欧洲卫生当局警告说，LED灯会损害眼睛，扰乱睡眠

欧洲卫生当局警告说，LED灯会损害眼睛，扰乱睡眠

The blue light in LED lighting that is increasingly used in our homes can damage the eye's retina while disturbing our biological and sleep rhythms, a French health authority warned in a new report.

法国卫生当局在一份新报告中警告说，我们的家庭中越来越多地使用的LED灯，其中的蓝光会损害眼睛的视网膜，同时扰乱我们的生物和睡眠节律。

New scientific evidence confirms the "phototoxic effects" of short-term exposures to high-intensity blue light, as well as an increased risk of age-related macular degeneration after chronic exposure to lower-intensity sources, according to the French Agency for Food, Environmental and Occupational Health & Safety, known as ANSES.

据法国食品、环境和职业健康与安全署(ANSES)称，新的科学证据证实了短期暴露在高强度蓝光下的“光毒性效应”，以及长期暴露在低强度蓝光下会增加老年性黄斑变性的风险。

Age-related macular degeneration, a leading cause of vision loss among people over 50. causes damage to the macula, a small spot near the center of the retina.

老年性黄斑变性是导致50岁以上人群视力下降的主要原因，它会对黄斑造成损害。黄斑是视网膜中心附近的一个小点。

Blue light itself is not new. Sunlight produces rays of blue that have higher energy than other wavelengths in the light spectrum. And old-fashioned lightbulbs produced some blue light, though less than what is emitted by energy-efficient curlicue (fluorescent) lightbulbs or LEDs.

蓝光本身并不新鲜。阳光产生的蓝色射线比光谱中其他波长的能量更高。老式灯泡发出一些蓝光，尽管比节能的荧光灯或LED灯发出的蓝光少。

LEDs are "undergoing rapid technological and economic development as a new source of lighting. For many years, they were only used in electronics but are now found as integral parts of lighting systems," ANSES wrote in a 2016 report. Today, LEDs are used for domestic purposes as well as industrial and commercial ones.

LED灯作为一种新的照明光源，正经历着技术和经济的快速发展。多年来，它们只用于电子产品，但现在已成为照明系统不可或缺的一部分，”ANSES在2016年的一份报告中写道。今天，LED灯不仅用于工业和商业，也用于家庭。

In the United States, LED products have been seeing increased adoption, a positive development in terms of energy consumption because they use significantly less electricity per lumen than many traditional lighting technologies, according to the US Department of Energy. Market penetration of LED lighting is increasing, the agency estimates.

据美国能源部称，在美国，LED产品的使用率不断提高，这在能源消耗方面是一个积极的发展，因为与许多传统照明技术相比，LED产品每流明的用电量大大减少。该机构估计，LED照明的市场渗透率正在增加。

Additional scientific evidence

更多的科学证据

An American study also described the use of blue light as "increasingly prominent" in today's world. Lead author Gianluca Tosini, professor and chief scientific research officer at Atlanta's Morehouse School of Medicine, said blue light can indeed damage the eyes, but only if the wavelengths are below 455 nanometers and the intensity is quite high.

美国的一项研究也将蓝光在当今世界的使用描述为“日益突出”。该研究的第一作者、亚特兰大莫尔豪斯医学院的教授兼首席科学研究官吉安卢卡·托西尼说，蓝光确实会损害眼睛，但前提是蓝光的波长低于455纳米，而且蓝光的强度相当高。

"There are blue light photoreceptors in the retina that directly communicate with the brain circadian clock," Tosini, who was not involved in the ANSES report, wrote in an email. "It is true that exposure to light in the evening affect sleep and circadian rhythms mostly by inhibiting the synthesis of the sleep promoting hormone melatonin."

托西尼在一封电子邮件中写道:“视网膜上有蓝光感光器，它们直接与大脑的昼夜节律钟联系。”托西尼没有参与ANSES的报告。“的确，晚上暴露在光线下，主要是通过抑制促进睡眠的褪黑激素的合成，来影响睡眠和昼夜节律。”

Yet he also said that a few studies have shown that "exposure to blue light in the middle of the day may have beneficial effects" in that it increases alertness.

不过，他也表示，一些研究已经表明，“在中午暴露在蓝光下可能会有有益的影响”，因为它会提高警觉性。

Janet Sparrow, a professor of ophthalmic sciences at Columbia University, wrote in an email that "blue light is thought to help individuals to maintain the daily rhythms that allow sleep."

哥伦比亚大学眼科科学教授珍妮特·斯派洛在一封电子邮件中写道，“人们认为蓝光有助于维持允许睡眠的日常节律。”

The retina "accumulates fluorescent molecules generally referred to as lipofuscin," explained Sparrow, who was not involved in the ANSES report.

视网膜“聚集了通常被称为脂褐素的荧光分子，” 斯派洛解释道，他并没有参与到ANSES的报告中。

"These compounds become more abundant with age and are sensitive to blue light." Early evidence suggests that this light sensitivity may lead to unhealthy optical responses over the long term, she said.

“随着年龄的增长，这些化合物会变得更加丰富，并且对蓝光更加敏感。”她说，早期的证据表明，这种光敏性可能会导致长期的不健康的光学反应。

Tosini noted that scientists are convinced that exposure to LED blue light in the range of 470 to 480 nanometers for a short to medium period (days to weeks) should not significantly increase the risk of eye disease, but the same is not necessarily true for long-term exposure (months to years).

托西尼指出，科学家确信，中短期(几天到几周)暴露在470纳米到480纳米范围内的LED蓝光下，不会显著增加患眼疾的风险，但长期(数月到数年)暴露在LED蓝光下，情况未必如此。

"I believe that more studies are needed on this topic that is really affecting the health of many citizens," he said. He added a potential solution to the problem of blue light would be to develop intelligent lighting systems that change the composition of lighting throughout the day.

他说:“我认为需要对这一问题进行更多的研究，因为它确实影响着许多公民的健康。”他补充说，解决蓝光问题的一个潜在方案是开发智能照明系统，改变全天照明的组成。