thebibliosphere:

Fluorescent lights are absolute sensory hell for me and they play havoc with my ability to focus and rest cause not only can I hear them (no one else can, but I can. I can also hear the fridge humming to itself from two rooms away so yay auditory hypersensitivity), the light itself is just awful for working in. It’s like an asmr experience for my eyes but with a cheese grater.

In our house we switched over to daylight bulbs. You might not be able to do that if your fixtures are designed for fluorescent

only like our kitchen light is, but the way we get around it is to use lamps instead of the overhead lights, so that the light pools around the room in strategic spots, rather than just blaring down like the baleful eye of Sauron. It’s far more relaxing and restful for my eyes, so I don’t get as visually or mentally exhausted as easily. In my bedroom I have a Philips sun lamp alarm clock which mimics natural light, and can be put on a timer at night to gradually dim down like the sun setting, which can be really good for unwinding and preparing yourself for sleep. (It’s also great at waking me up in the morning. No more blaring alarms for me, just a gradual increase in light that makes my body think the sun is coming out and it’s time to rise and shine.)

So yeah, if you can maybe invest in a couple of cheap lamps (floor or otherwise) that you can dot around the place, and get some daylight led bulbs. I think ours is “soft white” which has a yellow tint to them rather than that retina searing blue-white light which makes you look great in selfies but takes up more mental spoons for those of us with processing issues.

Anyway, I hope some of this was helpful? Light and sensory issues are such an individual thing to try and deal with, but I know exactly what you mean about the
fluorescent lights. It’s a pain in the butt, especially cause other people don’t always get it. Light is light, right? Turns out not so much…