How Blue Light Disrupts Your Sleep
Blue Light & Sleep: The Connection
Sleep is one of the key essentials for optimal health. The problem is, in the digital world we now live in, people are starting to sleep less. On top of this, the quality of our sleep has also declined.
Poor sleep is linked to heart disease, type 2 diabetes, depression and obesity. A number of studies have indicated that blue light in the evening can disrupt your brain's natural sleep cycle, which is the pillar of optimal daily and overall health.
Our bodies have internal clocks that help regulate our circadian rhythm - which is the 24-hour biological cycle that influences many of our internal functions. Most importantly, it determines when your body is primed for being awake or asleep. When it gets dark, your pineal gland secretes the sleep hormone Melatonin, which tells your body that it is time to sleep. However, digital devices such as phones, computers, tablets & TVs emit large amounts blue light which can stimulate the sensors in your eyes, which send signals to the brain's internal clock affects the release of the sleep hormone Melatonin.
This is why it is no surprise that so many of us struggle to fall asleep at night - especially after spending hours in front of our phones in bed.
What exactly is Melatonin?
Studies have linked melatonin suppression at night to multiple health problems, such as metabolic syndrome, obesity, cancer, and depression. Melatonin is the hormone that helps us go to sleep and is made in the pineal gland: if you visualise a straight line going across the back of your ears going through your head, this gland sits right in the middle.
How does blue light filtering glasses help with melatonin?
Blue Light Blocking Glasses can significantly reduce your exposure to the effects of artificial blue light.
Blue light also naturally exists in our environment. You can stand out in the sun and your body will know that it is daytime, and tell you it is time to be awake. However, when you are at home in the evenings, or getting ready to go to bed, the sun is gone and it should be darker, so your body has all the right signals to release melatonin and help you sleep. However, the last thing that so many of us do: scroll on your phone, laptops or tablets. This is where we are exposed to the artificial forms of blue light. We are all guilty of this. This is where we are again, exposed to too much blue light, thus affecting not only how long we sleep, but the quality of our sleep.
Wearing blue light glasses is the way of the future. With these glasses, we don't need to worry about digital eye strain, headaches, poor sleep or any of the negative health effects that come with over exposure to blue screen light. We can continue with our day & evenings with anything we need to do on our digital devices, whilst giving our eyes the protection they deserve, as well as a chance to rest.