Stop blaming blue light for all your problems

It’s not quite the enemy.

 Why Your Workplace Should Be Prioritizing Your Health

I’m a fan of two apps for this, f.lux and Iris. They filter out blue light, allow you to control brightness, and more. Scientists are exploring just how much of its “rap sheet” blue light is really responsible for. But there is research that exposure to it from devices after the sun goes down (when we wouldn’t naturally be exposed to blue light) “can affect your sleep and potentially cause disease,” Harvard Medical School says. I used to get headaches from looking at computer screens with lots of blue light, and found going to sleep very hard. But since I’ve started using these apps, these problems have gone away.

A dark night is good for your health

Light from the Sun is strong in blue, short wavelength light, although it includes all other colors as well. That’s important in the morning when we need to be alert and awake. But when it comes in the evening or during the night, it fools the body into thinking it’s daytime. We now know that this bright blue light has the strongest effect on lowering melatonin during the night. Your tablet, phone, computer or compact fluorescent lamp (CFL) all emit this kind of blue light. So using these devices in the evening can prevent that primordial physiological transition to night from occurring. This makes it harder to sleep and might also increase the longer term risk of ill-health.

Blue Light and Health (Plus: How to Make Your Own Blue-Blocking Glasses)

Light is a ubiquitous health variable that few understand and many dismiss. Why does light deserve our attention? Consider this: every cell in your body is tied to CLOCK genes. The name fits these genes — they act like little cellular clocks, keeping track of the time of the day. Their primary environmental time cue is light.

What’s in a Color? The Unique Human Health Effects of Blue Light

“Some people consider the progress in the field of light and health over the last couple of years as the most important light induced innovation since the invention of the light bulb,” says Kunz. “Fascinating times are ahead of light industry, clinical chronobiologists, and architects, to mention just a few. By optimizing lighting regimes we will be able to improve health, save energy, and improve learning and performance.”

“Human-centric lighting” may be the key to feeling better at work

Too little light from the blue end of the visible spectrum during the day, or too much of that same light at night, research suggests, can cause an internal clock to slip off beat, setting off a cascade of potential consequences.

8 Ways To Use Your Gadgets At Night And Still Get A Good Night’s Sleep

However, it’s not the mental stimulation from Facebook that is keeping us up. It turns out that our gadgets emit a type of light that can mess with human biology.

A dark night is good for your health

Your tablet, phone, computer or compact fluorescent lamp (CFL) all emit this kind of blue light. So using these devices in the evening can prevent that primordial physiological transition to night from occurring. This makes it harder to sleep and might also increase the longer term risk of ill-health. Other kinds of light, like dimmer long wavelength yellow and red light, have very little effect on this transition.

Apps Can Cut Blue Light From Devices, But Do They Help You Sleep?

If you're losing sleep over the blue light coming from your phone, there's an app for that. In fact, there are now lots of apps that promise to improve sleep by filtering out the blue light produced by phones, tablets, computers and even televisions. But how well do these apps work?

Are we sleep-deprived or just darkness-deprived?

In industrial societies, people are bathed in blue light from smartphones, computers and some kinds of light bulbs all day, and for a good chunk of the night. Our preindustrial counterparts may stay up late too, but it’s in the dark or in the light of a flame.

Blue light has a dark side

At night, light throws the body's biological clock—the circadian rhythm—out of whack. Sleep suffers. Worse, research shows that it may contribute to the causation of cancer, diabetes, heart disease, and obesity.

Blue Light Might Be Why You Had A Shit Sleep Last Night

A New Zealand study suggests humans aren’t the only ones out of whack, plants and animals are feeling the brunt of artificial blue light too.

Light Bulbs That Help You Sleep

With a few bulbs, I transformed the bedrooms in my home into warm, cozy cocoons of yellow glowing light. Although the mood has done nothing to convince the children that their beds are not trampolines, they do seem to drift off to sleep faster. As for me, no amount of soothing light in a bedroom helps if I’m binge watching “The Affair” all night in the living room. But at least it’s a start.

New atlas shows extent of light pollution – what does it mean for our health?

The increasing illumination of night has converged with our growing understanding of circadian physiology, and how light at night can disrupt that physiology. The suspicion has emerged recently that some serious maladies could result from circadian disruption such as poor sleep, obesity, diabetes, certain cancers and mood disorders. The most potent environmental exposure that can cause circadian disruption is ill-timed electric lighting, particularly at night.

Protecting Your Eyes from Blue Light – Top Six Recommendations

Apart from eating away at our recreational time and decreasing face to face human interaction, this need to be constantly “plugged in” could also be damaging to our eyesight.

Q&A: Why Is Blue Light before Bedtime Bad for Sleep?

Two neuroscientists discuss how blue light negatively affects health and sleep patterns.

Staring at computers at night is frying your brain. Here's one easy fix.

It's not good for our eyes. LED screens emit a great deal of blue light, and according to the Vision Council, "cumulative and constant exposure to blue light can damage retinal cells."

The Bogus Science Behind Instagram’s New Glasses Trend

Blue-light blockers won’t save your poor, tired retinas.

The latest on blue light and sleep

The takeaway? Nighttime blue light exposure is indeed harmful to sleep and circadian rhythms. And taking steps to manage blue light exposure—including using red light sources during evening hours—can make a real difference.

The Uncertain Science Behind Your Phone's Blue Light Dimmer

Does blue light actually make you more alert? It sure does. But does removing it from your smartphone’s screen help you fall asleep? That, my friends, hasn’t actually been solidly proven—at least not yet.

There’s a lot to learn about how blue light affects our eyes

Blue light’s rap sheet is growing ever longer. Researchers have connected the high-energy visible light, which emanates from both the sun and your cell phone (and just about every other digital device in our hands and on our bedside tables), to disruptions in the body’s circadian rhythms. And physicians have drawn attention to the relationship between our favorite devices and eye problems.

Want to fall asleep faster? Don't use an iPad before bed

I tell my friends — I tell myself — if you have to use devices, be on the computer, or check your phone, to turn down the brightness. And I think installing some of these programs that compensate for the color can be helpful.

Why Blue Light Is So Bad: The Science — And Some Solutions

Our conversation delved into the problems associated with prolonged exposure, the industry’s efforts to address it — and some steps we all can take, to minimize these health issues.