Has anyone bought and used blue light blocking glasses? And what effect if any have you noticed?
I read an article this afternoon and I found it interesting.
I must be getting old because I don't know who some of these young whippersnappers are anymore. Apparently, a Canadian singer named Grimes (who happens to be dating Elon Musk) is somebody I need to pay attention to. As is often the case with celebrities, it's not for a good reason.
Grimes is doing a promotional campaign with Adidas, and she provided some -- let's call it unorthodox -- advice on how to handle seasonal depression:
Quote:
"[I] eliminated all blue light from my vision through an experimental surgery that removes the top film of my eyeball and replaces it with an orange ultra-flex polymer that my friend and I made in the lab this past winter as a means to cure seasonal depression."
Uh-huh. It sounds like she's making this up, but let's take her statement at face value and assume that she had a wonderfully successful eyeball surgery. Is removing blue light a good way to help treat seasonal depression?
No. It's literally the exact opposite. For those who suffer from it, seasonal affective disorder generally occurs in winter because of lack of sunlight. According to Medscape, light therapy -- that is, providing oneself with supplemental light -- seems to work just as well as taking an antidepressant. Some evidence indicates that using blue light alone has a similar effect. (For what it's worth, a Cochrane review concluded that there is little evidence overall that light therapy is useful for treating seasonal affective disorder.)
In other words, if Grimes actually did this surgery, she has permanently altered her eyes with a treatment that, at best does nothing and at worst is the exact opposite of what she should have done.
Source: Nothing Grimes Said About Eyeballs Or Depression Makes Any Sense
Since the claim is glasses that filter blue light can minimize a form of depression called seasonal depression, I thought I might dig a little deeper. I searched the internet and found another interesting article.
I'd heard of blue light blocking glasses before: They were yellow, ugly, and not worth the laughter I would get from both roommates and coworkers if I wore them regularly.
But, I had a problem: For my job, I needed to spend a minimum of eight hours a day staring at a computer screen. Plus, unfortunately, in my downtime after work, I would often find myself staring at another, smaller screen: the rectangle of my iPhone 7, which would constantly beam more blue light into my face.
I often felt like my eyes were red and tired by the end of the day, and wouldn't feel the ache begin to lift until I finally turned off my devices. According to The Vision Council, 200 million Americans report symptoms of digital eye strain (DES), eye discomfort which can be caused from looking at a screen for more than two hours at a time.
Blue light itself isn't a bad thing. It's everywhere, including in sunlight. Researchers have determined that blue wavelengths — at the high end of the light spectrum, right before UV — are beneficial during daylight hours because they boost attention, reaction times, and mood.
Until fairly recently, humans were mostly exposed to natural light during the day and darkness at night. But now we're constantly bathing in artificial light, most of it blue. Too much exposure to blue light at night suppresses the secretion of melatonin, a hormone that regulates sleep cycles.
A study in the Journal of Adolescent Health showed that when a group of young boys wore orange glasses while looking at their phones for a few hours before bed, they felt "significantly more sleepy" than when they wore clear glasses. Another study conducted with 20 adults had similar findings.
As scientists learn more about potential problems of blue light, blue light blocking glasses have gained popularity as a way to subdue digital eye strain and avoid disrupted sleep cycle. In addition, many of the frames also have glare reduction to prevent digital eye strain from looking at screens. I decided to test a pair out and see for myself.
Glasses like these are small miracles. My eyes felt more rested at the end of the day (probably from the reduced screen time and glare) and looked visibly less red and tired. Plus I got tons of compliments on my new glasses.
I would recommend these to anyone concerned about their digital eye strain — though I would also recommend trying to cut down on on LED lighting and screen time at night as much as possible. You can also try the 20-20-20 rule at work and at home: When working on a screen, every 20 minutes look at something 20 feet away for at least 20 seconds, an exercise recommended by the American Optometric Association.
Source: I Wore Blue Light Blocking Glasses Every Day for a Week — Here’s What I Learned
Now these glasses are orange in color but they are making some that have no tints at all. Quote:
Blokz are virtually clear lenses made with a special blue-light blocking polymer that prevents blue light and UV rays from passing through the lens.
So from an Aspie perspective, the environment that we live in today is very much different than the generations that came before us. We are constantly exposed to artificial lighting. The light spectrum that we are exposed to has elevated blue light (especially when we look at computer screens or iPhones or iPad or are bathed in artificial lighting all day. This can cause eyestrain and can alter the natural release of melatonin in our blood supply. This can affect our ability to sleep properly. Sleep is one of the tools to vent daily stress buildup. Stress is cumulative in nature and unless it is properly vented can lead to depression. So if an Aspie is overly exposed to excessive blue light, then these glasses may be beneficial, resulting in a better night's sleep and the rewards of a better night's sleep which is lowering stress levels.
So I guess I am back to the original question. Has anyone bought and used blue light blocking glasses? And what effect if any have you noticed?
24 Jul 2019, 12:55 pm
