- Edited
More from: https://www.conradbiologic.com/articles/SubliminalFlickerII.html
All fluorescent lamps utilize a mercury vapor arc inside the lamp. The ultraviolet light from this arc causes phosphor powders coated on the inside surface of the glass to emit blue, green and red light (the net effect being white light). The red emission from the phosphor has a slow time decay, and so the red light has a low amount of flicker (the red light is integrated over time). The blue emission is very fast and has the most flicker. This is why, in spite of good intentions, the expensive full-spectrum (more bluish) lamps have a greater subliminal flicker effect on the brain (unless their ballasts happen to be of the type that removes all flicker).
Since the worst flicker is in the blue, it is helpful to wear glasses that block some of the blue light. Therefore amber or rose-colored glasses, especially when worn together with a visor or a hat with a visor, allow us to be more comfortable under fluorescent lights (for rose colored dye for your optician, see http://www.callbpi.com/htm_cat/fl41info.htm). For some people, taking the supplements bilberry and/or carnosine before going into fluorescent-lit areas can reduce sensitivity to flicker.