A morning talk radio program was discussing Scotopic sensitivity syndrome and made the claim that in schools where fluorescent lighting had been replaced with indirect non-fluorescent lighting had more than 30% less absences due to illness and significantly less incidence of misbehavior requiring formal disciplinary actions. However I am not finding any documentation to back up the claims. Is there any or is this just a case of a statistic being made up?
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Interesting, I've always heard people say it was because they weren't letting the kids burn off their excess energy at recess.– rjziiCommented Jan 23, 2013 at 14:59
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1 Answer
I don't have the rep to comment yet, but I think the general answer to your question was covered here.
More specifically, I am not sure how Scotopic sensitivity syndrome (SSS) is connected to Florescent lighting and school performance. PubMed has exactly 26 articles on the syndrome, with only one possibly relevant to this discussion. In "Comparison of Irlen scotopic sensitivity syndrome test results to academic and visual performance data", Lopes et. al. conclude that "no significant relationships were found between academic classification and degree of SSS."
With that in mind, I am inclined to agree with you in suspecting vague, pseudo-scientific radio fear mongering.
Please note that this answer does not constitute medical advice. It is only meant to summarize published research related to the topic and limited the cited sources. Consult your physician about what these results may mean for your health.
