same ~6 watts (that’s progress in LEDs, which are changing very fast). Trying those next.

NOTE — most all current 110v LED lights, like almost all compact fluorescents, will fail (and may catch fire) if used on dimmers. Don’t do that!

Bottom line: the Rosco filter gels and yellow glasses are the inexpensive way to try this out.
Watch out for surprises; there are “daylight” incandescent bulbs that are very blue (neodymium is used in those).

Ordinary low-low-wattage incandescents don’t have a lot of blue emission, but egad, once you’ve compared a 6-watt night light incandescent to a 6-watt amber LED light (or even an 11-watt CFL “buglight”) you realize you can save the money on electricity that you spend changing your lighting.

I’d just not use those lights after say 8pm; have your low/no-blue bulbs in table lamps, reading lamps.

If you use only the 20watt or 40 watt ‘candle flame shape’ low-wattage incandescents in the ‘candelabra/dimmer’ fixtures that’s probably what they’re meant for, the fake-candlelight look; once an incandescent is dimmed down it’s mostly red and infrared anyhow.

Old dimmers are very noisy electronically; if you have a computer/phone/DSL cable anywhere near them, expect static/garbage when you’re using them. The old dimmers are just rheostats (coils of resistor wire, wasting as heat anything below full brightness setting).

Those little ‘candelabra’ incandescents can be found with an amber tint, which would eliminate all the blue — more like candlelight.

Any ordinary incandescent won’t be very strong in the blue (except halogens); once they’re dimmed they’re cooler and redder yet.

http://ledmuseum.candlepower.us/seventh/60wincan.gif

Here’s our problem:

http://ledmuseum.candlepower.us/eighth/soyomon.gif
(add a layer of one of the Rosco gels that blocks light below 500nm )

http://ledmuseum.candlepower.us/fifth/mon1.gif
http://ledmuseum.candlepower.us/fifth/nik1.gif

Another bit suggesting “low blue” may be better than “no blue” to my way of reading it. Found here:

http://www.caa.govt.nz/medical/ME_Newsletters/Med_news_10_06.pdf

From the literature: Blue light and the blues
A presentation at the recent ASAM (Australasian
Society of Aerospace Medicine) annual scientific
meeting, in Launceston Tasmania
1, raised some
interesting possibilities in respect to blue light. The
presentation was given by Dr Dan Black, and
eminent Australian aviation ophthalmologist.

The main line of reasoning pursued the relationship
between blue light and depression, with some
collateral discussion concerning the colour-vision
effects of ‘natural’ intra-ocular lenses. The
reasoning went something like this:
- Our eyes contain non-image-forming photoreceptors
in the retinal ganglion cells and these receptors are
especially sensitive to short wavelength light;
- Blue light exposure influences (amongst other
things) the production of melatonin, alertness, the
growth of tumour cells, sleep architecture, and mood;
- The amount of blue light reaching these non-image-
forming photoreceptors will be reduced by:
Yellow-orange spectacle lenses (“blue-blockers”
or high-contrast lenses);
The yellowing of the lens with normal ageing;
Many intra-ocular lenses, which are tinted yellow
in an attempt to reduce the likelihood of macular
degeneration; Blue-blockade reduces the amount of melatonin
produced and, therefore, has the capability to
moderate circadian adaptations as well as mood;
- After cataract surgery patients may become
anomalous trichromats because of the yellow tint of
the IOLs that have been inserted … although this tint
may also closely resemble the colour-cast of their
aged lenses anyway (less cyanopsia with yellow-
tinted, or ‘natural’ IOLs);
- Cataract surgery, and the insertion of a blue-blocker
IOL, may also predispose to depressive illness.
Dr Black emphasised that although much of the
logic and reasoning is supported by good solid
research some remains somewhat conjectural …
including his postulating a link between SAD
(seasonal affective disorder) and blue light
exposure. All the same, the available information
does make for some interesting considerations.
References and abstracts available (5Mb PDF file)
and can be emailed to anyone who wishes.

1
Black, D. Cataract surgery implicated in depressive illness. The 2006
Annual Scientific Meeting of the Australasian Society of Aerospace
Medicine (A Flight of ideas: Mental Health in Aviation). Launceston
Country Club, Tasmania, Australia, 21 September 2006.

Oops, attribution omitted; for anyone who didn’t get the context, those images come from
http://www.ledmuseum.org (for the ‘front door’)

http://ledmuseum.candlepower.us/eighth/soyomon.gif
is a typical LCD computer display–lots! of blue.

The other two images linked above are typical compact fluorescents, also with lots of blue
(anything below about 500 nanometers)

I got some of these and they are quite good fitting over eyeglasses: http://www.noir-medical.com/glareshield.htm

As it gets to the equinox I have to start thinking about winter depression again; the dawn simulator’s in use (http://www.humboldt1.com/~zerdo).

This is the time of year — as the days get short and we don’t have blue skylight coming in the windows into the evening hours — where I’ll find out if blocking all the blue in our electric light makes winter depression worse, as I suspect it does.

This will be the first winter trying to control SAD _and_ keep sleeping well. Bright light and daylight and standard fluorescents in the morning and up til about 8pm, then switching to low- or no-blue.

Gonna be tricky, doing it mostly with clipon and Luxo-type lamps for the low-/no-blue bulbs so those go on when the standard brighter general illumination goes off. Fiddly, for now.

For for general evening lights (in the absence of evening sunlight coming in after 8pm as it has been!) I’ll use more of the Westinghouse compact fluorescent ‘bug lights’ to have more low-blue emission, into the evening. We’d been getting that from the lingering daylight while we used just the yellow/amber CFL or LED lights between 8 and 9pm, while the days were longer.

One big note for anyone following — we notice the biggest source of blue light in the evening is definitely the computer. If you read online before going to bed and find your thinking spinning along at daytime speed — try the Rosco filter gels or yellow eyeglasses starting at 8pm or so.

New research in, confirming some of the above.

http://cercor.oxfordjournals.org/cgi/content/abstract/17/12/2788?ct

“…Using functional magnetic resonance imaging, we show that, while participants perform an auditory working memory task, a short (18 min) daytime exposure to blue (470 nm) or green (550 nm) monochromatic light (3 x 1013 photons/cm2/s) differentially modulates regional brain responses. Blue light typically enhanced brain responses or at least prevented the decline otherwise observed following green light exposure in frontal and parietal cortices implicated in working memory, and in the thalamus involved in the modulation of cognition by arousal. Our results imply that monochromatic light can affect cognitive functions almost instantaneously and suggest that these effects are mediated by a melanopsin-based photoreceptor system.”

I think we’d call that “aqua” or “blue-green” light, which is within the band that seems to affect melatonin/sleep/arousal — but this is a much faster effect than a change in melatonin and seems to be an additive one (no idea what the background level of light was in this, all I have is the abstract). Could be there’s yet more going on.

Folks, got older relatives? Natural eye lenses get yellow with age and reduce blue light.

Thanks for patiently allowing people to add to your topic!
I pointed to you from this thread a couple of times recently:
http://well.blogs.nytimes.com/2007/11/05/curing-insomnia-without-the-pills/

I noted this over at that NYT thread but it belongs here, this thread is the best collection of info I know of online.

