An artist reports eye pain, nausea, headaches and disorientation around LED lighting, with relief under i…

The first time I bought LED lights was Christmas lights. I’ve always loved Christmas lights, the glow they give, the mood lighting, signifying a special time of year, and a warmth of a glow in darkness. When I set them up, plugged them in and looked at them, I thought hmmm, this is underwhelming, this light is a cool white that’s not so great. As time went by, studying the situation, analyzing their worth, I noticed that it was actually hurting my eyes to look at them. I also then began to feel an unease, nausea, the complete opposite of a magical sense of warmth of the holidays. I tried to soldier through it, but I quickly realized as an intuitive person and artist, that this light is toxic for me, whatever it is doing, I can tell, this is not good. I wrote it off as maybe being cheap lights. I had also bought a 60 watt bulb around the same time to use closely, with a studio light for painting. I experienced similar results, I was closer to them and felt even more nauseated, and developed headaches. As an artist I also noted that I am not seeing color as well, and light itself as well. I switched back to incandescents and have lived that way ever since. Sadly, as streetlights were replaced with LEDs, and stores started to use them, especially grocery stores, I came under that same feeling, nausea, confusion, and unexplained anxiety response. If you think about the old days in a grocery store, there may have been several different types of light in one store, the meat department may have been different other parts of the store may be different, and that creates memory, differing atmospheres for different parts of a store where you know and recognize where you are. If you replace that with strong LEDs, everything looks the same, there are no different nuances and subtleties to a space that gives you pattern recognition. Everything is just the same, there are no different parts of a store anymore, it’s just all one. It’s a disorienting experience. There is no variety of space, it’s all one, and feels very much like what you would expect prison lighting to feel like, something designed against you, not for your benefit. I am an artist, specifically with a love of the fine gradations of light, it’s what makes a renaissance painting so magical. A deep understanding of the power of light. What we are living under now in the public realm, in my opinion is toxic. I dread big box stores with strong LED light. I know I’m going into confusion, nausea, and not seeing well. It is only when I have left a store, and gone into sunlight, where I see clearly again, and start to feel normal again. That is my true experience as an artist.