Fluorescent Lights
Fluorescent lights are one of the most annoying things in an office. I think that tonight or sometime this week, I am going to go on a stealth mission and unscrew the fluorescent lights above my desk. It will make my cube the envy of the office, no doubt.
Researchers have linked all kinds of problems to the earlier generation of fluorescent lighting, including headaches, eyestrain, seasonal affective disorder and, according to one German study, stress. Workers under the lights were found to have higher levels of the stress hormones cortisol and adrenocorticotrophin in their blood. [article]
I am fighting back though. I have a really neat stained glass light bulb at my desk. It gives off just enough warm light to fight the evil UV from above.
Until the overhead fluorescent lights are unscrewed, I’ll just have to live with a little extra adrenocorticotrophin.
Posted: September 12th, 2005 under life.
Comments: 6
Comments
Comment from Nalod
Time: September 12, 2005, 2:47 pm
This is a major problem with many companies. Ron Perry actually was the person that taught me all about this. When they built building 70 at RIT, he made sure that the lighting was adequate. Instead of having the fluorescent lights directly hitting the floor, they set it up that the light would point down, get caught in a 3-sided mirror, bounce it to the ceiling, and left the light reach the room from here. This was supposed to keep the light softer. I think it worked, but I would still rather have different lighting!
–Joe
Comment from Coley
Time: September 12, 2005, 7:27 pm
Let’s think of all the extra coal it takes to burn just one incandescent bulb (a whole pile of it over the course of one year), versus a compact fluorescent. The trade-off is not that bad, guys.
Comment from Eric
Time: September 13, 2005, 8:28 am
My eyes are the trade-off. I like Joe’s idea with the light bouncing.
The bulb between our desks (Nicole) is flickering now!
Comment from nalod
Time: September 14, 2005, 5:57 pm
I agree with Eric. The health of my eyes is the cost. According to my eye doctors (yes, I have gone to more than one about this), the pulsing feeling I get every now and then in my eyes is caused from the lighting in my environment (and the cruddy CRTs I used to use). It looks like I am going to get glasses that will minimize the pulsing, but it will never correct it. I really dislike the feeling that I will be wearing glasses when I have 20/20 vision!
–Joe
Comment from Adam Weigert
Time: September 15, 2005, 8:30 am
You won’t find them here in most places. We have lights on the top of our walls that point upward instead … makes for a nice atmosphere …
Comment from Andrew
Time: December 19, 2005, 11:16 pm
Oh the insufferably patronising tone of Nalod’s contribution … “guys”.
Flourescent lighting at work drives me nuts.
To make it worse I do breakfast and night shifts .. I often walk into an office bathed in hideous flourescence after walking in from the dark.
Incandescence is a word of immeasurable beauty to me .. flourescence .. one of pure evil.
I know it’s cheap and efficient .. but together with glary computers .. I can’t take it anymore… my vision returns to normal when I step outside. Oh, for a world of soft lamps .. candlelight would be ideal ….. DAMN YOU THOMAS ALVA EDISON!!!!!!
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