New on light:
http://www.plosone.org/article/info%3Adoi%2F10.1371%2Fjournal.pone.0001247

Green Monochromatic Light Exposures in Humans: Prominent Role of Blue Light and the Brainstem

Abstract

Relatively long duration retinal light exposure elicits nonvisual responses in humans, including modulation of alertness and cognition. These responses are thought to be mediated in part by melanopsin-expressing retinal ganglion cells which are more sensitive to blue light than violet or green light…. …

http://www.eurekalert.org/pub_releases/2007-12/cp-bhl121307.php
——excerpt—
“… this information may change how injuries to the eye are treated.

For example, surgeons might want to think twice about removing a damaged eye that still possesses functioning pRGCs, given the important physiological role that these cells play in maintaining normally timed sleep…. how light affects sleep, alertness, performance, and human health….”

Wow. I am not brave enough to get tattooed with plain ink. Though I might go for phosphorescent ink or someday-nanotech conductive ink with a built in web browser and ham radio *grin*.

Long article in yesterday’s NYT about compact fluorescents, which made me think that a lot of the complaints (’not warm’ and ‘not homelike’) may be people’s recognition of the blue light — perhaps we’re wired to recognize blue light as the market that we are outdoors and so at risk of predators?

If so none of the cheap fixes fiddling with the “color temperature” are going to solve that.

Earlier NYT article on compact fluorescents:
http://dotearth.blogs.nytimes.com/2007/12/07/experiences-with-next-generation-lighting/#comment-6873

Yesterday’s comparison of bulbs:
http://www.nytimes.com/2008/01/10/garden/10lighting.html?ref=garden (with pictures) or printable:
http://www.nytimes.com/2008/01/10/garden/10lighting.html?ref=garden&pagewanted=print

I accidentally stumbled on this article here and read all the posts… All I have to say is that whoever this Roberts guy is, he’s doing an outstanding job in providing information an this subject!

Thank you Hank, please keep it up. Btw I live in Europe.

http://www.blackwell-synergy.com/doi/abs/10.1111/j.1600-079X.2007.00473.x

MINI REVIEW
Kristen J. Navara, Randy J. Nelson (2007) The dark side of light at night: physiological, epidemiological, and ecological consequences
Journal of Pineal Research 43 (3) , 215–224 doi:10.1111/j.1600-079X.2007.00473.x
=====================

http://www.springerlink.com/content/w57m0451647×5444/
Biological Clocks and Shift Work: Circadian Dysregulation and Potential Long-term Effects
Journal Cancer Causes and Control
Issue Volume 17, Number 4 / May, 2006
Special Section on Cancer and Rhythm
DOI 10.1007/s10552-005-9015-4

============

Revisiting this thread because I’ve been sitting at bedside at a children’s hospital with my young niece during chemotherapy for leukemia, and noticed this:
– the staff’s trying hard not to wake up the kids at night, they’re using LED headlamps, camping-store gear.

But they’ve got the typical “white” LEDs that are very bright in the blue spectrum — this youngster’s mother spends the night and said when the staff comes in the LEDs wake her up clear across the room, let alone waking the kid in the bed they’re trying to help sleep.

They’re trying for something better than turning on the room fluorescents every few hours.

I’m taking in the references on amber lighting — a single one of the big bright amber “turtle lights” in a bedside lamp would be plenty of illumination to work around the bedside, if the hospital put them in.

Also trying to run down someone who can modify the “white” LED headlights by swapping in amber LEDs (this requires a slightly lower voltage supplied, it’s not a direct swap, it’ll need a resistor added to the circuits).

In other news, red LED light’s shown to reduce mouth sores –I’m going to get this youngster at least a very bright red LED flashlight before her next round of chemotherapy begins.
That’d be a good new topic, Sandra!
http://bloodjournal.hematologylibrary.org/cgi/crossref-forward-links/109/5/2250

Here’s a cite to a publication by Dr. Phelps (whose work our host Sandra introduces at the top of this article).

Note the “related article map” at the bottom of the linked page

http://www.find-health-articles.com/rec_pub_17637502-dark-therapy-bipolar-disorder-using-amber-lenses-blue-light-blockade.htm

Blublocker seems to have changed their web page, the above link’s broken but you can find them through their main page
http://www.blublocker.com/

I wish they said what percentage of light those transmit; I think they’re “sun” glasses and so probably pretty opaque for indoor evening wear.

I’ve tried the yellow tinted glasses and it’s just easier to have a separate set of evening lights in amber and yellow — once we put the amber 25 or 40-watt incandescents in the refrigerator, that is. Those are easy to find in hardware stores. No more midnight glare.

A bit more on spectra — here’s a secondary source that appears to be a copy from Brainerd’s 2001 article
http://www.lighttherapycanada.biz/images/LB/ResEng/Brainardcurve2.gif

That’s the band you want to _avoid_ to be able to fall asleep (and the band you want to get to wake up and stay alert, of course — daylight blue skylight as filtered through green leaves, more or less. I have a “Go Outdoors” sign to remind me of that at home!).

The link goes to a winter depression/light therapy commercial site, here
http://www.lighttherapycanada.biz/bluelightresearch.htm
which appears to make a good case for using their product rather than standard bright white fluorescents.

There is also a green-phosphor fluorescent (sunnexbiotech.com), which I used for the first time this past for winter blues and worked fine for me.

Both of those seem safer than the old white lightboxes — they don’t emit in the shorter blue wavelengths, which are higher-energy photons.

How did I miss this til now?
http://www.patentstorm.us/patents/5402190-description.html

Biological cycle affecting goggles
US Patent Issued on March 28, 1995

This is a _much_ earlier description by the same Murray Waldman whose work I mentioned earlier, of the same range of light controlling wakefulness. This isn’t the _mechanism_ (the part of the eye controlling melatonin) but it’s the effect, clearly descdribed:

——-excerpt follows——-
… light wavelengths between about 480 and 530 nm. reaching the eyes at an inappropriate time with respect to the biological cycle, rather than all light wavelengths as had been previously thought, appear to be the wavelengths which cause the inappropriate resetting of the biological clock and allow the user to control, in conjunction with appropriately timed exposure to light capable of affecting the internal human clock, the timing of his normal functioning with normal wakefulness and alertness. Accordingly the present invention avoids resetting of the biological clock which would be caused by the presence of sunlight during intervals unexpected by the human body….”

It popped up when I searched this, thinking I’d find the later patent mentioned. Somehow I’d never seen this earlier one.

This well predates the Brainerd and other work. I wonder how he figured this out!

More research here for some science writer, some day, to follow up — I hope it interests someone to delve into how this all came up.
http://www.google.com/search?q=%2Bwaldman+%2Bpatent+%2Brosco

More:

“Polychromatic light was more effective at suppressing nocturnal melatonin than monochromatic blue light matched for melanopsin stimulation, implying that the melatonin suppression response is not solely driven by melanopsin. The findings suggest a stimulatory effect of the additional wavelengths of light present in the polychromatic light, which could be mediated via the stimulation of cone photopigments and/or melanopsin regeneration. The results of this study may be relevant to designing the spectral composition of polychromatic lights for use in the home and workplace, as well as in the treatment of circadian rhythm disorders.”

Chronobiol Int. 2007;24(6):1125-37.
Light-induced melatonin suppression in humans with polychromatic and monochromatic light.

