Many of us are now becoming aware of how blue light can affect our bodies and overall well-being. However, we’re getting more exposed to it now than ever before, as many of us spend more time on our devices. We need to find ways to minimize the amount of blue light exposure to really maximize our health. Why is this important? Well, read on, and we’ll explain that in this article.
Understanding how light interacts with our eyes is really the key to knowing why blue light is so bad for our overall health and well-being. Light is made up of different color waves and each of these has different energies. Red light is at the very beginning of the visible light spectrum. This has low energy waves, and it’s a lot easier on the eyes, especially during the night. Blue light, however, has the highest energy waves. This makes it much more difficult for our eyes to process effectively. High-energy light waves are vital for our daily lives. It can also be harmful if we’re exposed to them at the wrong times.
Why blue light is harmful
In the day, for example, light enters our eyes and during the process, it releases enzymes. It brings down our levels of melatonin. This is what helps us wake up in the morning. Melatonin in the body regulates our sleep cycles through circadian rhythms. However, this cycle is all too easy to disrupt, and that’s why many people suffer from insomnia.
Continued exposure to blue light from our monitors and phones can disrupt our circadian rhythms. It can do so in ways that can be extremely severe. If we don’t have enough melatonin in our body, we can’t properly sleep. Eventually, this leads to being exhausted the next day and the cycle continues. Also, you will notice that after staring at your monitors for some time, your eyes begin to hurt, they get dry or start to itch.
Even more severe, blue light affects the retina of your eyes. It can cause advanced macular degeneration, especially at a young age. Some healthcare professionals have even linked obesity to the disruption in our sleep cycles and melatonin.
How can we solve the problem of overexposure to blue light?
Some device manufacturers are beginning to realize the harm that blue light can have. They are starting to build new features into their solutions to resolve the problem. Many are providing blue light covers. Your mobile phones and laptops now have evening modes where the wavelengths of light change and additional filters can be applied to limit your exposure. Of course, the most obvious solution to the problem is to simply avoid using any device when it’s time for bed.
That’s why many experts say smartphones and tablets should be kept out of the bedroom. You should really limit your use and stop using any devices several hours before bed. Unfortunately, for many of us, this isn’t the case and it’s not even practical, so how can we avoid the issue? The answer, of course, is to invest in a pair of blue light protective glasses.
These glasses may look the same as any regular pair of glasses, but they have special filters that can prevent high-entity visible light from reaching the back of your eyes.
If you’ve tried protective glasses and still find yourself experiencing the adverse effects of overexposure to blue light, another option you can consider is Red Light Therapy.
Red Light Therapy slowly exposes your body to the right light wavelengths in short, regular sessions. This gives your body a chance to recover from the effects of overexposure to blue light. At the same time, it’s been shown to help with muscle soreness, pain and has many anti-aging benefits.
At The Science Gym, we provide Red Light Therapy that can help you recover from overexposure to red light.
To learn more about what we can do to help you reduce your exposure to blue light, click below to sign up for a free Science-Based Fitness webinar event. See you there!