If you’ve ever been unfortunate enough to be allergic to any kind of light, you know how horrible it is. You can’t sleep at night, can’t watch TV in the daytime, and can’t even get up to go to the bathroom at night.
Even worse, if you’ve ever had any kind of light allergy, you’re probably aware of how bad it is to go to a doctor and find out that you have an unknown allergy to something like light.
People are increasingly concerned about the amount of light they are exposed to, even if they are not working or they are at work. The idea is that artificial lighting at night is a stark contrast to the way nature regulates the amount of light it gives off.
Recent studies have shown that artificial light has a direct impact on your circadian rhythm, which in turn affects your sleep. It also affects the production of melatonin, which is important for regulating your circadian rhythm.
Extremely bright lighting will disrupt the body’s natural circadian rhythm, which in turn will cause people to be sleepier than they should be.
Called photosensitivity or photophobia
You are used to using lights on high when you’re walking to the shops, but what happens when you are out, on a night out or even at a party? You might have got used to your lights being on most of the time, but there is a good chance that they are not doing you any favours.
It’s important to remember that the amount of light you are exposing yourself to can be detrimental to your health, and not just your skin.
The two most common causes called photophobia (or photosensitivity) are photic sneeze and a migraine. Severe photophobia can lead to a loss of sight, and is a serious condition that needs timely medical attention.
An effective treatment is available, however it is not without side effects. The only safe way of treating photo sensitivity is through phototherapy.
In as few as 20 minutes, the treatment immediately brings relief to the patient. It is a simple and effective method of treating this condition.
Symptoms of light sensitivity
If you have ever tried to open an app on your phone at night and had your eyes burned by the bright screen, then you know how powerful this sensation is.
Light sensitivity can have a range of symptoms and effects, including headaches, eye strain, nausea and the inability to sleep—making it a serious condition that can be debilitating and may in some cases lead to permanent damage.
Light sensitivity is a common complaint among LED lighting users and it can be very frustrating to try to use such lights at home. Some of the symptoms of light sensitivity are:
1. Eye pain.
Eye pain and pain in the eyes are usually caused by long-term exposure to too much light. Light in the eyes may cause discomfort, vision problems, or could be a symptom of another medical condition.
There is also a small but growing number of cases of light sensitivity, where people feel like they are being burned by light.
2. Blind spots in the visual field.
Blind spots in the visual field are one of the most common complaints for non-luminous devices. The phenomena can be confused with visual hallucinations as some people reported seeing circular black spots in their visual field.
In addition, most of the affected people have reported that the blind spot has slowly increased over the span of time. The black spots themselves are said to be either luminous, or resemble the shape of a circular LED light. This phenomenon is said to be one of the commonly encountered symptoms of light sensitivity.
3. Blurred vision.
The symptoms of light sensitivity vary from person to person. Some people suffer from headaches, blurred vision and even nausea.
Many people see auras around lights, particularly LED lights. Light is an energetic substance and it has always been considered a no no when it comes to health.
It has now been scientifically proven that it is not just the quality of the light that affects us, but the frequency of the light we are exposed to.
The result is a disruption of redness and a phenomena known as phototoxicity. Phototoxicity in human eyes can be commonly cured by using a blue light filtering glass.
4. Double vision.
Double vision is a very common symptom among LED users. It is caused by your eye’s accommodation response, a mechanism that senses how much light it receives and adjusts your vision accordingly.
When light is bright enough, your pupils become smaller and your eye can focus on the area that needs to be seen. However, when the area of vision is too small, the eye starts to compensate for this by making the area that needs to be seen larger. This leads to double vision or a warped image.
5. Loss of color vision.
About 30 million Americans are affected by a form of color-vision deficiency (CVD), or a lack of color vision. Although color-vision deficiency is more common in men than women, it is also found in women.
Usually, the cause of CVD is a genetic disorder that affects the retina, the light-sensitive tissue at the back of the eye that converts light to electrical signals that the brain interprets as color.
As the disease progresses, the sufferer’s visual system is also affected, leading to a progressively worsening of the symptoms.
When color vision is lost. For example, if you don’t see color, you won’t see red, orange, or yellow. You won’t see them because they are the color of the light that is causing you to be able to see them.
The ability to see color is based on the ability to see blue. So if you can’t see blue, you can’t see color.
6. Increased sensitivity to glare.
Glare from the sun is an increasing problem at home and work, and we see this from both bright overhead lighting and street lights. There are many benefits to having a bright, well lit work environment, but people who are sensitive to bright light or glare are not so lucky.
7. Difficulty concentrating.
Light is the most important element for a growing number of citizens. It is used in every aspect of our lives. Every day products and possessions are more and more made of this element.
Our whole environment is permeated by light. Even our food is more and more often determined by the light available.
What happens in many cases is that we are unable to estimate the brightness of the light and that we are influenced by these changes. The light changes in a range of intensity and colour. This leads to symptoms of light sensitivity.
8. Difficulty with reading.
One aspect of growing older that we all have to face at some point in life is declining eyesight. While the reason is unknown, some people seem to be more sensitive to light than others, leading them to experience symptoms of light sensitivity.
The most common symptoms include eyestrain, glare, tired eyes, headaches, and difficulty with both indoor and outdoor reading. If you find that you suffer from any of these symptoms, then you may find that switching to LED’s can help.
9. Blinding headaches.
The sensitivity induces eye pain, blurred vision, and other symptoms that usually occur immediately after exposure to light. A common misconception is that the pain is caused by light rays entering the eye, but in reality the eye is protected by a layer of tissue called the cornea.
The cornea is the transparent outer layer of the eye, which, like the skin on our body, is made up of several layers of cells and tissue.
When exposed to too much light, our eyes can overreact and cause us to feel pain. This is known as light sensitivity and can lead to headaches, glare, poor sleep and other symptoms.
10. Nausea and dizziness.
You may have heard about light sensitivity as a condition that may occur as a result of a change in the light level or intensity. This condition typically occurs when you go out in the sunlight, although it can also occur indoors.
The symptoms of this condition can vary and may include a sensation of light, a heaviness/heavy head, nausea, anxiety, and stress.