The modern world is filled with walking sleepless zombies who go to work every day and accumulate even more fatigue and still not get enough sleep at night. Insomnia is more rampant today than it ever was and the accusing finger points to digital devices. Most people spend the entire day working on computers. At the end of the day, they wind down by chatting or browsing social media on their smartphones or watching movies to ungodly hours of the night.
With the global COVID-19 pandemic, the use of digital gadgets has shot up exponentially. Workers have been forced to continue with their work virtually and meetings that were usually face-to-face are conducted via video-conferencing. Children have also not been left out of this; they now have to study using online classes and when they’re not studying, they’re getting entertained on TVs, iPads, and computers to take their minds off going outside.
All this exposure to blue light from digital devices is throwing people’s circadian rhythms off and insomnia will only get worse if nothing is done about it. Blue light doesn’t just disrupt sleep but also damages eyes and leads to other health complications after prolonged exposure.
How Does Blue Light Affect Sleep?
How Natural Blue Light Regulates Body Functions
The sun’s visible light is made up of red, orange, yellow, green, blue, indigo, and violet light that all combine to form white light. Each of these light rays has a different wavelength and energy content. On this visible light spectrum, the red end has longer wavelengths and less energy while the blue end has shorter wavelengths and high energy.
The sun’s blue light plays a crucial role in your brain’s functioning. Its high energy light waves penetrate to the retina of your eye and a signal is sent to your brain to keep you alert, boost your moods, and other cognitive functions.
How Artificial Blue Light Disrupts Sleep
Artificial devices such as smartphones, computers, tablets, LED lights, and flat-screen LED television screens also emit blue light. Although the blue light that these devices produce is much less than what the sun produces, it’s more disruptive. This is because they are constantly right in front of your face all day long and even at night.
Your eyes are not meant to be exposed to blue light at night. The setting of the sun and the consequent absence of blue light causes the pineal gland in the brain to secrete melatonin. At the end of the day when all your exhaustion comes crashing down on you and you start feeling sleepy, that is the melatonin at work. Conversely, when the sunrise and blue light penetrates your eye, a signal is sent to the brain to cease the production of melatonin. This wakes you up and keeps you alert all day long.
Using your smartphone, tablets, computers, and keeping your lights on at night exposes you to blue light. The brain then assumes that it’s daytime so it keeps you alert. The process of you falling asleep is a gradual process that starts in the evening as the sunlight fades away. This process comes to a head when you eventually fall asleep. Exposure to blue light at night delays this process and you end up taking a long time to fall asleep. If you perpetually use your devices at night, your body’s internal clock will be reset and you’ll not be able to sleep till late hours of the night.
Consequences of Blue Light Disrupting Sleep
Exposure to blue light at night will deprive you of enough Rapid Eye Movement (REM) sleep, the stage where dreams occur. The result is that you will still wake up tired even if you clock in 8 hours of sleep. This interferes with your productivity, moods, and levels of concentration.
Your day’s experiences are also consolidated into memories during REM sleep so getting less REM sleep means you will be more forgetful.
Other Effects of Blue Light Overexposure
Health Issues
Sleep is very crucial to the overall health of your body and mental faculties. Research done by Harvard Medical School revealed that a shift in the circadian rhythm or body clock leads to an increased risk of developing diabetes, cardiovascular diseases, and depression.
Eye Problems
Excess exposure to blue light’s high energy waves interferes with the cells of the retina. It can lead to conditions such as digital eye strain, macular degeneration, and cataracts. If these conditions are not arrested on time, your eyes may end paying the ultimate price – blindness.
Protection against Harmful Blue Light
In light of all the harms that result from exposure to blue light, you need solutions that will ensure you get a full night’s sleep and your eyes and body remain healthy. The solution can be found in blue light filters that are available for all types of devices
Screen Protectors
These are physical blue light blocking films that are placed on smartphones, tablets, and monitor screens. They are made from strong tempered glass that has special coatings that block light within the 380nm and 470 wavelength ranges, that is, blue light.
For desktop screen protectors, you can either choose the bulky ones that are hung on the screen or opt for the light thin films that are stuck on the screen. They are transparent so you don’t have to worry about the quality of images diminishing. They also have anti-glare coatings to protect you from eye strain and privacy screens to keep your work confidential from prying eyes.
Smartphone and tablet blue light screen protectors double up as protection against scratches and breaks from falls. They also come with applicator kits to help you lay them on your screens seamlessly without air bubbles.
Anti-blue Light Glasses
LED lighting is also a source of blue light so if you also want to protect yourself from this as well as from digital screens, anti-blue light glasses are for you. You can wear them during the day as you use your computers to prevent eye strain and you can also use them at night to preserve your sleep.
For quality screen protectors and anti-blue light glasses, visit Ocushield. They offer medically rated products that are guaranteed to protect your eyes from blue light. Ocushield.com’s blog on, the modern way to reduce your chances of eye strain and keep your circadian rhythm running as it was naturally intended!
