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Ever noticed a colleague rocking a slick pair of frames around the office and suspiciously thought to yourself, ‘I didn’t think they wore glasses’?. Or perhaps you’ve been served ads in your Insta feed, starring the most impossibly beautiful millennials, wearing glasses that claim to reduce headaches and fatigue, yet STILL LOOK AMAZING? Well folks, the rumours are true. However, it’s important to note that not all blue light glasses are created equal. Some don’t quite live up to their claims, others are just plain ugly. But, we digress. To understand how blue light reducing technology works, we first need to understand what the frick blue light actually is, and how it might be impacting our health, unbeknownst to us. Hold on to your hats, cos we’re about to get sciencey.
Ok, so here’s the 411. The light we’re surrounded by during the day is made up of a whole load of electromagnetic particles. Sorry, what? Basically, they’re the smallest part of the pieces that make up sunlight, also known as the electromagnetic spectrum. These particles travel in waves, which are categorised depending on their length and strength, as well as how much energy they emit. Rule of thumb; the shorter the wavelength, the more energy it emits. Some of these wavelengths are visible to the human eye, others (like those evil UV rays that fry our delicate Irish skin) aren’t. Within the electromagnetic spectrum, you’ll find red, orange, yellow, green and (our friend) blue light. Because it’s visible to the human eye, is short and emits a high amount of energy, blue is known as HEV (high-energy visible) light. Impressively, it accounts for one-third of all visible light.
So that’s how all-powerful and prevalent blue light is. But it’s important to note that there are two types; natural and artificial. And that’s where we start to run into potential health problems. The natural blue light emitted by the sun actually has lots of benefits for us. It keeps us alert and focused during the day, even improving our mood. You may be familiar with SAD (Seasonal Affective Disorder), a “type of depression that's related to changes in seasons”. During dreary winter months, many people report symptoms of low energy, irritability and fatigue. Special SAD lamps emit high levels of HEV blue light, and are used as treatment for this condition. Since they mimic sunshine, they help improve energy levels and mood.
Sunlight is also important for us humans, as it regulates our internal body clocks, known as our ‘circadian rhythm’. It’s no coincidence that the entire species sleeps during the night, and is (relatively) full of beans by day. We’re actually pre-programmed to do so, along with many animals, plants and fungi. If you’ve ever worked a night shift, pulled an all-nighter studying for an exam, or well, just stayed out on the absolute sesh, you’ll know just how tough it is to recover. Hangover of death aside, you’ll likely find it difficult to get to sleep the next day, waking up disoriented and maybe even unable to sleep when night approaches. This is because our bodies naturally feel tired at night. Once the sun sets, our eyes send a signal to the brain, which in turn releases a hormone called melatonin from our pineal gland. Melatonin makes the body start to feel sleepy, so in the hours after sunset, you’ll notice yourself starting to yawn, stretch, and generally have a serious hankering for the leaba.
Now that we’ve established the joys of natural blue light, it’s time to kill the mood. Did you know that digital devices like smartphones, laptops and tablets emit an artificial version? So throughout the day, whether it’s working at your desk, scanning through social channels or catching up with online news, you’re absorbing way more blue light than previous generations. Spare a thought for them all the same; they had to put up with horrific things like dial-up internet (ask your granny). Back to blue light though - there’s a growing body of evidence to suggest that overexposure to it can lead to a nasty set of symptoms called Digital Eye Strain (DES). From headaches and dry eyes to fatigue and insomnia, it’s thought that more than 50% of computer users worldwide experience all or some of its symptoms. If you’ve felt a dull headache or achey eyes after a day in front of the screen, you might be one of them.
As well as contributing to DES, blue light could also be playing havoc with our melatonin levels. As mentioned above, we humans are essentially at one with nature - naturally resting when the sun sets, and waking the next morning feeling refreshed and ready to start the day (give or take a couple of skinny oat frappuccinos). However, if you consider the amount of blue light we take in these days via various digital devices, it stands to reason that our body clocks might become a tad confused. Studies like thisin fact claim that exposure to blue light “drastically disrupts the continuity of sleep”. One particular sin we’re all guilty of is picking up the phone after climbing into bed. We tell ourselves it’s just one final check for likes on that Insta we posted earlier (I mean c’mon, we looked hella cute). But somehow, two hours of scrolling passes before we finally lay down our head. Ever experienced any of these: inability to fall asleep even though you’re tired, waking in the night, frequent tossing and turning, waking in the morning feeling exhausted? If so, it’s possible that an overexposure to blue light is disrupting your natural sleep cycle.
So… back to blue light reducing glasses! Given all the potential harm this exposure is doing to our systems, glasses like these aim to filter out blue light, meaning less of it is actually absorbed into our retina. Just be careful as you browse; not all models are legit. At Ambr, our lenses are made with a naturally-occurring pigment, which blocks 100% of blue wavelengths under 420nm, and approximately 40% at 450nm. What’s more, they don’t have that creepy orange tint that’s so popular among computer glasses. But don’t take our word for it, browse the full collection of frames here.