Revell VL, Skene DJ.

http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/18075803?dopt=Abstract

More:

http://www.pubmedcentral.nih.gov/articlerender.fcgi?tool=pubmed&pubmedid=18082405
Curr Biol. 2007 December 18; 17(24): 2122–2128.
doi: 10.1016/j.cub.2007.11.034.

PMCID: PMC2151130
Copyright © 2007 Elsevier Ltd.
Short-Wavelength Light Sensitivity of Circadian, Pupillary, and Visual Awareness in Humans Lacking an Outer Retina

Last bit:
——excerpt——
Our data strengthen the conclusion that the clinical diagnosis of ”complete” blindness (i.e., visual and circadian) should assess the state of both the image-forming and the non-image-forming photoreceptive systems [1]. If blind individuals are found to be light sensitive, this knowledge will help ensure that they expose their eyes to sufficient daytime light to maintain normal circadian entrainment and sleep/wake rhythmicity. This evaluation is particularly critical prior to bilateral enucleation because, if light-responsive eyes are removed or individuals do not expose their eyes to a robust light-dark cycle, the patients may develop a debilitating circadian-rhythm sleep disorder [3, 14]. Patients with diseases of the inner retina that result in retinal ganglion cell death (e.g., glaucoma) are at particular risk and should be counseled about the effects of pRGC loss. Where complete blindness results, appropriately timed melatonin treatment may be warranted in order to establish entrained circadian rhythmicity [35, 36].
—–end——

Just one more — if you get the light bright enough, even red has some effect. This is rather bright.

http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/16687299?dopt=Abstract

http://selene-ny.org/downloads/environmentaleffects.ppt
(No cites in the paper, but interesting numbers, I’ll try to look them up)

Brightness:

Brainerd — exposure to 1/2 footcandle fully stops melatonin production

Blask — melatonin inhibits the growth of breast cancer cells in-vitro by 30-40%

Blask — tumors in lab rats grew 2 times as fast for those exposed to normal light during the day and 2/100 footcandle of light at night
…
Full moon = 1/100th footcandle
to as much as 2/100th f.c.

Great catch, Sandra.
Scary that too.

A good reminder there’s _much_ more going on:

http://scienceblogs.com/clock/2008/05/a_huge_new_circadian_pacemaker_1.php

Next to last paragraph here
http://adsabs.harvard.edu/full/2001JRASC..95..276P
quotes Dr. Brainerd on the intensity (0.5 to 1.7 footcandles of 509nm [blue-green] light, or 10 footcandles of white light]. This is from a 2001 Dark Sky Association meeting where he spoke.
Still hunting a better cite, in my copious spare time

Sandra, I’m no expert, I just read and point at things. Below something on what we buy, and below that something on what the terms mean.

I don’t have time to edit this into a short answer, so here’s the ramble:

I think the short answer is, avoid white light even as dim as a ‘nightlight’ bulb* not because the overall room illumination from that is so much, but because you’re apt to look straight at it from fairly close if you have one of them on.

We continue to really like these:
http://store.lsgc.com/R20-AMBER-FLOODLIGHT-MEDIUM-EDISON-BASE-P54.aspx

One in a clamp lamp pointed at the ceiling lights up a whole room well enough to get around at night, without interrupting feeling sleepy at all. If I’ve got to get up (bathroom, raccoon trying to get through the cat door, minor earthquake, wrong number phone call) I can click one of those on and see everything I need to without feeling like it’s hard to get back to sleep. By contrast, if I turn on a white fluorescent in the middle of the night — I’m going to have trouble getting back to sleep. As always, it’s an individual thing.

========
—————
* Google nightlight leukemia to find some of the other concerns raised about low levels of white light at night, from four years or so ago.
One hit links to a 2004 public relations/thinktank site attack piece flaming pointyheaded scientists who are trying to force your children to sleep in complete darkness (bogus, of course, amber light’s safe) — a frothing defense of the free market for white nightlights keeping children safe from fear of monsters and scientists trying to make your babies sleep in total dark (sigh).
—————–

The amber LED night lights I’ve been using are nice; I’ve also found Ace Hardware is stocking little neon-amber nightlights (two on a card, little white plastic bumps that plug in and glow, very inexpensive, very low power, plenty sufficient if you have one or two per room to avoid falling over the cat in the dark).

======Now, a probably useless attempt to answer your questions:

ight can be measured as photons of a single color, or averaged “white” light, and several ways.

— energy consumed at the source (watts)
(incandescent less efficient than fluorescent; LED in between, though LEDs are catching up fast in energy efficiency for the light produced)

— brightness measured at the eyeball (lux, I think)

— brightness of a known source measured at a specific distance (foot-candle, the brightness of one ’standard candle’ at one foot distance — no doubt a pre-Metric measurement like furlongs per fortnight).

Let’s compare it to lighting we know about and see if that helps.

moonlight (which is highly variable, as this page makes clear).
http://home.earthlink.net/~kitathome/LunarLight/moonlight_gallery/technique/moonbright.htm

“… with an “average” full moon …. the moonlight brightness would be 0.0269 foot candles (0.290 Lux, or a photographic LV=-2.8) ….”

Here’s a proposal to use 30 lux of blue light to affect circadian rhythms (this would be to make the day/night change more definite and clear, for adults in elder care settings who may have disrupted sleep due to lack of daylight/dawn/sunset light cues, I think)

http://lrt.sagepub.com/cgi/content/abstract/40/2/153?ct

———
Bottom line? I’m sticking with amber LEDs

This remains the best page I know. If it’s safe for baby turtles, it’s safe for us.
http://www.floridaconservation.org/seaturtle/WildlifeLighting/index.htm

http://www.newscientist.com/article/dn14117-circadian-eye-could-be-key-to-insomnia.html?DCMP=ILC-hmts&nsref=news6_head_dn14117

Yes, the pharma folks are suggesting maybe they can develop and patent a wonderful new drug that could reset these sensitive cells in the eye for doctors to prescribe, to fix sleep problems.

One that would work almost like, duh, light.

Crazy world, this.

Sandra, good suggestion for a search. Google:
http://www.google.com/search?q=intrinsically+photosensitive+retinal+ganglion

Scholar, recent only:
http://scholar.google.com/scholar?hl=en&lr=&safe=off&scoring=r&q=intrinsically+photosensitive+retinal+ganglion&as_ylo=2007

That’s definitely more reading to do. I think this is the same kind as the identified receptor for blue light, but I already see mention of several different types just looking at the search result page! Different innervations? have to read more.

And here’s yet more fresh science!

http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2008/07/080716111409.htm

Brief excerpt below:

“… ecological studies to measure human light exposure are virtually nonexistent, making it difficult to determine if, in fact, light-induced circadian disruption directly affects human health.

LRC researchers have created a small, head-mounted device to measure an individual’s daily rest and activity patterns, as well as exposure to circadian light — short-wavelength light, particularly natural light from the blue sky, that stimulates the circadian system. The device, called the Daysimeter, was sent to 43 female nurses across the country to measure their daily exposure to circadian light, according to Mark Rea, director of the LRC and principal investigator on the project.

The Daysimeter was worn for seven days by both day-shift and rotating shift nurses and then returned to the LRC for analysis. Simultaneously, Rea and his colleagues studied the effect of irregular light exposure to the circadian system of 40 rats, in order to determine if the relationship between circadian disruption and health outcomes could be uncovered using rodent models….”

