Let me frame it this way: we have all been guilty of spending more time in front of screens, especially in this new age of remote work. But it all happened so fast. Without the time to properly research or consider the long-term effects of screens on our eye health, it could be beneficial to protect our eyes from potentially harmful blue light.
Blue light glasses contain special lenses that reduce the amount of blue light the eye is exposed to. Though blue light glasses may help protect your eyes from retinal damage, experts say they are not necessary as the levels of blue light are not enough to affect eye safety.
In the rest of the article, I’ll explain more about blue light glasses and whether they are considered necessary eye protection.
Chic and Protective
Glasses make you look professional, studious, and serious about your work. Not to mention they make your work readable. They can even be a fashion statement and send the message that you’ve got style. With so many choices for frames, they can enhance your facial features and make you look chic to the max. Besides magnifying your level of fashion, a special type of lens in blue light glasses may help protect your eyes from blue light emitted from the screens of your electronic devices, like laptops, tablets, and smartphones. Blue light glasses have a yellowish tint that while unnoticeable, can filter out blue light before it passes through the eye. But why does that matter?
In the article “Do blue light glasses really work?”, we read that blue light has a short wavelength and high energy levels which makes it easier to pass through your cornea to the back lining of your eye, called the retina. That is why some people are worried that exposure to blue light from screens in addition to blue light from the sun can cause eye damage. It’s no secret that for everyone from remote workers to students who are learning online, our hours of screen time have been magnified, and the longer lengths of time we spend staring at screens can cause side effects like headaches, fatigue, eyestrain, and trouble sleeping.
Blue light is not a new phenomenon; in fact, we take in blue light each day from sunlight. It is one of the colored rays in the sun’s spectrum of visible light. The blue light from screens is only a fraction of sunlight, however. Experts say that neither sunlight nor blue light emitted from screens is enough to affect our eye safety.
Are Blue Light Glasses Necessary?
The article “Pandemic Screen Time: Will Blue Light Glasses Help?” explains why experts are not convinced blue light glasses are beneficial for eye health. They agree that blue light glasses reduce the amount of blue light that passes through the eye, but say that it Is not proven to reduce eye diseases like macular degeneration or vision loss from eye disease.
If you are experiencing headaches or fatigue, it could be a problem with your vision in general or simply from looking at a screen for too long. Most eye doctors will give you the following advice before trying blue light glasses: 1. You should first try to reduce your screen time if you are having side effects like headaches. 2. Try not to use screens for at least two hours before bedtime. 3. You can also use your phone’s nighttime mode to reduce blue light. This filter usually has a slight yellow tint to counter the blue light. If reducing screen time is not an option, then perhaps blue light glasses could help.
Experts agree that blue light affects our sleep because taking in blue light is like taking in sunlight. If we stare at the sun, it makes our bodies feel as if it is daylight. If we are staring at screens during the nighttime, this can affect the presence of melatonin and our body’s natural signal for a good night’s sleep.
This video, “Do blue light glasses work? – Fact or Fiction” sums up this conundrum nicely: “Are they effective? For sleep, yes. For fatigue? That depends. And for retinal health? We’re not sure yet.”
Blue light glasses users, however, have claimed many benefits from these special specs, including reduced eyestrain, improved sleep, and no more headaches. Some users say they can work longer with the glasses and without eye fatigue. Not to make a spectacle about these blue light spectacles, but experts counter that this could just be a placebo effect.
We can deduce that this comes down to personal preference. If your new blue light specs make you feel more productive and good about working long hours in front of a screen, then don’t blink twice—wear them. These benefits are reason enough to use blue light glasses and you’ll look chic doing it, too.
