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There a lot of things that influence your sleep quality. One being blue light. Do you need blue light blocking glasses for better sleep?
Researchers discover more and more interesting things about the human body each day. Who would’ve thought 100 years ago that the color of the light you see before bed influences your sleep quality a lot?
Find out just how much too much blue light affects your sleep and if blue light blocking glasses are a good tool to improve sleep.
What do blue light blocking glasses do?
Not all light is exactly the same. Light is basically a form of waves in all kinds of different frequencies. Human eyes perceive these different waves as different colors.
Not all different colors are equally present during the day. In a natural setting, early in the morning, blue light is a lot more present. In the evening red light is the main wavelength present.
Humans have an internal system that observes how late in the day it is, partly, by seeing how much of each kind of light is present. This system is partly responsible for waking you up in the morning and preparing you to go to sleep in the evening.
The problem for your sleep is that humans have created all these sources of light without taking these things into account. So many lights and screens emit excessive blue light throughout the whole day.
Blue light isn’t something bad in itself but it’s a sign to wake up. This does becomes bad for you in the evening. Your body needs time to get into sleeping modus. However, because it is seeing so much blue light it delays this process.
Progress in the blue light department
Luckily, the world is starting to pay more attention to this. Most devices and screens now come with built-in blue light filters. However, the thing most people forget is that their regular lamps also emit more blue light than you would encounter in nature. Another danger to your sleep quality.
This makes it a lot harder to escape blue light and stop it waking up your body. You could potentially replace the light bulbs in your house with ones that emit less blue light in the evening. However, this can be expensive and a lot of work.
Another convenient option to reduce the amount of blue light reaching your eyes is getting a pair of blue light blocking glasses.
Blue light blocking glasses stop the blue light waves that “wake you up” from reaching your eyes while still letting through the light waves that don’t mess up your sleep that much.
Do blue light blocking glasses work?
Blue light blocking glasses do actually work. However, certainly these days there are a lot of different brands. Not all of them provide the same quality.
Every single brand needs a more closer examination in a good testing setting. However, one general rule you can use is the more they lean towards dark red, dark orange, the more effective they are in blocking blue light waves.
The thing is also, they are so inexpensive compared to their advantages. Sleep is extremely important for your health and blue light blocking glasses can make a serious impact. You don’t have to get the most expensive ones one the market, the basic ones are a great start.
If you want a more personal recommendation for your situation check out our list of the 5 best blue light blocking glasses.
You could also get a blue light filter on your glasses but it’s not recommended to do so if you’re wearing those glasses all day.
Is it OK to wear blue light blocking glasses all the time?
A lot of people like to blame blue light for all kinds of things but it also has its advantages.
Blue light has a place and time in nature. It’s one of the more common light colors in the morning. It tells our body to wake up, that the day has started. Blue light basically helps your body tell what time it is.
It is not ok to wear blue light blocking glasses all the time. This will make your body think it’s evening all day long and you will most likely feel tired throughout the whole day.
It is ok to get a blue light blocking filter on your screens. This way your eyes will still be able to perceive the natural occuring blue light.
When should you wear blue light glasses?
The message is to simulate the light waves you would get in a completely unartificial setting. The way you do this is by putting on your blue light blocking glasses approximately 2 hours before you plan on going asleep.
How bad is if you don’t wear these glasses?
Not respecting the natural light rhythms can have a pretty big impact on your health.
Just in general, it really messes with your sleep. This can make you a lot more tired and unhappy throughout the day alongside other negative health consequences (1).
One study examined the correlation between blue light at night and cancer. It found that night time exposure to blue light is associated with a 1.5-fold and 2-fold higher risk of developing breast and prostate cancer, respectively.
Pretty much everything you find about blue light exposure at night points towards negative consequences.
This means that almost everyone who comes into contact with artifical light in the evening should get blue light blocking glasses if they are somewhat serious about their health. It’s such a small investment for avoiding so much potential downsides.
There are great options out there for a relatively small price compared to the potential health benefits.