Meanwhile I wonder if anyone’s counting the trend in total advertising pages for sleep drugs and total sales, and plotting those against changing use of fluorescent lights (sigh)

Arrrrgh. Pharma PR …
http://health.nytimes.com/ref/health/healthguide/esn-insomnia-ess.html?ref=health

“…Rozerem,… which targets receptors in the brain for the sleep hormone melatonin, represents the first new class of sleep medication in several decades.”

Without the slightest hint there’s this big news in nonpharmaceutical melatonin regulation in the past few years.

Makes me wonder, sometimes, how they can go on producing this stuff and calling it ‘news’.

It’s somewhat disappointing coming from the NYT. Something more encouraging (though without as big an audience) was a recent episode of Penn and Teller’s Bullsh*t: Sleep, Inc.. Dr. Daniel Kripke is in it, talking about problems with sedatives, while some quack types are exposed.

BTW, have you seen that Rozerem TV commercial? Weirdness…

[From the studies I've read on Rozerem, it doesn't seem to be much more effective than melatonin supplements. Which is not very.]

Hey, this is a fascinating discussion — thanks to Mr. Roberts for all his research. One site I did not see mentioned: http://www.lowbluelights.com Started by three PhDs, the site provides a lot amber light products and glasses (as well as includes a little research information). The prices are fairly reasonable. I started wearing my wrap-around amber glasses at 8 pm each night (warning: your kids will think you look ridiculous), and have switched my bedside light and nightlights to amber bulbs. I found I have been getting to sleep much more quickly than in the past few months. A big “ah ha” moment for the light hypothesis came for me during recent a camping trip, where I regularly conked out around the campfire at 9:00 pm every night. Without exposure to all the blue lights (TV, computer, overhead CFLs), my body knew it was time for bed. I’m now trying to recreate that experience with amber bulbs. Thanks for all the great research information and hope the website I provided helps, too.

> research
Thanks goes to the researchers, and the real science writers!

> lowbluelights
Agreed, good site, I hope they’re funding research from it.
Their prices are relatively high because they’re reselling things, shop around.

Do note their approach is “no blue” lights — and those will wipe out your color sense. Not good if you knit or sew or paint. Experiment; you may find “low blue” (the yellow-filtered compact fluorescent “post light bug light”) is adequate for evening light. We use a mix of both those and the amber ‘”turtle light” LEDs.

For evening use, the “low blue” is a “gaslight” warm white, not as yellow as candlelight or the pure yellow or amber bulbs. Our evening guests don’t notice it’s different from ordinary house lighting (except that they start to yawn around 9 or 10 pm and wonder why they’re feeling sleepy!)

(Thanks again! for keeping this topic alive, Sandra. And no, haven’t seen the TV commercial you ask about, no TV! but I”d put a yellow Rosco filter gel on it if I had one …)

Came back here to note — it’s “winter blues” time again in the Northern Hemisphere. I steal the Faulkner book title to remind me and put it on my calendar — “Light in August” — to start coping with this.

I am convinced the much better sleep we got last winter using the low-blue-light also helped keep our moods up, maybe by keeping our sleep cycles cleaner as we are both in our 50s.

Winter blues is the inverse of “low blue light” for sleep — a reminder to get _enough_ of the blue light that keeps the brain awake and get it early in the day.

On winter blues, good article here.
http://pn.psychiatryonline.org/cgi/content/full/40/9/29
—-excerpt follows——

Rosenthal said that research on light therapy today has come to a virtual standstill because of a lack of funding, and thus the therapy has been marginalized. Federal funding that had once been generous has dried up, and since equipment used for light therapy does not hold the promise of yielding huge profits for manufacturers, other sources of funding have not materialized.

“There is no money in light, and nobody has a lot to gain from it economically,” he said.

——–end excerpt———

The study, “The Efficacy of Light Therapy in the Treatment of Mood Disorders: A Review and Meta-Analysis of the Evidence,” is posted online at http://ajp.psychiatryonline.org/cgi/content/full/162/4/656?

Note the effectiveness of the “dawn simulator” for winter depression
(using a halogen light bulb, rich in blue! light, that brightens slowly in the morning). This is a good reliable one, I’ve used them and given them as gifts —- for $25:
http://humboldt1.com/~zerdo/index.htm
Highly recommended. Background here:
http://www.humboldt1.com/~zerdo/srinf.htm

Quantifying:

http://jbr.sagepub.com/cgi/content/abstract/23/5/379?ct

Journal of Biological Rhythms, Vol. 23, No. 5, 379-386 (2008)
DOI: 10.1177/0748730408323089

Sensitivity of the Human Circadian System to Short-Wavelength (420-nm) Light

—-brief excerpt from abstract—-

Nine action spectrum studies using rodents, monkeys, and humans for these responses indicate peak sensitivities in the blue region of the visible spectrum ranging from 459 to 484 nm, with some disagreement in short-wavelength sensitivity of the spectrum. The aim of this work was to quantify the sensitivity of human volunteers …

The first study demonstrated a clear fluence-response relationship between 420-nm light and melatonin suppression … The second study showed that 460-nm light is significantly stronger than 420-nm light for suppressing melatonin … This basic physiological finding may be useful for optimizing lighting for therapeutic and other applications.
—————

For those who like following this sort of thing,two buttons on that page are helpful — labeled:

Alert me when this article is cited
and
Alert me if a correction is posted

——

I may have mentioned that a neighborhood youngster told me he’d discovered on his own that if he was getting sleepy, using his blue LED flashlight would wake him right up.
Plenty of those blue LEDs out there.
(Maybe this explains why they’re so annoying at night time!)

http://www.google.com/search?q=LED+460nm

Dang, Janet Raloff’s article (link in the main post) is now behind a paywall.

The WSJ today has an article about sleep and teens

October 28, 2008, 10:28 am
Dealing With Sleep Loss In Teens

And that article has no mention at all of how the lights used in computer screens will affect sleep. Pity. ‘Don’t they look stuff up before writing? Oh well ….

We just gave our inlaws (in their 70s, having trouble sleeping) a couple of days at our house — where we use the low/no blue lights. They noticed the difference, said they’d slept better than usual– so we sent them off with several low/no blue lamps, the kind I’ve described above, and a sheet of Rosco Yellow #10 theatrical filter gel they can cut to put over their home computer screen in the evening. Time will tell.

It’s become my standard give-away package for friends and family who seem to need it.

“Ageing increases crystalline lens light absorption and decreases pupil area resulting in progressive loss of circadian photoreception. A 10-year-old child has circadian photoreception 10-fold greater than a 95-year-old phakic adult. A 45-year-old adult retains only half the circadian photoreception of early youth.”

http://bjo.bmj.com/cgi/content/abstract/92/11/1439?ct

Published Online First: 29 August 2008. doi:10.1136/bjo.2008.141747
British Journal of Ophthalmology 2008;92:1439-1444

Aside — you know why hairdressers give older women permanent waves that make their hair look blue to younger people? Same issue — the natural human lens yellows over time, blocking more and more blue; so the hair products use optical brighteners that produce hair that looks (to the customer and people of that age range) bright white.

