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RESULTS OF STUDIES OF POTENTIAL LIGHT SPECTRUM EFFECTS ON HUMAN PERFORMANCE
Author(s) -
Irvine A. Blair,
Zauner Christian W.,
Allen Robert
Publication year - 1985
Publication title -
photochemistry and photobiology
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.818
H-Index - 131
eISSN - 1751-1097
pISSN - 0031-8655
DOI - 10.1111/j.1751-1097.1985.tb03619.x
Subject(s) - treadmill , heart rate , sunlight , zoology , medicine , mathematics , cardiology , physical therapy , biology , physics , blood pressure , optics
— Recent findings suggest that the spectrum of light from fluorescent lamps may influence human behavior and physiology. To evaluate possible light effects on exercising humans, physical performance was measured under two widely different light spectra: the spectrum from one bulb‐type (General Electric Croma‐50) approximated that of sunlight, while the other (General Electric Delux Warm White) was heavy in the red end of the spectrum. Twenty eight moderately active subjects (14 males:14 females; ages 20–32 yrs) were acclimated to light conditions for 30 min before being tested to maximal effort with a modified Balke treadmill protocol (Balke et al. , 1954). The interval between tests under each light condition averaged 6.9 days. Heart rate and respiratory parameters were measured at rest, submaximum exercise (5% treadmill grade), maximum, and 3 min after test termination. Data analysis (2‐way ANOVA) indicated expected differences between genders only, with no effects attributable to light spectrum. The mean V0 2 max was 44.8 m l /kg min for males vs 38.6 m l /kg min for females. Mean maximum heart rate was 197 bpm for males and 194 bpm for females. Mean maximum treadmill grade averaged 24.3% for men and 22.0% for women. A significant difference in submaximum heart rate was found to be due to presentation order. These results fail to indicate that fluorescent light type influences physical performance.