Influence of Fluorescent Lights on Hyperactivity and Learning Disabilities

During the first five months of 1973, a pilot project was conducted by the Environmental Health and Light Research Institute in four first-grade windowless classrooms of a school in Sarasota, Florida. In two of the rooms, the standard cool-white fluorescent tubes and fixtures with solid plastic diffusers remained unchanged. In the other two rooms, the cool-white tubes were replaced with full-spectrum fluorescent tubes that more closely duplicate natural daylight. Lead foil shields were wrapped around each end of the tubes where the cathodes are located. Aluminum “egg crate” diffusers with an additional grounded aluminum screen grid replaced the solid plastic diffusers in these latter rooms. A dramatic improvement in behavior was demonstrated in hyperactive children.