This is likely why older people need more outdoor time or brighter “winter blues” lights to get their day/night cycle well defined.

http://www.kansascity.com/637/story/882754.html

Light pollution and health:

“… a series of studies in the past decade has led some scientists to investigate whether there may be an association between light pollution and cancer, especially breast cancer.

“It could potentially be a problem,” said David E. Blask, professor of structural and cellular biology at Tulane University. “All of us are exposed to some light at night, so it really is an issue for everybody.”

Link found at:
http://www.sej.org/news/index.htm/

Scholar finds:
http://scholar.google.com/scholar?sourceid=Mozilla-search&q=%22David+E.+Blask%22+Tulane

http://endo.endojournals.org/cgi/content/abstract/149/12/6125?ct

(From that page you can click on links to notify you of subsequent citations, updates, corrections, related studies — wonderful tools. In 21st Century, Library Comes to You.)

Endocrinology, doi:10.1210/en.2007-1742
yright © 2008 by The Endocrine Society
Selectively Filtering Short Wavelengths Attenuates the Disruptive Effects of Nocturnal Light on Endocrine and Molecular Circadian Phase Markers in Rats

http://endo.endojournals.org/cgi/content/short/en.2007-1742v1

“… exposure to light at night suppressed the expected nocturnal rise in melatonin, increased plasma corticosterone, and disrupted core clock gene expression in the hypothalamus and the adrenal gland. These effects were prevented by filtration of a 10 nm bandwidth of light between 470 to 480 nm, whereas filtration of light between 452 to 462 nm prevented the rise of corticosterone without restoring normal melatonin secretion or hypothalamic clock gene expression. This is the first demonstration of a wavelength dependency of glucocorticoid secretion and clock gene expression. Our results in an animal model suggest that filtering a narrow bandwidth of light from nocturnal lighting may efficiently attenuate overall disruption of circadian endocrine rhythms and clock gene expression in the hypothalamus and adrenal gland. Since a narrow bandwidth of light is filtered, the color distribution of the illumination source is not altered and this may be of practical importance for potential future studies in shift workers.”
——

Arrrrrgh!

Dosing your whole body with pills, trying to get the same effect available using the yellow glasses or lights.

Remember the Big Pharma motto:
“Why? Because you’ll swallow it.
You’ll swallow anything.”

http://www.reuters.com/article/healthNews/idUSTRE4B090G20081201

Insomnia drug helps jet-lag, shift-work troubles
Mon Dec 1, 2008 6:39pm EST

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - An insomnia drug that helps the body produce more of the sleep hormone melatonin may improve sleep for jet-lagged travelers and shift workers, researchers reported on Monday.

Maryland-based Vanda Pharmaceuticals Inc. reported on two studies of its drug tasimelteon, also known as VEC-162 ….

They said that people with so-called circadian rhythm disorders could be helped. These disorders are common causes of insomnia that affect millions of people whose activities are out of sync with their internal body clocks.
…
“…Tasimelteon has the potential for the treatment of patients with transient insomnia associated with circadian rhythm sleep disorders, including people affected by jet lag, or those who work at night, and early-riser workers,” they wrote in their report, published in the Lancet medical journal.

Dr. Shantha Rajaratnam of Brigham and Women’s Hospital and Harvard Medical School in Boston and colleagues, working with the company, did both Phase II and Phase III trials of the drug, aiming to show it is safe and works.
…
Patients given tasimelteon fell asleep faster, had better sleep and woke up faster….
…
The market is potentially large. … about 19.7 million U.S. workers….

“Most of these people probably experience chronic sleep restriction because they are unable to initiate and maintain sleep when they attempt to …. Tasimelteon might alleviate this problem by advancing the sleep-wake cycle, by providing a direct sleep-promoting effect, or both,” they wrote.
—-end excerpt—-

Yeah, they don’t even know how it works. Wonderful.

Yellow glasses. Ten dollars.
No patent, no prescription, no side effects.

A postscript for any science writer looking for new material — pick a good study, wait a couple or three years, then look it up and see how many papers have cited it.

Example, using this paper

[PDF] ►High Sensitivity of the Human Circadian Melatonin Rhythm to Resetting by Short Wavelength Light
SW Lockley, GC Brainard, CA Czeisler - Journal of Clinical Endocrinology & Metabolism, 2003 - 321bio.org
… 2003 Sep;88(9):4502-5.

View as HTML (Google’s cached copy)
http://66.102.1.104/scholar?num=50&hl=en&lr=&newwindow=1&safe=off&scoring=r&q=cache:yeHsOjJ8PDEJ:www.321bio.org/pdf/Abstracts%2520short%2520wavelength%2520light.pdf+brainard+melatonin

The link under “Cited by 110″ starts showing you those 110 papers citing the one above:

http://scholar.google.com/scholar?num=150&hl=en&lr=&newwindow=1&safe=off&cites=3547847161639920073

Cool! Thanks again, Hank.

Sandra, do you have contact info for Janet Raloff of Science News? The article mentioned at the top of this thread
http://www.sciencenews.org/articles/20060527/bob9.asp
seems to be blocked, maybe it’s in their paywalled area now. I wonder if she’d allow it to be republished for people reading your thread here. I didn’t find a contact link at their website for reaching her.

It’s still I think the best available summary of the area, everything I found started with reading that article. And people ought to be able to start for themselves from her piece, not rely on some guy on a blog second hand!

—–
Other related news:

Oops, I haven’t been paying attention; I’d bet long odds you’re right aboutthe puffins.

I’m still looking for amber LED headlamps — nobody makes one, and the amber LEDs use a lower voltage than the white ones so they can’t be swapped straight in without adding a resistor.

Did you email the folks at the puffin capture program? I hope you will.

—-
Came here to post this link. Janet Raloff of Science News continues impressive:

http://www.sciencenews.org/view/generic/id/40170/title/Darkness%2C_melatonin_may_stall_breast_and_prostate_cancers_

Darkness, melatonin may stall breast and prostate cancers
New studies suggest people need to respect the body’s desire for nighttime darkness
By Janet Raloff
Friday, January 23rd, 2009

Excellent recommended reading list as well as many more good science articles on other subjects.

Here’s one perhaps someone with an academic library can take a look at (paywalled):

http://lrt.sagepub.com/cgi/reprint/40/4/373?ct

A new retinal photoreceptor should affect lighting practice — Berman, S. M

Lighting Research and Technology
2008 40: p. 373-376

(Hat tip to an excellent service
http://www.jneurosci.org/cgi/alerts
– that emails me when a journal article I listed is later cited by something new, as this was)

An article about the new LED lights.

http://getenergysmartnow.com/2009/05/08/lighting-up-the-developing-world/

Excerpt follows:

… the quality of light was so good that people with the … lamps were able to do more work at night and increase their income. Two families in New Keringa, a village of 47 families in southern India, took the plunge …. “All of a sudden the two families were able to work at night,” mostly weaving banana leaves into plates. “Their average monthly income increased from $12 to $18, and they could save the time spent traveling to buy more kerosene.” Within a few days the entire village had sprung for the lights. “These people are great customers if you give them a clear value proposition” ….

—-end excerpt—-

The only LED bulbs we use at home are the turtle-safe amber ones, for evening lighting, the kind that I linked above, hmmm, they’ve lost the link.

Google “turtle safe amber light” for plenty.

