Why are floresant lights so hard on the eye's?

Question

I sit here at work, and I totally feel like Joe from "Joe vs. the Volcano.
These floresant tube lights are sucking all of the juice out of my eye's! This can't be healthy for me. Why is this?

Answer 1

If its the flicker your noticing, the lights are probably using a magnetic ballast, they need to be replaced with electronic ballast- where the flicker isn't discernible by the human eye.
If it isn't the flicker it could be the color, many offices opt for the daylight tube (5000K) or even daylight deluxe (6500K) which gives off a blue hue. These are meant to increase productivity, however they are also the color used by fast food restaurants to get people to finish their meal and leave quickly (to free up tables) as its classed as an unpleasant light. Check the color and request it be changed to cool white (4000K) which is still bright and shadow less, but much easier on the eye.

Answer 2

Strobe effect caused by the florescent lights is hurting your eyes because you are more sensitive to it than most people.

Fluorescent lamps do not give out a steady light, instead they flicker (fluctuate in intensity) at a rate that depends on the frequency of the driving voltage. While this is not easily discernable by the human eye, it can cause a strobe effect posing a safety hazard in a workshop for example, where something spinning at just the right speed may appear stationary if illuminated solely by a fluorescent lamp. It also causes problems for video recording as there can be a 'beat effect' between the periodic reading of a camera's sensor and the fluctuations in intensity of the fluorescent lamp. Incandescent lamps, due to the thermal inertia of their element, fluctuate less in their intensity, although the effect is measurable with instruments. This is also less of a problem with compact fluorescents, since they multiply the line frequency to levels that are not visible. Installations can reduce the stroboscope effect by using lead-lag ballasts or by operating the lamps on different phases of a polyphase power supply.

Answer 3

Fluorescent bulbs are not a constant source of light like incandescent bulbs. They pulse 30-60 times a second, and some people, you and I included, are effected by this in a negative way.

Answer 4

They oscillate (60hz) at a different frequency than your computer screen (75hz), trying adjusting your computers frequency.