Bright light. Bright light! Fluorescent and xenon lights make me crazy

Here’s an interesting question to ask yourself.

Where do I have the most stress, or feel the most unsettled? Not when. Where? Stressful times and events are much more complex. But stressful places … think about it.

For me it worked out to be:

• Big-box stores and groceries – especially Wal-Mart, probably because that’s the one I used to spend the most time in
• My office – despite the fact that I love my job
• My kidlets’ schools, back when I used to be on the hook for parent-teacher conferences on a terribly frequent basis
• Doctor/dentist offices, hospitals, and waiting rooms (I have had seasons of life marked by WAY TOO MUCH time in these places)
• College classrooms  (in retrospect, my poor freshman stats professor probably did not deserve that harsh critique)
• In front of my computer screen, if I’m here for more than about half an hour at a time
• Driving at night when another driver approaches me bearing Xenon headlamps. (RANT ALERT: I hate hate hate hate hate those horrible blue lights. Despise! Seriously – wonderful that you [the driver of the xenocar, not you personally dear reader-friend] can see further, but how in the name of my great-aunt Irma can it be a “safety feature” to blind every other driver on the road?????
  

  I don't *know* that these are a tool of Satan's minions designed to increase my desire to commit murder. But I believe that they might be exactly that. In case they are, I need to build my prayer defenses ... because they are working.

Well, a couple of years ago a faculty member at my school saw another education specialist about his dyslexia and other reading disabilities, and she showed him how to use colored transparencies to dramatically improve his reading. By *dramatically* I mean – this man had never even considered higher education before and is now pursuing a bachelor’s degree, after a few consultations with a specialist just a couple of months ago. Furthermore, he enthusiastically told me “I am reading… and LIKING it!”

As an EdSpec myself, how could I help but be intrigued with something so effective recommended by a respected colleague?

So I did a little digging and found references to “The Irlen Method” based on a contention by author/therapist Helen Irlen. Her work has been dismissed by some as sheer quackery, but my friend’s success was so dramatic that I had to at least check it out. So I ordered, received, and read this:

The Irlen Revolution: A Guide to Changing Your Perception and Your Life

The next morning, after yet another sleepless night, I got up and started working on my homework. I immediately (as usual) became irritable, distracted, edgy. At first I assumed it was the subject matter – my final exam for Conflict Resolution was a very long paper on the Virginia Tech mass murder, hardly a cheery topic. In my usual AD/HD manner, I was reading some of the reference material, writing a sentence or two, checking my Facebook, playing a FitBrains game, reading a little more, maybe writing a little more, checking my Twitter feed … well, that is what I almost always do at homework time. And work time period, come to think of it.

As it happened, I was reading/gaming/surfing/ostensibly “working” under CFL lights in my kitchen, and my laptop had the screen brightness set as high as it would go. This background information will be relevant soon, trust me.

When my computer froze up (because I had about 15 windows and tabs open) I needed a new distraction while he re-booted. So I picked up the Irlen book, and opened it to the “Attention Disorders” chapter. I didn’t read, I skimmed – but it did not take long to get the gist of Irlen’s theory. In a teensy weensy nutshell, here it is.

Some people are extra-sensitive to harsh lighting.

So for those people (and, apparently, for me :)) going to school under bright harsh fluorescent lights, or sitting in waiting rooms (fluorescents), or shopping at mega-stores (yep), or driving at night past people who have those HORRIBLE headlights, or reading things that are printed in black ink on bright white paper in bright light = overstimulating, distracting, and crazy-making.

One of the main criticisms of the AD/HD diagnosis is that it is becoming more and more common as the years go on. Twenty years ago it was very rare. Fifty years ago it was unheard of. Detractors have used this argument to contend that there is “no such thing” as AD/HD: discipline in schools is just getting worse or teachers are getting lazier and can’t handle normally active children or whatever. I know these arguments. I have MADE these arguments, which is a huge part of why my baby boy was not diagnosed until after he was required to repeat a grade (bad mommy!)

But what if the dramatic increase has more to do with how many schools and other public buildings have converted to cheaper but harsher fluorescent lighting in the past twenty years? The number of children who actually, no kidding, have AD/HD could have remained perfectly stable – but the number who are extra-jumpy and twitchy from the lighting would have increased dramatically, would it not? And now we are all being encouraged to switch over to compact fluorescent bulbs in our homes. I smell trouble!

I also recalled something my own mother said to me about eight years ago when she visited here in NC. We had a need to purchase some things, so I drove to Wal-Mart. It was a gray, dreary sort of a coastal day, so neither of us was wearing shades, but as we walked in the front door, she put her sunglasses on.  She explained to me that because of her (self-diagnosed) ADD, Wal-Mart made her crazy – but if she wore sunglasses to cut down on the visual stimulation, she could handle it.

So for the past few years, I have diligently:

• worn polarized prescription sunglasses when driving during the day
• kept the blinds open for maximum daylight, and my overhead lighting OFF, when in my office at work
• used natural daylight to the maximum extent feasible at home
• replaced all of my CFL bulbs with regular or LED bulbs as they burn out, and rotated most of the hold-out CFLs into the outside, garage, and porch fixtures
• used a colored overlay when I have to read black type printed on white paper in bright lighting
• Set the screen brightness as low as my computers will allow

For my fellow research addicts, here’s a fun quote: “Exposure to cool-white fluorescent lights appears to affect learning ability in children, and research suggests that it may also be linked with the incidence of attention-deficit disorder and hyperactivity. One study showed that there was a 32-percent reduction in hyperactive behavior in children when fluorescent lighting was removed from their classrooms.” (Barnard, Pellow, & Solomon, 2011).

Do you react to lighting? How do you deal with it? Does anybody have any suggestions for dealing with the xenon road demons (besides the obvious but slightly scary Corey Hart solution)?

1. Barnard, C. N., Pellow, J., & Solomon, E. M. (2011). Complementary and alternative medical therapies for children with Attention-Deficit / Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD).  Alternative Medicine Review 16(4), 323.
2. Weston, P. (2008, June 22). Secrets of a stress-free classroom: Mood music to calm hyperactive pupils. The Sunday Mail, p. 38.
3. Veitch, J. A. (2001). A critical examination of perceptual and cognitive effects attributed to full-spectrum fluorescent lighting. Ergonomics 44(3), 255.