Led lightbulbs making my brain fog worse?

[Judee]

We just changed out 4 light bulbs in our main living area of the house to the LED versions to try and save some money but since we've done that my brain fog seems much worse.

Research I've looked at says with the AC current there is an on/off flicker. I don't actually see any flicker but I wonder if my brain is picking up on something anyway. I don't think rigging these up to be battery operated is feasible for us.

Any thoughts?

We use incandescent bulbs normally because the fluorescent ones put out a very bad odor when they burn out that makes us really ill. Plus, getting to a place that recycles them properly is nearly impossible.

We hadn't tried the led ones until recently because they all seemed too expensive.

 

[Richard7]

I am a migrainer and find all LEDs and fluorescents a problem (migraine trigger).

You may find this site interesting https://ledstrain.org/

 

[Wishful]

The LEDs shouldn't flicker at mains frequency. The circuitry should convert the 60 Hz AC to filtered DC, and then use a switching regulator to drive the LEDs. The regulator should be switching at fairly high frequencies, maybe hundreds of kHz, since that uses small (cheaper) components. Maybe some brands use some even cheaper circuitry that flickers at a slower rate. You could ask the manufacturer what the flicker rate is, and try to find a brand with a much higher frequency.

Running an LED bulb on DC might work, depending on the circuitry, but it wouldn't change the flicker rate unless the current regulator was just a resistor. You'd need to drive the LEDs directly through a current-limiting linear regulator, or a switching regulator with a high frequency.

There should be some decent brands of LED bulbs out there....somewhere.

 

[PatJ]

LEDs are terrible for rapidly increasing my brainfog. Fluorescents are very bad as well. For me it doesn't matter if it's household (AC), computer monitor (DC, although some flicker due to PWM), flashlight (DC), or vehicle headlight (DC); they all bother me, sometimes severely. I think it has something to do with the different light spectrum produced by those bulbs.

I'm fine with incandescent bulbs which are unfortunately becoming expensive and more difficult to get in Canada.

 

[Wishful]

A while ago, I read about a new type of light that is even more efficient than LEDs: incandescent lamps. By forming a nano-textured surface on the tungsten, they reduced emissivity at infra-red wavelengths, which meant that more energy was emitted in the visible spectrum. Unfortunately, the texture doesn't last long at white heat, so don't expect the 'new improved' incandescent bulbs any time soon.

If they did manage to make them last long enough for normal use, people would probably complain that the new spectral properties gives them headaches.