I’ll link one I know is good, $30 —
This one is plenty of light to get around in a large room if bounced off the ceiling, for evening/night use, and plenty bright for reading, we use these in several places.

http://store.lsgc.com/SoL-R20-AMBER-FLOODLIGHT-MEDIUM-EDISON-BASE-P54.aspx

NOTE, it’s not dimmable, do not use any LEDs on a dimming fixture.

For white light, I’d stick with compact fluorescents for a while yet (buy a US-made brand, the cheap ones are typical cheap junk)

LEDs are not as efficient overall as fluorescents yet, it’s just that they can be used as very local spot lighting so can light up just the area you want.

(For low-blue or no-blue the compact fluorescents I mentioned earlier are affordable. For any CFL, don’t switch it on and off frequently, that does kill them fast; and don’t put them in an enclosed fixture, they need air flow to stay cool)

This is one I’d like to see, but is behind a paywall. The little bit Google provides suggests serious attention — streetlights are mentioned — may be appropriate.

http://www.informaworld.com/index/905453876.pdf
Light, melatonin and cancer: current results and future perspectives

C Bartsch, H Bartsch, E Peschke - Biological Rhythm Research, 2009 - informaworld.com
… leukemia (Conti et … and for which a deficiency of melatonin secretion may … and using street lamps with no or little blue light. …

hmmmm
http://psychcentral.com/news/2009/05/08/sunlight-linked-to-summer-suicides/5800.html

That’s talking about the very extreme arctic day-and-twilight that lasts forever.

I wonder about artificial light, another way of extending day length.

Are amber glasses OK or do you need the orange orange/red ones?

I was thinking about getting a pair of amber goggles (or goggle like) to make sure no light can get in. What do you think about these?

http://tinyurl.com/oqp5t3
Pyramex V2G Safety Eyewear - Amber Anti-Fog Lens, Black Frame GB1830ST

http://tinyurl.com/rcud7n
Pyramex XS3 Plus Safety Glasses - Amber Anti-Fog Lens, Black Frame SB4630STP

http://tinyurl.com/q2f3mc
Bobster Action Eyewear Slimline Goggles

http://tinyurl.com/rcrlvq
Bobster Piston Aerodynamic Goggles

http://tinyurl.com/pc6je4
Global Vision Chicago Yellow Tint Sun Glasses

John, sunglasses likely are fine for outdoor use but I’d guess sunglasses will be rather dark to use indoors. Look at the percentage transmission (how much of the total light gets through) and the transmission spectra in the links above for some of the Rosco theatrical filter gels; what I posted earlier above in
>9:09 pm on April 16th, 2007
is still just about all I know.

One addition, I did buy some of the NoIR http://www.noir-medical.com/glareshield.htm
very light yellow type, which work just fine (they block all the blue but don’t darken your vision much), transmitting around 70 percent of the total light.

But look around and you can find $4 yellow or light amber “polycarbonate safety glasses” lightly tinted that work just fine too.

—-
An aside, here’s a story I”d missed when it came out, reporting some success with attention deficit problems. Just a press release, I don’t know how much more there is to it or if anyone’s cited that in more recent research:
http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2007/11/071112143308.htm

Further for John, the first ones you point to say “Commonly used in indoor, low light applications.” — I’d think those are likely worth trying, they’re inexpensive (I wear ordinary eyeglasses so I haven’t much occasion to try the close-fitting wraparounds).

You don’t need amber or orange; simple yellow can be enough to block most of the blue range; the Rosco and LEDMuseum spectra linked above are the only info I know for sure.

My preteen daughter and I got good results from these, and the price is right:

http://www.coopersafety.com/item/101447/Uvex-Skyper-Safety-Glasses-with-SCT-Orange-Lenses.aspx

At the time I bought them, I was researching the wavelength issue and trying to avoid paying a fortune for the blu-blockers; I note the blu-blocker price has come down significantly since then so I guess I was not the only one. Sadly, I can’t find the reference any longer; hello, web-induced ADHD.

Thanks Hank.

Leslie, do those safety glasses block out all the peripheral light (up, side, and down)? I got a pair of viper blu-blockers but they don’t sit close to my face enough and I get some peripheral light from the bottom.

Get ready, here comes more blue-white outdoor light:

http://www.nytimes.com/2009/05/30/science/earth/30degrees.html?pagewanted=2&_r=1&hp

“… While the original LEDs gave off only glowing red or green light, newer versions produce a blue light that, increasingly, can be manipulated to simulate incandescent bulbs. …
…
“This is a technology on a very fast learning curve,” said Jon Creyts, an author of the McKinsey report, who predicted that the technology could be in widespread use within five years.

So far, the use of LEDs has been predominantly in outdoor settings. Toronto, Raleigh, Ann Arbor and Anchorage — not to mention Tianjin, China, and Torraca, Italy — have adopted LEDs for street and parking garage lighting, forsaking the yellow glow of traditional high-pressure sodium lamps. Three major California cities — Los Angeles (140,000 streetlights), San Jose (62,000) and San Francisco (30,000) — have embarked on some LED conversions….”

—-end excerpt—–

Ya think there’s anybody in _any_ of these organizations who’s tried to tell someone in management that these blue-light sources control biological clocks and sleep? And pointed out that the amber sodium lights now in use _don’t_ interfere with biological clocks and sleep?

Ya think this kind of information gets known by anybody in an organization that’s makig the change, but gets filtered out before anyone who could do anything about it officially has information through recognized channels, so management may ‘have heard’ but since it didn’t come on official letterhead, they don’t have to ‘actually know’ there’s a problem?

You’d think that introducing a physiologically powerful force into the built enviroment, one that has already been shown to have increasingly well known deleterious effects on animals and people would be, um, what’s the word?

Oh yeah. Profitable, in the short term.

Look again at this, folks, as posted above:

http://www.informaworld.com/index/905453876.pdf
Light, melatonin and cancer: current results and future perspectives

C Bartsch, H Bartsch, E Peschke - Biological Rhythm Research, 2009 - informaworld.com
… leukemia (Conti et … and for which a deficiency of melatonin secretion may … and using street lamps with no or little blue light. …

Yes, it’s behind a paywall. Maybe someone with access and the ability to write about it will do so.

Surprise — Google Shopping finds a lot more amber LEDs for sale than I knew about. Can’t recommend any of these personally yet but I’m looking hard:
http://www.google.com/products?q=amber+led+bulbs&hl=en&scoring=pd

Historical interest:
http://amper.ped.muni.cz/jenik/letters/public/msg00183.html (2004)

Arrrrrghhhh … yet again, another NYT column on sleep problems, but without mention of what’s known.

http://www.nytimes.com/2009/06/06/health/06patient.html?em

“Patient Money–Cost-Effective Ways to Fight Insomnia”

Closest they get: “No TV, BlackBerry or electronic diversion of any kind an hour or so before bed, because they tend to be stimulating.”

No mention of _why_ it’s stimulating. Duh.

Lots of advice — all of it very pricey stuff.
This, I’d guess, is a press release disguised as a health advice column.

—-excerpt follows—–

“The market for insomnia drugs alone is expected to grow 78 percent, to nearly $3.9 billion, by 2012 …. the National Sleep Foundation’s Big Sleep Show, to promote sleep-inducing products and services to the tired masses. It occurs several times a year, and the next one is set for August in Dallas…. The National Sleep Foundation (which receives financial support from pharmaceutical companies)….”

