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I think you are correct: many people find fluorescent light gives them problems. When my son was 10 or so, he got headaches every time he went into a room with fluorescent lighting. I haven't researched this at all, but fluorescent lights have a very subtle flicker that some can see, and it's very disturbing.
The color rendering of the light varies from "cold" to "somewhat warm" (rated in degrees Kelvin--the higher the number, the whiter the light). There are no sharp shadows, which you find with sunlight or incandescent light. The brain and eye are "wired" to latch onto sharply differentiated edges and crispness, so with fluorescent, perhaps the vision has to adapt to a fuzzier edge---maybe the eye and brain cannot deal with those conditions. This is also one of the reasons computer text reading causes such fatigue---no crisp print edges for the eye and brain to zero in on.
The color spectrum is important, too. There are ads out there that tout "full spectrum" bulbs, but this is usually a very bright white, which I find to be intolerable. When there is too much blue in the spectrum, it is quite tiring to the retina. And the new compact-fluorescents have this difficulty---less so than the tubes, but still there. The color rendition just isn't "right."
I read on a Low-Vision/Macular Degeneration site that they recommend using incandescent bulbs, because the color and contrast is better (for people with poor macula). I have found this to be true myself---with high myopia, I have a somewhat thinned macula (with some degeneration), which makes it harder for me to see crisply at any distance.
I haven't heard about fluorescents "draining vitamins" or anything. But it is true that natural sunlight entering our eyes through the pupil affects the pineal gland, which regulates many of our bodily functions--mood, sleep patterns, hormones, etc. So if you're always under fluorescent light, you may not be getting the right spectrum length to regulate the pineal gland.
Most of the time, if I have to work in a room with fluorescent lighting, I get a small incandescent task lamp to put on my desk, close by my eyes, monitor, elbow distance---shines down on paperwork, keyboard, etc.--but doesn't cause glare.
Calli
The color rendering of the light varies from "cold" to "somewhat warm" (rated in degrees Kelvin--the higher the number, the whiter the light). There are no sharp shadows, which you find with sunlight or incandescent light. The brain and eye are "wired" to latch onto sharply differentiated edges and crispness, so with fluorescent, perhaps the vision has to adapt to a fuzzier edge---maybe the eye and brain cannot deal with those conditions. This is also one of the reasons computer text reading causes such fatigue---no crisp print edges for the eye and brain to zero in on.
The color spectrum is important, too. There are ads out there that tout "full spectrum" bulbs, but this is usually a very bright white, which I find to be intolerable. When there is too much blue in the spectrum, it is quite tiring to the retina. And the new compact-fluorescents have this difficulty---less so than the tubes, but still there. The color rendition just isn't "right."
I read on a Low-Vision/Macular Degeneration site that they recommend using incandescent bulbs, because the color and contrast is better (for people with poor macula). I have found this to be true myself---with high myopia, I have a somewhat thinned macula (with some degeneration), which makes it harder for me to see crisply at any distance.
I haven't heard about fluorescents "draining vitamins" or anything. But it is true that natural sunlight entering our eyes through the pupil affects the pineal gland, which regulates many of our bodily functions--mood, sleep patterns, hormones, etc. So if you're always under fluorescent light, you may not be getting the right spectrum length to regulate the pineal gland.
Most of the time, if I have to work in a room with fluorescent lighting, I get a small incandescent task lamp to put on my desk, close by my eyes, monitor, elbow distance---shines down on paperwork, keyboard, etc.--but doesn't cause glare.
Calli
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