Timothy Murphy wrote:

My wife helps run a scientific institute.
A research worker (feminine) complained that
the flourescent lighting in her laboratory
gave her migraine.

The institute installed "daylight" flourescent lights,
which apparently improved things.

Is there any scientfic basis for
(a) the claim that flourescent lights can cause migraine,
(b) the belief that daylight bulbs cause less problems?

The problem with a lot of fluorescent lighjting installations is the
sheer quantity of light. I dont know why but people tend to go nutty
with huge tubes all over the shop and expect it to be comfortable. A
single 4w fluorescent light for the whole room is a great way to handle
migraine, with the fitting concealed so theres no direct view of the
tube. The light just washes over the ceiling.

I dont think its fluorescent lights per se, but rather the usually bad
installation of them.

Andy mentioned tube end flicker. When fls are installed in trough or
shelf style, the tube isnt visible at all, and even with old ballasts
the level of flicker is a tiny percentage of the total light output,
and the 50Hz flicker at each end is mixed to give 100Hz like the rest
of the tube. With directy visible tubes the whole situation is worse,
as you're seeing not only high intensity light but also 50Hz flickering
high intensity light at the tube ends, which can be not a good thing
for migraine.


NT