Older schools have a multitude of issues where their budgets may not cover the cost of repairs. Better lighting comes under maintenance and can be affordable. It is one important way to improve the school experience. Using new classroom light filters improves existing fluorescent lighting making it more like natural lighting. Students with fewer headaches and less eye strain from the harsh glare of traditional fluorescent lights will be happier and healthier.
Old Fashioned Fluorescent Light Bulbs Affect Student Health
Why should a school district invest in better lighting for their schools’ classrooms? Newer light fixtures with light filters are available at Make Great Light for a reasonable investment. Traditional fluorescent light tubes without filters can cause student and teacher health issues such as:
- The glare causes students to suffer headaches and even migraines.
- The untreated light tubes contribute to student eyestrain, anxiety, stress, poor sleep cycles, and the effects of UVA and UVB light exposure. Some teachers even report students complaining of stomach aches.
- Untreated fluorescent light tubes can harm children with a low tolerance to fluorescent lighting, lupus, and ADHD.
Researchers have found and documented that the use of unfiltered cool-white-fluorescent lighting in most American schools contributes to student bodily stress, hyperactivity, problems with attention, and other poor learning experiences. Bright-white fluorescent lighting can vary in color and brightness as light is produced with the discharge of gas on each cycle of the alternating current the bulbs require. This rapid changing or flickering of light affects our eyes and how they work, affecting reading and other visual tasks.
The Advantages of Adding Light Filters
When light filters made to block glare and reduce flickering of light tubes are added and produce full-spectrum light, student health and performance improves.
These light filters used in classrooms improve the overall learning environment throughout the entire school year. They are especially helpful during the winter months when light is limited and more full-spectrum light is needed. In addition, this healthier light will help students have better sleep cycles. The exposure to a more natural sunlight spectrum improves the function of the hormones and the pineal gland to regulate sleep cycles better.
Fluorescent light filters can be added to standard four-foot light tubes with tube covers or with panels of filter material designed to cover fixtures that are flush with the ceiling and for LED lights. These products are easy to install, affordable, and effective.
With well-designed lighting that is filtered or uses full-spectrum-fluorescent lighting, students are better able to focus on work and experience calmer feelings. Teachers and students will be in a better mood with warmer lighting in classrooms.
Improving Classroom Lighting
In addition to or while waiting for permission to purchase fluorescent light filter products, there are creative ways to improve classroom lighting. A combination of additional lighting and creative tools can improve the mood in a classroom.
- Lucky schools are allowed to replace fluorescent lighting tubes in every classroom with full-spectrum bulbs or tubes. A good policy would be for schools to replace the traditional cool-white fluorescent light tubes with newer full-spectrum light tubes or bulbs as new orders are placed or old tubes go bad.
- Short of that, using fluorescent light filters as tube covers or as panels can improve class lighting and reduce glare and eye strain.
- Adding some lamps to the classroom with full-spectrum bulbs can be helpful.
- In classrooms with dropped ceilings, paint the clear panels beneath the fluorescent lights with a heat-resistant clear blue paint.
- The flame-retardant cloth can be purchased and hung in panels below light fixtures. The cloth colors can be chosen to correct the light reaching students. These fabric panels can be changed as they get soiled or for a change in design and color.
Improving Lighting in the Workplace
The old four-foot fluorescent light tubes are often used in offices and manufacturing settings. This is because fluorescent lighting is less expensive and more efficient than many lighting choices. LED and other newer lighting choices are coming down in price and are possibilities in new buildings or newly renovated buildings.
But, older buildings with lighting fixtures the owners are not willing or able to replace can be improved with a small investment. Companies like Make Great Light provide fluorescent light tube covers and light-correcting panels that can be purchased for easy installation on existing light fixtures. Naturalux brand light covers the correct light to make it color correct and glare-free.
This corrected light also is an advantage in medical and retail locations. The warmer light makes products look better and is especially beneficial in changing rooms where it makes customers look better in the clothing they are trying on. The better lighting has a calming effect on nervous patients in a doctor’s exam room or dental office.
People spend a lot of time at work, and the lighting matters. It is hard to do good work when the light is insufficient or too bright. Workers can suffer headaches, nervous feelings, eye strain, seasonal affective disorder, and depression when they are cooped up home all day with a lack of natural sunlight and harsh fluorescent lighting. A small investment in UV light filters or purchasing new full-spectrum light tubes as the old ones wear out can lead to healthier, more productive employees. There may be fewer sick days and better worker retention numbers with better lighting in the office or other workplace.
Final Words
It is estimated that approximately $50 billion is lost by U.S. employers because of absenteeism, sick days, employee medical expenses, and lost productivity. Employers have an inexpensive way to cut down those losses. They can add UV filters to existing light fixtures in the form of tube covers or sheets. When ordering new fluorescent tubes, employers can spend a little more and get full-spectrum tubes instead of cool white tubes.
Improving the quality of lighting in schools, workplaces, medical facilities, and retail locations is well worth the small investment in student and worker health. In retail settings, improved lighting can increase sales. In medical settings, the improved light can calm anxious patients. Good light quality is worth the time and investment.
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