We’re living in an era of information where the world is at your fingertips.
Books, blogs, business, photoshop, movies, games anything and everything in one swipe on your smart screen. The evolution of gadgets made life easier, communication faster, and increased your work mobility and accuracy.
With so many added benefits, gadgets are really becoming an inseparable part of humans which is likely to have negative outcomes.
What is Blue Light? What are the Symptoms?
Most of us are already aware of the harmful Blue light which is emitted by most gadgets. But we fail to notice its side effects in daily life. Mostly commonly ignored symptoms include drowsiness, tired and itchy eyes, redness in eyes, disturbed sleep & wake cycle, and headaches.
Bluelight is a range of visible light (380nm to 500nm), they are rays with shorter wavelengths and higher energy than other rays in the light spectrum. It can damage the retina over a long period of time. An ample amount of blue light is absorbed from sunlight itself but the blue light emitted by electronic devices adds to this amount tremendously.
Maximum screen time is recorded between 9 pm to 12 pm. Most people carry gadgets to bed and prefer to give a final check to their phones before sleeping but eventually end up spending more amount of screen time. When your eyes are exposed to blue light especially in dark they are vulnerable to potential retinal damage.
It is advised to keep lights on while using gadgets or use blue light filters. Some smartphones come with the option to reduce blue light emissions.
What is the solution?
Reducing screen time is one solution but is not easy to implement now with smartphones making your work so handy. Thus regular use of protective lenses can prevent long-term and short-term damage. The purpose of protective lenses is to filter blue light which means allowing low energy waves to pass through lenses and block the higher energy waves. It is a formula top coated over your fiber lens.
Using phones at one hand distance or using gadgets in the light environment or reducing screen time are small measures to protect your eyes from blue light damage but for those people whose work requires them to spend hours ogling at computer screens, it is highly recommended to use blue light filtering lenses even if you have normal 20/20 vision.
There are many choices of lenses available in the market. Some options are:
- Sunglasses that filters blue light. You may find various options at your nearby store.
- Anti-reflective coated lenses such as Prevencia by Essilor or Blue light filters by Hoya or Bolt UV++ by suprol or many other options are also available at affordable prices by local lens manufacturing companies. Essilor is a world leader in lens manufacturing from France, whereas Hoya is Japan-based also competing as the best lens manufacturers along with Zeiss and other brands.
- Blue Light filters screens for laptops or monitors. Although this may look convenient but obviously when it comes to mobile phones, tablets, or iPads you need lenses that you can wear all time.
It is well said that “Prevention is better than care”, this surely applies to the hazards of Bluelight as well. Use good quality filters to ensure healthy vision.
