Modern homes use light-emitting diode technology in many forms including light bulbs, digital clocks, and LED displays. The popularity of LED lights has come on in leaps and bounds since the 1970s. Perhaps, you’re wondering if there are some LED lighting safety tips.
Keep reading to find out how LED lights were developed, their potential risks, and some safety tips to minimize radiation exposure. It may be convenient to use LED lights in your home, but knowing how to protect yourself from radiation is important.
What is a LED Light?
Before we talk about LED lights, let us first understand what diodes do. A diode aids the flow of energy in the same direction. Each LED light has a diode which is made from one negatively charged cathode and one positively charged anode. In the middle, there is a semiconductor which is typically made from indium-gallium-nitride.
The electricity travels through the cathode and anode, while the electrons are filling holes in the semiconductor. As a result, it creates electroluminescence, or the light that is used in many different LED products. Before, there was only one LED light, but many other colors were developed over the years including green, red, and yellow.
Experiments on newer types of LED lights conducted by scientists continued until they discovered the blue LED light. Scientists used fluorescent phosphors as a coating for the chip that emits blue light. The result was a bright white light, now the LED bulbs’ main feature.
The main reason consumers prefer LED lights over traditional incandescent bulbs is that they are energy-efficient. In addition, LED bulbs also last longer, making them a great investment in many homes. You can save a lot of money by simply switching to LED lighting structures. However, you may want to reconsider because LED lights come with some potential risks.
Potential Risks of LED Lighting
You may have heard about dirty electricity, which can give you symptoms like nausea, dizziness, and headaches. Let’s talk about it further in order to understand how it can affect your health. Each power line transmits energy, an average of 50 Hz AC electricity. Energy-efficient devices such as LED lights don’t need this much charge to operate. This is where dirty electricity comes in.
While some devices don’t use up as much electricity as other appliances in your home, they still receive that much electricity through the outlet they are plugged into. Some of that electricity returns to your home’s wiring even if turned away and remains unused. Dirty electricity can be a threat to some people due to ELF-EMF radiation exposure.
LED Blue Lighting
The modern LED’s base contains a chip that emits ultra-blue light. It is coated with a certain substance to produce a distinct, white light. While there are many other types of LED, white light is a more commonly known LED. Using a spectrum analyzer, you’ll see that a LED bulb produces a significant amount of blue light.
Blue light LED bulbs are widely used nowadays in homes, retail shops, and other establishments. The thing is blue light is not good for your health, especially when you get exposed to a lot of radiation every day. Government agencies across the world recognize the negative health effects linked to blue light.
For example, the French Agency for Food, Environmental and Occupational Health and Safety advises people to limit their exposure to cool white light. Some of the common health problems related to blue light include Age-Related Macular Degeneration and retinal damage. These can be acquired through exposure to either bright or dim blue light.
Children are more vulnerable to blue light because their eyes are not yet fully developed. Their eyes still can’t filter out blue light, unlike adults. However, some adults can be as vulnerable as children to LED light exposure including seniors, pregnant women, and those who work the night shift.
Other problems linked to blue light exposure include migraine, seizures, eye strain, nausea, visual disturbances, neurological issues, and sleep problems. While blue light is not considered EMF radiation, it can still put your health at risk when exposed to LED lights for longer periods.
Safer Options Than LED Lighting
If you want to use a safer alternative to LED lights, there are some quick options available. Check out the following non-LED alternatives:
• For LED alarm clocks, you can safely choose the one with a red-based LED time display. At night, you can turn off the display if you don’t feel comfortable with it. This kind of alarm clock, however, usually has a natural sunrise feature where it slowly produces a warm light in the morning. The light naturally wakes you up by disrupting melatonin production in the body.
• For LED light bulbs, you can use incandescent bulbs that are more affordable than LED lights. However, this type of light bulb is not as long-lasting or energy efficient as LED light bulbs. But healthwise, it is safer when it comes to blue light radiation and generates less dirty electricity. Switch to soft white incandescent bulbs to reduce LED blue light in the long run.
Additional Tips to Minimize Blue Light Exposure
If you can’t avoid using LED lights in your home, below are some effective ways to minimize your risk of blue light exposure and the negative health effects of dirty electricity:
- Maintain a safe distance from your LED TV, LED alarm clock, and other LED devices.
- Keep the lights off when not in use, especially in your room.
- Wear a pair of blue light-blocking glasses to protect your eyes from LED lights and reduce glare and eye fatigue.
- Install a dirty electricity smart meter to reduce dirty electricity in your home’s wiring.
Final Advice
The only thing about LED lights that make people want them to use in their homes is that they are energy-efficient. They are also affordable, but the risk of having some medical conditions related to blue light and dirty electricity can be alarming, especially for children. If you’re looking to minimize blue light radiation in your home, opt for soft white incandescent light bulbs. More importantly, take action in reducing your exposure to LED lighting devices.
