Hyderabad: Light pollution has increased in Telangana state at the rate of 7.4 per cent per year from 2012 to 2016, according to a study published in Urban Climate.
Light pollution is in the form of glare, trespassing of light into homes and once dark areas, and also light reflecting back to the sky.
The all India study found that Maharashtra, Telangana, Karnataka and New Delhi suffer most from light pollution and the increase has been drastic since 1993. At the national-level an increase of 33 per cent has been noted.
Hyderabad is set to become an LED-lit city with 4.5 lakh lights. Experts state that heavy artificial light emissions adversely affect humans and also the environment. Environmental engineer G.K. Thappa explains that light pollution comes in the form of “glare, clutter and over-illumination (see box). This affects the day and night life cycle of human beings and animals, particularly nocturnal animals. The latter needs dark spaces to survive and their life cycle is affected. Hence lighting has to be based on these considerations but that is not being done.”
Research has found that excess artificial light threatens the life cycles of 60 per cent of nocturnal animals and birds as it obstructs their mechanisms of sight and sense.
In humans, LED lights are found to affect the sleep cycles of those who have the glare of street lights and hoarding lights entering their bedrooms.
Dr Srinivas Kishore, a sleep specialist, says light affects the deep sleep cycle. “The brain gets the signal that it is not night and this leads to changes in perception by the human body. The sleep cycle is disturbed and also reduced which then leads to the advent of diseases.”
The natural darkness which is required is slowly eroding as artificial lighting in cities, towns and villages is too bright and obtrusive.
