The Mudcat Café TM
Thread #125748   Message #2788019
Posted By: wysiwyg
14-Dec-09 - 09:46 AM
Thread Name: BS: Seasonal Affective Disorder question
Subject: RE: BS: Seasonal Affective Disorder question
Here are the specs from the other thread:

I've done a fair amount of research on this topic and have used full-spectrum lighting in my office for the last 5+ years. Daylight when passed through a prism reveals that it is made up of the variety of colors found in the rainbow. Full spectrum light emulates this quality of light. Typical incandescent lighting--the normal lightbulb spikes as yellow--with none of the other parts of the spectrum. That's why on a winter night if you stand outside the house the light looks yellow coming through the windows. Halogen, also popular also spikes in the yellow range.

It was suggested that I post the specs on the lighting. Not all bulbs that claim to be natural sunlight meet these specs. Specifically, the CRI needs to be above 90. The CRI is a measure of how the light compares to actual sunlight on a vibrantly sunny day in the summer. The closer to 100, the better--and also the more expensive.

Another way of measuring light is in degrees Kelvin, which I do not fully understand, but full spectrum is considered to be 5000K.


Greg