Do Growing Lights Damage Your Eyes?

People who prefer growing plants indoors or in greenhouses are probably exposed to LED grow lights frequently. As you check on the well-being of your plant under growing lights, have you ever wondered if the grow lights affect your sight in any way? Read on to understand all the effects that plant grow lights pose on your eyes.

LED lights are designed to mimic the sun's intensity and wavelength. It's crucial to understand that once you bring the 'sun' into your home or greenhouse using LED lights, you might also be bringing the unsafe properties that sunrays present. Hopefully, we all understand that exposure to intense light will certainly cause eye damage. Before the end of this article, we will get to understand all the effects grow lights may cause to your eyesight and ways you can carefully proceed to avoid them.

How Does the Eye Integrate Light?

The human eye interprets light in a complex manner. To state it more simply: The eye's photoreceptors (cones and rods) allow us to see and distinguish movement, colors, and shapes clearly.

The human eye can see just a tiny portion of the electromagnetic spectrum. This small band is present between the longer wavelength that includes infrared lights and the shorter (UV) light wavelength. Intense blue light and Ultra Violet light have increasingly become a cause of concern for the broader community. When the frequency of light increases while the wavelength decreases, you are at high risk of damaging your eyesight.

Effects of LED Grow Lights on the Human Eyes

Current LED growing lights discharge high-intensity light radiation across the visible, infrared, and UV spectrums. There exists a variety of hazards in connection with different types of light wavelengths. But the intensity or type of eye damage LED growing lights can cause is fully determined by the intensity and color of the light. LED growing lights containing high levels of UV or blue diodes can be harmful to the eye. Also, all white lights that discharge cool white light can cause harm to your eyes if not properly managed.

Effect of Blue Light on Humans

One usual effect of blue light on human beings is it disrupts your sleep pattern. Blue light helps in keeping your body active during the day. However, exposure to blue light during the nighttime reduces the release of melatonin, which is responsible for circadian rhythms. Circadian rhythms are responsible for soothing and preparing the body for sleep.

How Does Blue Light Affect the Eyes

Apart from disrupting our sleep pattern, blue light can also negatively impact your eyesight. Unfortunately, the cornea doesn't do a great job filtering blue light. Long-term exposure of the retina to blue light can lead to poor eyesight.

How Does UV Lights Affect the Eyes

All three forms of UV lights can harm your vision; however, UV-C is the most harmful type of light. Fortunately, the atmosphere filters out most of it, and it's not commonly discharged by many grow lights for plants. Lights containing UV-C light are designed to emit just a tiny amount.

How to Prevent Damaging Your Eyes in the Presence of Grow Lights

Luckily,  most light sources and LEDs are quality assured and tested for safety before distribution. Grow lights are evaluated and standardized by following similar photo-biological safety standards applied in lamp systems and lamps.

IEC/EN  62471 states that the risk of exposure to a spectral range of 300nm to 3000nm is advisable and is the standard set to create a safe working space without incurring adverse harmful effects. This measure was applied in 2009 because of the rising concerns about blue-light risks.

LED lights are safe to use, but you can never be too safe. So, to bolster your safety and avoid damage to your eyes, here are a few measures you can put in place.

Avoid staring directly into the lights.

LED growing lights containing large amounts of UV and blue lights can be harmful to your eyes with long-term exposure. The same case applies to white lights that discharge a cooler white light. Try and focus your vision on the plants and not the lights since any heavy light can harm your eyes if you stare directly at it.

Consider wearing grow glasses.

Growing glasses have been specially designed to filter harmful light emitted by plant lights. This can come in handy, especially for professional growers who deal with indoor planting regularly.  

Grow glasses have been tuned, and their tint doesn't affect your vision, making it easy to spot anything wrong with the plant.

Regular Sunglasses

Regular glasses are a better option than just doing it empty-handed. Regular tinted glasses might help in filtering out harmful lights, but due to their tint, they might alter your vision, making it hard to identify anything wrong with the plant. Also, not all regular glasses have protection from UV rays; therefore, check before using them. Beginners can start with regular glasses before considering growing glasses.

Final Thoughts

Growing lights can be a saving grace, but it can also be harmful if not treated with care and maintenance. Although the effects are not adverse since a lot of measures have been put in place to ensure their safety, it's important to understand all there is to know about their effects and how to manage them.