“My mom has been told by her doctor that she should look into getting a "Sunbox DL" light from” - Peter
Ah’ lumens,
lux,
color temperature,
CRI, spikes in the lighting spectrum
etc. It’s all related to the theory of light be it psychological as we designers select and paint with, or physical/psychological as the homeopathic medicine has jumped to a conclusion about, but the rest of the medical community still debates.
Otherwise since Philips kind of has this forum but never really helps, we have been the help to the Philips Fourm for a few years now - though I have not checked into it lately. Creative a buddy of mine from the below website and I got involved with a few conversations about this issue on the Forum - both new and old forum version that no longer exists. Wolf and I go way back with him in solving some of the most interesting problems I have ever heard of. - Wolf can verify that some of these conversations make the photo discussion on this forum nothing in comparison. Last one from the Philips Forum I took off
line was about a lady that want’s to use
portable and easy to set up and
power strobe lights to help her set pace on her 1,000M. Dash training. Not as easy to figure out as it might seem when spaced every 10' but adjustable in rate. Lots of strange questions on the forum, many we took off
line and they got stranger yet. I would recommend that you read into the Philips Forum discussions on the topic, the various links provided by others about the discussion and that you do a websearch into “light boxes” and “Seasonal Affective Disorders - S.A.D.” Than make up your own mind about the discussion. As for the understanding of all this
Lux/
Color temperature stuff, no better time to learn stuff than when it becomes important that you need to know.
http://forums.lighting.philips.com/viewtopic.php?t=113
http://forums.lighting.philips.com/viewtopic.php?t=229
By the way, Creative and I both individually are not “New Age” doctors but both did do some reading into the subject both in the medical aspects and the stuff provided by the various manufacturers of the light boxes. Neither of us I think are entirely convinced any more than you are about the advantages of full spectrum
fluorescent lamps - specifically in these manufactured light boxes, over some high
intensity other versions such as
halogen that are naturally full spectrum. Much less the theory itself is very sketchy on it’s success rate he posts about. The only limiting factor making say a
fluorescent arc source over a
halogen or even full spectrum “
Reveal” type of
incandescent lamp would be a higher
base to the
color temperature and more UV output than is possible with
halogen lights. In other words, your
Leko while it is full spectrum - somewhat, lacks most of the UV output that is thought in some circles to be more of a help than the visible light spectrum when it’s high in color
rendering or near the
color temperature of the sun. Note the filtering is to protect against UV-B and UV-C radiation that is associated with UV-A when it's provided in sizable amounts thus the special filtering. Black Light fixtures and lamps might be a good read as to how they seperate these things out and why. At least given the sketchy science facts provided, - could go either way or be a combination of both. This UV-A radiation however is thought to be more the intent otherwise if it’s full spectrum but not
color temperature it’s centered upon - the sun - 5.5K, Other than this
color temperature - or spikes in the wavelengths of light a
incandescent/
halogen bulb is centered around 3.2K you would be right, it would not be difficult to use
incandescent lamps in solving the problem.
Still Rip off in buying this one specific
fixture, I think yes.
Now for my concerns about doctor X.
http://skepdic.com/contents.html
http://www.straightdope.com
http://www.ask.com.
Otherwise I found that the webmaster of quackwatch
http://www.quackwatch.org/index.html was very helpful in researching both doctors he lists, and a doctor on the below website that listed his residency in a hospital that was local to me but closed down, much less in accessing the hospital’s records, the guy was not on them for the place. Even I can
call myself a Doctor in confirming my results - Educate Yourself below has a lot of these “experts”. Problem is they
base their facts upon flawed data, than
build upon each other’s flawed data to make up their own results.
Given your Mom’s doctor is recommending a therapy that is not proven I believe by way of the AMA - more homeopathic solution
http://educate-yourself.org/ which the doctor might or might be right in advising to try, but he is advising a specific brand of lighting
fixture amongst many, you might recommend that she gets a second medical opinion. This with no judgement what so ever about the doctor your mom visits. Were I visiting a doctor, I would want one with an open mind to all solutions possible, we all certainly think that way, why shouldn’t our doctors? On the other
hand, there is science and there is theory, than there is a specific brand of light box advised to
purchase.
I might admit that natural light has some advantages, but this ain’t the 1960's movie - what was it “Soilant Green”? Could be as simple as a few visits to a tanning booth that will be using lamps that already give off this UV-A light in addition to a full spectrum of light. Could be psychological in needing something the light will solve in doing something as opposed to having other things to do, could be something all together the case of a different cause to the problems that the light box will or will not fix.
Otherwise plant and aquarium lights are high in this output UV-A also, just less so in the full spectrum. Perhaps she would be better off in spending a lot of time in a green
house. In any case, I’m not convinced that given there is some reality to this healing method that use of a light box - what ever the brand would be any better than sitting in a room lit by full spectrum bulbs as a direct replacement for the normal ones. Somehow such information is left out of the manufacturer of the lightbox “helpful info.” Much less as far as I know, light boxes are still considered homeopathic medicine thus actual verification on the science and tests presented can be and normally is suspect frequently in some little details that entire theories are based upon. Could still be right, but the theory did not lead directly to the conclusion given the conclusion is still right as a big given. Or in debate terms, knock down one part of the opposing’s argument and the whole argument collapses be it urine and enema theory or light boxes, much less psychic grenades, citys under the earth or the meteor. that’s headed this way - only we don’t have tickets to the alien provided space ships. Often there is some fact wrapped in the fiction, just a question of choosing for yourself what is fact and what is fiction based upon either falling hook
line and sinker or scientific theory.
By the way, “Full Spectrum” lamps are simply normally those lamps with a Color
Rendering Index “
CRI” of over 75 and up to 95 or 98. Such lamps are available in many forms including the lamps our moving lights use - not saying she needs to start acting on
stage or anything as either a way to get light or associate with other people because it can be medical, can be psychological can be lots of things that prompted the doctor to advise what he did.. SAD is while less than recognized I expect is the reason for her getting this advisement and like the Desart Storm Syndrom, there is much we don’t know yet.
The
point is that a high
CRI in having a wide spectrum is more important than a specific
color temperature but given the intent is for a
daylight based light, you would want something around 55K in
color temperature and re-producing the UV-A of sunlight to some extent. These companies selling 41K lamps as a solution are often confused or using old technology. This
daylight can be gotten especially
thru 55 or 50K full spectrum lamps, perhaps with a few plant or aquarium lamps thrown in to boost the UV output or by bulking up on the number of lamps providing the light. I have seen
fluorescent lamps up to and I think beyond 75K in
color temperature, but the sun is at about 55K. In any case, I still can’t see an advantage of a light box over a normal lighting
fixture beyond perhaps proximity in a
law of squares - distance type of way effecting light output. This can be overcome by larger or more lamps or proximity however.
You might also try contacting some of the people off Philips website that were looking into doing this or posed the question and get their thoughts on how it all worked out for them. Look around the Philips forum, there might be more than two postings about the subject. Also contact my foil from Philips - the intermittent webmaster Demetrie in getting his opinion at least about what Philips recommends in providing this lamp, much less if or why Philips as a
fixture manufacturer does not manufacturer these types of
fixture. Might be an interesting question to ask. Otherwise I have some contacts at Osram if you really want to ask such questions I can forward you to.