——end excerpt—–

The NYT column isn’t _labeled_ as an advertisement.

THIS looks good:

http://www.acehardwareoutlet.com/(xin0rh45p4bqki45xxc1fl45)/productDetails.aspx?SKU=3269552

LEVITON A00-ECONO-LED ACE LITE NIGHT LED AMBER

(That’s a Brooklyn NY company’s website; I’ll go ask my local Ace Hardware store if they can get these for me.)

I’ve received a couple of the amber 110v/12 watt lights from Axiom, the only currently available source I know:
http://www.axiomled.com/seaturtles/

Big and bright; looks like 12 high-power LEDs under a round plastic diffuser. Plenty of light for a hall or bathroom (too bright to be a reading light unless bounced off the ceiling, for nighttime).

A plastic shell completely covers it, but there is apparently a heatsink inside with a few little vent holes. So far it doesn’t get terribly hot in use.

One’s now our porch light, plenty bright for that — handy because it’s directed down instead of glaring in the neighbors’ eyes as a bulb does.

They have a couple other amber bulbs on the website.

http://www.cosmosmagazine.com/news/2797/one-fifth-us-have-lost-sight-milky-way
—excerpt follows—

“… Connie Walker, and astronomer from the U.S. National Optical Astronomy Observatory in Tucson, Arizona…. will present her research on Wednesday at a meeting of the American Astronomical Society in Pasadena, California.

The effects of light pollution on human health can be as mild as the disruption of the circadian rhythm leading to problems sleeping, but it can also be serious, she said.

One study of 147 Israeli communities, published in 2008 in the journal Chronobiology International, found some evidence for an increased risk of breast cancer for women living in areas with the most light pollution. This is thought to be due to unnatural light at night affecting levels of hormones such as melatonin and estrogen….”

Axiom NZ manufactures lines of Amber and RED LED lighting systems that are used for Skin treatment or to help people sleep…or even to protect sea turtles.

See press release of how our products are used:
http://www.cnbc.com/id/31164889

I think that’s just a PR guy dropping off something without reading; when I bought the 110v amber lamps I mentioned a couple of responses back, someone there asked me to tell their sea turtle person how I was using the lights.

So I said it was about this and I gave a pointer here. I guess they just sent over a generic posting. Maybe someone there will actually read and reply, let’s hope.

So far so good with the 12-watt 110v amber light (link above, just look at their sea turtle page); it’s excellent as a porch light, and very bright used indoors. Remember it’s very directional! It’s supposedly safe on some dimmers (be careful to use only the recommended dimmer models that Axiom lists — and remember most older LED lights DIE very quickly if put on a dimmer)

I tried it on a photocell for automatic on/off but it flickered; cheap old screw in photocell, I’ll look for a better one or a clock timer for the outside.

I keep rereading that summary PDF article (I found the abstract, Sandra found the full text at the pay-for-it site) and hoping very much someone competent does an article or summary.

I did urge the Axiom people to buy and read that too. Because like all LED companies they’re getting ready to flood the indoor and outdoor market with big bright blue-white sleep-destroying LED lights everywhere.

Watch for it.

We continue very happy with the 110v Axiom amber LED lights mentioned above; they are a broad even ‘flood’ lighting, great for bouncing off the ceiling to light up a room, which my wife particularly likes much better than the several ’spotlight’ types I’d found elsewhere. $30 apiece (ouch) but that should come down over time, and at just 12 watts each, our electric bill’s not hurting.

—-

Aside — if your town’s threatening to put in LED streetlights, point to Axiom’s amber or something like this instead of the white ones:
http://www.ledtronics.com/Products/ProductsDetails.aspx?WP=C858K766

More on health:

Medical Hypotheses
Volume 73, Issue 3, September 2009, Pages 324-325

http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.mehy.2009.02.027

Nighttime use of special spectacles or light bulbs that block blue light may reduce the risk of cancer

Martin Alpert, Edward Carome, Vilnis Kubulins, Richard Hansler

ALL authors are located at:

Lighting Innovations Institute, John Carroll University, 20700 North Park Blvd., University Heights, OH 44118, United States

The full article is behind a paywall; the summary is online:

Summary

For more than 15 years evidence has been accumulating that there is a link between a lack of melatonin and cancer, especially breast, ovarian and prostate cancer. For a similar period it has been known that exposing the eyes to light when melatonin is normally flowing reduces or eliminates the flow. What is relatively new is that it is primarily the blue wavelengths that are responsible for loss of melatonin.

Blocking these blue rays with amber glasses restores melatonin flow. Also new is the direct evidence, from analysis of the famous nurses’ health study, that having more melatonin present in first morning urine is linked to a reduction in the incidence of breast cancer.

This leads to the hypothesis that wearing amber glasses (or using blue-free light bulbs) for a few hours before bedtime maximizes melatonin production and reduces the risk of breast, ovarian and prostate cancer and possibly other cancers.

Now _this_ looks, well, exploitative and dumb.
Or maybe I’m just cranky. It’s pricier than the ones Jim Phelps recommends (cited above:
http://www.psycheducation.org/depression/BlueLight.htm

and less well documented. I wonder … :

http://www.verilux.com/light-therapy-lamps/twilight-sleep-therapy

Buy an overpriced ($80+!!) little blue light. Then don’t use it (or ordinary fluorescents, TV, computer, or anything else but yellowish incandescents and candles) within 2 hours before going to sleep. Because, you know, an ordinary fluorescent or TV or computer or CFL will have the same effect.

Well, maybe it’s working like a light box for circadian rhythm synchronization. But it ought to come with some published science if that’s what they’re claiming.

Wow.

I’m not cynical enough yet, I guess.

Hi. I’ve just read this entry and the whole fascinating thread, having been sent here by a Hank Roberts comment on A Blog Around The Clock. I have the circadian rhythm sleep disorder DSPS, which is what I blog about, so practically every link here interests me. Am presently working on next post - about ipRGC & melanopsin.

Since diagnosis I’ve used light box + melatonin. Recently I bought amber goggles from a dental supply place(!).

Keep up the good work, both/all of you! Bookmarked.

P.S. Anyone have any experience with the downloadable program “flux”, which is supposed to vary monitor colors according to the time of day? I’d like to try it but someone said that if you don’t like it, it’s impossible to get rid of? Anyone?

“Most Japanese cities glow blue-green, rather than the orange seen elsewhere. Newer developments along the shore of Tokyo Bay use orange sodium vapour lamps, while the majority of the urban area has light green mercury vapour lamps”

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/science/picture-galleries/5973258/Cities-at-night-from-space-photographed-by-NASA-astronauts-on-the-International-Space-Station.html?image=11

And the great experiment begins.

—-excerpt—

Page last updated at 05:01 GMT, Tuesday, 1 September 2009 06:01 UK

“EU bans old-fashioned light bulbs

A European Union ban on the manufacture and import of 100-watt and frosted incandescent light bulbs, in use since the 19th century, has come into force.

