October 3, 2024
Blue light blocking glasses, what?
Benefits of blue light blocking glasses..
I hopped on this bandwagon last week because since I helped organize rescue efforts when hurricane Harvey hit, I’ve had disrupted sleep. Seriously disrupted. I ordered some Felix Gray glasses, you can check mine out here:
Benefits:
1. Improve sleep: blue light at night keeps our brain from secreting melatonin, the hormone which triggers sleep initiation and regulates our sleep/wake cycle. Using blue light can actually be benficial in shifting your sleep/wake cycle, so of course the chronic effects of staring into our ipads before bed begins to take a toll on our sleep. On study compared two groups of people, set one used their e-readers before bed, the other didn’t, both had to turn out the lights at 10pm. The e-reader using set had poorer sleep quality, more difficulty waking up, and felt more tired during the daytime hours [1].
2. They protect the eye from macular degeneration. Our eyes are not very good at blocking blue light, it can penetrate deeply leading damage over time.
3. They protect you from digital eye strain. Check out this quote from AllAboutVision.com: “
Because short-wavelength, high energy blue light scatters more easily than other visible light, it is not as easily focused. When you're looking at computer screens and other digital devices that emit significant amounts of blue light, this unfocused visual "noise" reduces contrast and can contribute to digital eye strain.
Research has shown that lenses that block blue light with wavelengths less than 450 nm (blue-violet light) increase contrast significantly. Therefore, computer glasses with yellow-tinted lenses may increase comfort when you're viewing digital devices for extended periods of time.
Have you tried out any blue-light blocking sunglasses? If so, comment below and let me know what you think!
Be well,
McCall