Have you been spending more evenings in front of the tv streaming ALL the Christmas movies? I know I have been watching more of my favorites lately! Unfortunately more screen time after a full days work of looking at a computer screen has left me very exposed to extra unnecessary blue light. When we think about our health, we think mostly about what we are putting in our bodies, stress level, and exercising and think less about the electromagnetic fields we come into contact with daily. These EMF’s can have powerful impacts on our health as well and should not be underestimated.
What is Blue Light?
So what exactly is blue light? Blue light is a color in the “visible light spectrum” that can be seen by the human eye, it is one of the shortest and highest energy wavelengths. Even though blue light is from multiple sources, including the sun, there is a big difference between natural and artificial blue light. It even has some positive benefits like elevating your mood, boosting your energy, help to regulate your sleep and wake cycles, and increase your sense of well being. However, it can also have many negative impacts like disrupting our sleep cycles when we are exposed to it late into the night (ie late night netflix binge), lead to eye strain, headache, difficulty focusing, and poor sleep or insomnia. Prolonged exposure can even cause retinol damage, age related macular degeneration, and even vision loss. Those are some pretty serious side effects!
How Can I Protect Myself from Blue Light?
So how much is too much and how can you protect yourself from the nasty effects. Limiting your screen time to two hour increments may be helpful, additional hours beyond that may lead to negative side effects. If your job requires you to spend lots of time staring at a screen, make sure to take frequent breaks. Other helpful ideas include reminding yourself to blink more often (staring at a computer screen will decrease how often you blink leading to dry eyes), wear blue light blocking glasses, (another great gift idea!), clean your screen often to reduce glare and eyestrain, set a screen curfew each night at least an hour before bed to limit night time exposure.
I have noticed significant improvements when I wear my blue light blocking glasses to protect my eyes, reduce mental fatigue and eyestrain, and support deeper sleep. They are very affordable on amazon and come in many colors for men and women.
To learn more check out this link!