They are being phased out to encourage the switch to more energy-efficient fluorescent or halogen lamps, which use up to 80% less electricity. …”

——
Do any of the psychcentral folks have a resource that could track insomnia complaints and sleeping pill sales in the EU over time, to see if there’s any difference before and after today?

http://www.nber.org/papers/w15199.pdf

Perhaps this will be like Europe’s much earlier transition
http://www.amazon.co.uk/review/R3O8Y6OJH87HJ5
from drinking beer to drinking coffee (both safer than drinking the water, at the time).

I wonder if we’ll see this change in light bulbs followed by a comparable increase in wakefulness and more productivity, or more sleeping pill use.

Or maybe people are getting so much wake-up blue light from their cellphone and computer screens it won’t make that much difference. Time will tell.

I am curious about those nightlights that cycle through various colors…Does anyone know if these are bad?

Only the blue, Carolyn.

Here’s an abstract, which is all I can see without paying for the paper. Try a library.

http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.mehy.2009.02.027

Copyright © 2009 Elsevier Ltd All rights reserved.

Nighttime use of special spectacles or light bulbs that block blue light may reduce the risk of cancer
——

References and further reading may be available for this article. To view references and further reading you must purchase this article…..

Martin Alperta, Edward Caromea, Vilnis Kubulinsa and Richard Hansler
Corresponding Author Contact Information, *, E-mail The Corresponding Author

*Lighting Innovations Institute, John Carroll University, 20700 North Park Blvd., University Heights, OH 44118, United States

Received 18 February 2009;
accepted 21 February 2009.
Available online 16 April 2009.

Summary

For more than 15 years evidence has been accumulating that there is a link between a lack of melatonin and cancer, especially breast, ovarian and prostate cancer. For a similar period it has been known that exposing the eyes to light when melatonin is normally flowing reduces or eliminates the flow. What is relatively new is that it is primarily the blue wavelengths that are responsible for loss of melatonin. Blocking these blue rays with amber glasses restores melatonin flow. Also new is the direct evidence, from analysis of the famous nurses’ health study, that having more melatonin present in first morning urine is linked to a reduction in the incidence of breast cancer. This leads to the hypothesis that wearing amber glasses (or using blue-free light bulbs) for a few hours before bedtime maximizes melatonin production and reduces the risk of breast, ovarian and prostate cancer and possibly other cancers…..

Carolyn, only the blue light affects sleep, but those LEDs do include some time shining blue, as I recall.

And an oops, I posted an abstract just now that I’d already posted a few responses earlier, pardon the dupe (that’s me).

Here’s a spectrum illustration (from the Axiom LED supplier, illustrating their amber ‘turtle safe’ lights mentioned above).

http://www.axiompowercorp.com/seaturtles/seaturtlelighting.jpg

eeewwwww
http://killthewatts.seesmartled.com/wp-content/uploads/2009/08/aj_the-led-show_09-smaller1.jpg

Big banks of bright blue-white LEDs are coming to ‘parking lots all over the country’ soon.

Time to invest in yellow glasses and sleeping pill companies, I fear. This utter blank lack of awareness of the knowledge and warnings about the effects of light is just amazing.

I wish that paywalled cautionary article linked above were free somewnere (sigh).

If anyone’s looking for low/no-blue lights, a few possibilities:

Nightlight, about half the Ace store retail price, tho’ your local Ace store certainly can get it for you and save paying (ouch, about $12) for shipping.
Well, maybe I’ll buy a few dozen and give them as gifts ….. Sandra, did you ever find lights for your new apartment? I have a few more links I’m checking out for inexpensive amber LEDs now

ACE# 3269552
MFR# A00-ECONO-LED
$2.09 from http://www.acehardwareoutlet.com/%285pn3hk45qry4wyqc1wi2ia3f%29/productdetails.aspx?sku=3269552&source=GoogleBase

(”AG Lock & Hardware An Ace Hardware Dealer in Brooklyn, NY”– I bought CFLs from them quite a while back and they were prompt and a good supplier)

We noticed a new trick to watch out for though; a Dell laptop, with a line of little brilliant blue indicator LEDs on it. Taped’em over.

Low/no-blue lights are easier to find this fall.

Just an example (haven’t tried these; Osram is a familiar brand name; never heard of “Silver”).

http://www.bulbamerica.com/search.php?action=list&submitsubmit_form=1&datakeyword=yellow+LED

(Most, not all, of the 16-odd search results for that link are “yellow” — usually means the same as “amber” but there’s

http://www.bulbamerica.com/search.php?action=list&submitsubmit_form=1&datakeyword=amber+LED

Shipping again is pricey, but Osram at least ought to show up or be available from local hardware stores, maybe special order.

Anything with “lots” of LEDs is older tech, probably dozens of the little 5mm LEDs, probably less bright, probably lots cheaper, likely on closeout. Anything with 2 or 3 is using the new ’superbright’ LEDs.

Searching, read the fine print, I’ve never found a sure way to separate ‘yellow’ or ‘amber’ LEDs from things with ‘white’ LEDs and yellow trim or body.

Remember NO DIMMERS, unless specifically labeled OK.
A few seconds on a dimmer can kill a LED light dead.

Another familiar brand name, GE, has a yellow LED nightlight out now for about $3, another to look/ask for at your local hardware store.
http://www.google.com/search?q=GE+Freeze+LED+Night+Light

I’m going to stop the speculative “might be good” pointers for a while. Once I’ve bought specific ones, I’ll comment on what seems good, and send some to Craig at the http://www.ledmuseum.com for evaluation too.

OOPS, memory failed, please correct the LEDMuseum link — it is:

http://ledmuseum.home.att.net/

A ten year old site, run by one guy, in a wheelchair, on disability — one of the great places on the Internet.

Hi,

I have a particular interest in this topic due to my Occupational Health and Safety background. Plus I have always found staring at computer monitors to make me a bit tense.

I have 2 monitors - one is a white-led back lit LCD and the other is a CCFL backlit LCD.

My questions for the wise people here are:

- Do white-LED and fluorescent light sources used in computer monitors emit a similar amount of blue light?
- Would using one of these filters (http://www.rosco.com/australia/filters/supergel.asp) have the same effect of reducing the blue light emission in either monitor?
- Ultimately I am going to keep either the LED or fluorescent backlit monitor with the addition of a filter to eliminate or reduce the blue light emission. Your thoughts on which technology?

Cheers!

Search in this thread for “spectra” and “rosco” and “cfl” and “led” — both CFLs and “white” LEDs do emit in the range that affects sleep.

Here’s one of several posts:
http://psychcentral.com/blog/archives/2007/03/12/light-and-dark/#comment-187328

http://www.rosco.com/australia/filters/supergel.asp#READ shows you how to read the published curves for their filters.

Glasses are an alternative; one post was:
http://psychcentral.com/blog/archives/2007/03/12/light-and-dark/#comment-194610

Remember your house lighting matters; you might

so based on the above information, with the addition of a filter to block out blue light then would that make the LED monitor superior to the CCFL monitor, in regards to health? Given that CCFL incorporates Mercury etc. which outgasses?

> Mercury etc. which outgasses?

Nonsense. Who told you or where did you read that? You can look this stuff up for yourself.

For fluorescent lamps, a tiny amount of mercury, usually in solid form, is sealed inside the glass.

If you do break a fluorescent tube, read about it:
http://www.google.com/search?q=mercury+cleanup+urban+legend

I have looked it up and read about it. Was just confused by a few things I had read so was looking for some friendly clarification.