Blue light is a real problem for us these days. Blue light comes from the sun during the daytime and tells our brain its morning and time to wake up. At night, blue light stops melatonin production which prevents us from getting tired. Our brains are hard-wired to wake up in response to blue-light. The problem is all our electronic devices like TV’s, smart phones, tablets give off a LOT of blue light. This has become a problem since people are now taking their phones with them to bed. They are trying to go to sleep and staring at a device that is telling them to stay awake, hence sleep problems. It is also a problem during the day because of over exposure. Our bodies work fine and need blue light in reasonable amounts but when its pouring into our eyes for 8 hours a day it can cause problems because we haven’t evolved to process that large amount of blue light. It causes eye-strain, fatigue, headaches and can actually affect our brain chemistry.
The good news is that there is software we can run on our computers, tablets and phones that reduces blue-light. The light can still keep us awake and cause eye-strain as we work during the day but its better then not using it. I’ve been using a program on my computers call f.lux for a year or two. I also use an app called Twilight on my Android phone. iPhones have a setting called “Night Shift.” All of these programs filter the blue light from being displayed. You’ll notice your display has warm, red color. You’ll want to make it as red as you can tolerate. The less blue light at night the better.
My experience with these programs is simple. When I have the filters on I get tired easily and go to sleep easily. When I turn the filters off I take much longer to get tired and stay awake much longer at night. During the day I don’t have much of a problem. I’m outside and driving much of the day with limit time in front of “screens.” Years ago, when I worked in an office I had problems. I would get headaches, tired, fatigued and have sugar cravings, which are a result of changes in brain chemistry.
