LED Street lights
Credit: Japandailypress

Bright, energy-efficient LED streetlamps can be bad for our health, according to the American Medical Association.

Specifically, high-intensity LEDs that release mostly blue light — as opposed to the “warmer-looking” light of older streetlamps — create glare and mess with sleep cycles, the organization says.

At its annual meeting last week, the AMA officially urged communities to be careful, if they choose to install such lighting, to avoid the most intense lights and choose the least-blue option available. In an unpublished report, the group specifically recommends warmer “3000K” LED lights, rather than harsher “4000K” options.

It’s also important to properly shield the light, according to the AMA’s guidance.

Bright, blue-rich LEDs cause glare and “decrease visual acuity and safety,” which can create road hazards, it says.

These LED streetlamps emit a blue-light wavelength that suppresses nighttime melatonin production more than any other color of light does, the AMA says. Meanwhile, surveys have found that brighter nighttime street lighting “is associated with reduced sleep times, dissatisfaction with sleep quality, excessive sleepiness, impaired daytime functioning and obesity,” the group writes.

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