THE LIGHT DOCTOR

Moore-Ede, an MD and professor at Harvard Medical School, examines the ways we illuminate our lives in this nonfiction debut.

In these pages, the author takes up a subject that will be relevant to virtually anybody who’s ever shopped for a laptop, smart tablet, or e-reader of any kind: the nature of artificial light, specifically the ways in which conventional fluorescent lighting and LED illumination can be harmful to human health, and what can be done to mitigate that harm or avoid it altogether. Moore-Ede outlines the ubiquity of the problem in our tech-saturated world: “Despite more than 20 years of scientific evidence showing that blue-rich light in the evening disrupts our circadian clocks, sleep, and health,” he writes, “we have created a world where virtually the only illumination you can buy is unchanging blue-rich light.” A good deal of the text is dedicated to explaining the nature of light and the particulars of modern lighting, but the author is also concerned with raising the profile of the problem itself, suggesting that a healthy “light diet” is “as essential for your health as the food you eat, the water you drink and the air you breathe.” Moore-Ede’s tone is clear and urgently pragmatic; readers are coached not only on making better choices about the lighting in every area of their lives, but also on determining what steps to take to guarantee better, more natural lighting. “You must be proactive,” he writes, “in asking for healthy circadian lighting in the spaces where you and your family spend significant time.” The book itself is visually inviting, full of colorful insets illustrating crisply summarized points, and includes copious resources for readers who want to follow up on the topic.

A passionate and practical overview of the importance of healthy lighting and how to achieve it.