Nowadays, it’s normal to sit in front of the screen after a long and hard day at work or school. Whether you’re reading an e-book or just casually scrolling through social media, it’s a regular activity that everyone does occasionally. But we always hear comments about “blue light”.
Until this time, sciences have been improving drastically, and many new explanations and discoveries come with that. Consequently, there has been a talk among scientists that we should not use any form of screen for at least 2 hours former to sleeping.
What is blue light?
Blue light, or high-energy visible (HEV) light, represents a form of light with shorter wavelengths and higher energy than any other color in the visible light spectrum. Even research concludes that eye damage and short-wave blue light are linked to one another.
Blue light is on every step we make – TVs, computers, phones, even the sun. This part of the visible light vibrates within the 380 to 500 nanometers range; therefore, it has the shortest wavelength and the highest energy.
How harmful is blue light?
As I said before, light is everywhere, especially this kind. That makes it impossible to go around it, but there are ways of reducing its use frequency.
Fun fact, the amount of blue light exposure from our screens is nothing compared to the sun’s. We always mention that too much of anything is harmful to us. Additionally, we are on our phones every day. It’s almost impossible to reduce your screen time to a not-harmful amount since we use it for school, work, and even at home for recipes.
According to the Exploding Topics, the daily average global screen time is 6 hours and 58 minutes – which is too much.
Although it may be environmentally friendly, this has a lot of adverse effects. According to Harvard’s study, exposure to light suppresses the secretion of melatonin, a hormone that influences circadian rhythms.
“Even dim light can interfere with a person’s circadian rhythm and melatonin secretion. A mere eight lux – a level of brightness exceeded by most table lamps and about twice that of a night light – has an effect.”
Stephen Lockley, a Harvard sleep researcher, says that light at night is partially why people do not get enough sleep. He also states that researchers have linked short sleep to increased risk for depression, as well as diabetes and cardiovascular problems.
Are there any benefits of blue light?
Blue light is mainly associated with negative talks but undoubtedly has positives aspects too! Doctors recommend regularly consuming blue light to maintain your overall health.
These are some of the benefits blue light provides:
- Elevates your mood
- Helps with memory
- Positively affects cognitive functions
- Boosts your body’s alertness
How to protect yourself from too much blue light?
- Wear blue-light-blocking lenses
These lenses claim to help reduce potential damage to your retina and protect your eyes from glare from prolonged exposure to blue light.
- Follow the 20/20/20 rule
Just as you must divide your studying time into a few time sections, you must do it to the device using too! Every 20 minutes, focus on an object around 20 feet (6m) from you. Do this for 20 seconds and get back to work!
- Keep your eyes moist
Medicine has improved, and we do not live in ancient times anymore. Hop to the pharmacy and buy some eye drops. If you cannot do that, you can also use room humidifiers to protect your eyes from becoming too irritated and dry.
- Adjust the warm setting on your screen
Most phones, if not every, have a setting for the night. It paints the screen with warmer tones of colors which reduces the risk of eye strain and mostly sleep disturbances.
This is it for today. I hope you followed the rules while reading this because I did! Of course, not all the adverse effects are automatic because of blue light. See a doctor as soon as you feel something unusual in your body. See you next week and take care!
If you want to be in our columns and get the opportunity to share your or other people's stories and opportunities, write to us on our social networks, Instagram, Facebook, LinkedIn, or by mail at info@pokrenise-mladi.org.
#Move on!
*An article was prepared and written by Balša Kićović, Textual Content Director.