Understanding the dangers of LEDs
Understanding how LEDs can harm your health begins with the recognition that light emitted from an LED bulb is of a different quality than a natural light source. Normally, a natural light source is a black body radiator that gives off all kinds of wavelengths in a more or less continuous manner.
But what are LEDs ?
They are fluorescent lamps, consisting of a blue LED, a driver LED, and a fluorescent sheet that covers the blue LED. All transforming part of the blue light into longer wavelengths, thereby creating a yellowish light. This light from the fluorescent layer combines together with the residual blue light to a kind of whitish light. A large portion of which is an aggressive blue light.
”According to Dr Alexander Wunsch, a specialist in photobiology, Blue has the highest energy in the visible part of the spectrum. Also accelerates, the production of ROS, of oxidative stress – which can be very detrimental to our health”.
”The blue light causes ROS in your tissue. And this stress needs to be balanced with near-infrared that is not present in LEDs. We need even more regeneration from blue light. But the regenerative part of the spectrum is not found in the blue, in the short wavelength, part. It’s found in the long wavelength part, in the red and the near-infrared. So tissue regeneration and tissue repair results from the wavelengths that are not present in an LED spectrum.
We have increased stress on the short wavelength part and we have reduced regeneration and repair on the long wavelength part. This is the primary problem… We don’t have this kind of light quality in nature. This has consequences. The stress has consequences in the retina. It has consequences in our endocrine system”.
What this means?
If you use LEDs lights after sunset, you reduce the regenerative and restoring capacities of your eyes. Needless to say, with less regeneration you end up with degeneration. In this case, the degeneration can lead to AMD, (macular degeneration) which is the primary cause of blindness among the elderly. However, and this is that most fail to appreciate, LEDs light exposure that is not balanced with full sunlight loaded with the red parts of the spectrum is always damaging to your biology. Just more so at night.
Interview with Dr. Alexander Wunsch !!
Light therapist and physician Alexander Wunsch has spent years warning us of the danger of mercury emissions given off by energy saving light bulbs, LCD televisions and computer screens. In this interview he explains the many ways in which these fluorescent lights inflict damage on us.
Several new studies suggest a link between artificial light at night and hormone-related illnesses, above all cancer. The most recent comes from Israel and was even mentioned in the international press. Are the results in fact so surprising ?
Alexander Wunsch : What is highly surprising is that this study has ascertained a markedly increased risk of prostate cancer in men. And previously an increased risk of breast cancer in women, although only outdoor light was measured. The lightning level inside our homes and offices, which affects us much more strongly, was not even considered. The study you mentioned is just the tip of the iceberg. New investigations have been submitted almost every year for two decades, which all point in the same direction.
You don’t hear much about this in the public domain.
Alexander Wunsch : Well, you only perceive what you know. Or to put it another way : we can only recognise and diagnose what we already know. The realization that the wrong use of artificial light can have serious effects on your health would of course lead to the question of whether becoming a 24 hour society is at all desirable.
For example, do I really need to fill up my tank at the petrol station, as well as buy groceries at the shop there at three o’clock in the morning?
We willingly exploit the conforts of an industrialized world, but they frequently conflict with a natural and healthy way of life. The decision we make in this dilemma is left to our intellect, our rational thinking. That’s why cancer and most other diseases of civilization are so dangerous. Because we don’t sense the illness slowly developing. There is a lack of timely warning signals from the body. High blood pressure, for example, doesn’t actually hurt. So intellect must take over the role that is otherwise played by pain.
So should we go to bed early and get up with the lark, like an old traditional proverb advises ?
Adapting to the external rhythm predetermined by the seasons is certainly the healthiest way to live. Yet these days we simply can’t get on without sources of light. It wasn’t always like this. I have a book on the effect of light on the human body, which was published in 1799. Even back then the writer, a doctor, was already bemoaning the fact that the use of artificial light would lead to a disengagement with life’s natural rhythms, and that it would also make us ill. Although back then they only had chips of pinewood, candles and perhaps gas as sources of light. In contrast to modern lamps, a natural flame has a self- limiting character.
What do you mean by that ?
Just imagine you tried to illuminate a room in the 18th century as strongly as you can do today simply by flicking a switch. It would quickly have become much too hot and you would have got a headache. That was actually the problem in early theatres: because of the burning light sources, many visitors quickly developed headaches or respiratory complaints. ‘’Natural” artificial light, among which I also count gaslight and incandescent light bulbs in addition to candlelight, follows a natural radiation curve, the so-called Black Body Curve. All these light sources become unpleasant once they reach a certain brightness, be it through excessive smoke and heat, or the consumption of oxygen. At this point physical malaise clearly signals that a certain level is being exceeded.
However, with modern hormone-active artificial light, two different factors play a role : not just brightness, but also the proportion of blue light. All incandescent or burning light sources – i.e. incandescent bulbs – have a comparatively low to very low quantity of blue light.
Blue light from LEDs makes you blind !
In a multiplicity of cell experiments it was ascertained that blue light damages the receptor cells of the retina oxidatively, and can spur on the development of age-related macular degeneration (AMG), explains Wunsch. This eye disease, to date incurable, involves a progressive destruction of the spot of the sharpest vision (the so-called macula lutea, also called the yellow spot and mostly ends in blindness. At 50%, AMD is the most frequent cause for acquired blindness in Germany. One in three people aged over 65 today are already showing the first signs of macular degeneration.
Healing near infrared light : Looking at the sun with closed lids is restorative for eyes.
For the retina, blue light is more dangerous than UV radiation, since the ultraviolet parts is already filtered out by the front sections of the eye, such as by the cornea and lens. Visible short-wave light on the other hand penetrates right up to the retina unhindered, and creates oxidative stress there, say Wunsch.
An important reason for the emergence of hormone-dependent illness is actually the suppression of melatonin in the body. Blue light plays the most important role here. So why is melatonin so important?
Melatonin has various functions. With a foectus the maternal Melatonin synchronizes its organs clocks. Each person has a central clock in the interbrain (diencephalon), which creates the circadian rhythm. This in about 24 hours and transmits to the body via the nervous and endocrine system. This main clock is linked to retina of the eye via the so- called retinohypothalamic tract, so it receives its synchronization signal through the light that comes in through the eyes.
Melatonin in turn coordinates the clocks of various organs. Throughout the day we are motor-active and spend more energy. During the night rest plays an important role. Melatonin enables regeneration at the most varied of levels, right up to the mitochondria in the cells.
Therefore fluorescent lamps are increasingly being replaced with yellow LED lights. Mainly for nocturnal illumination in old people’s homes, because these disturb sleep less. This is particularly important for elderly people, whose circadian rhythms slacken in old age.
Best is to keep in mind that the closer to nature we are, the better off we will be !
by Adriana
Naturalize yourself !
