LED Fixtures: Great energy savings, but they could be costing you sleep...

Everyone is pushing LEDs these days (including me) because of the energy savings and up to 10 years life span of the fixtures, but if you choose the wrong color temperature for your indoor fixtures at home, you could be losing sleep.

Below is the color temperature scale:



As you go from the bottom of the scale, 1000K, which is the typical light given off by candles (reddish/orange) to the top of the scale, 10000K, you start utilitizing more blue wavelength light. If you had a 10000K bulb, the light you see would be blue.

Around 5500K is typical noon sunlight you will have outdoors. It's more of a crisp/white light with subtle blue wavelength colors. The daylight bulbs are around 5000K and are great for indoor general purpose areas in offices because it helps keep you alert as your body is trained to be awake during the middle of the day.

However, if you start changing your indoor home bulbs to the 5000K color temperature type, your body still gets the feeling of middle of the day sunlight in the evening/night, and it may suppress melatonin production and alter your sleep cycle.

If you have changed to LED bulbs recently, and haven't been getting very good sleep, check the color temperature of the bulb. If they are in the 5000K range, switch them out to 2700K bulbs for a few weeks.

In outdoor cases, LED fixtures for roadway and other exterior lighting have started to be limited to a maximum of 3000K due to the harsh contrast between the darkness and the light and the severe glare a higher K light produces. In some cases, it has caused headaches, migraines and nausea.

PSA over.