In one of my parenting groups, someone asked the question of whether our children need to wear blue light filtering glasses while engaging with electronics. The answer is yes and we all need to be aware of the dangers of blue light and learn ways to filter it to preserve our health. Blue light from LED lights has a damaging effect on our retinas, hormonal cycles as well as our circadian rhythm.
Here’s the research on why filtering blue light matters:
- Nobel Prize in Medicine in 2017 went to a study about the importance of the circadian rhythms in health and well-being.
- 2012 Harvard Medical School article on how blue light can negatively affect circadian rhythms and sleep health. “While light of any kind can suppress the secretion of melatonin, blue light at night does so more powerfully. Harvard researchers and their colleagues conducted an experiment comparing the effects of 6.5 hours of exposure to blue light to exposure to green light of comparable brightness. The blue light suppressed melatonin for about twice as long as the green light and shifted circadian rhythms by twice as much (3 hours vs. 1.5 hours).”
- A 2018 Forbes.com article on the damaging effects of blue light on our retinas.
- France adopted a National Light Pollution Policy in 2019, which includes restrictions on the emission of blue light.
Here’s what I have been doing the protect myself and my family‘s circadian rhythm, sleep health, and the health of our eyes:
- We changed ALL our light bulbs from LED to incandescent about 3 years ago. The light feels much warmer and healthier.
- I installed blue light filters to ALL our electronic devices including our desktop computer, laptops, iPad, phones, Kindles, and Nintendo Switch.
- I downloaded F.lux free blue light filtering app to all our laptops.
- The only device I couldn’t filter was our two large TVs. For them, I keep blue light filtering glasses around the house for everyone’s use. We also use these while traveling.
Here are some of my favorite tools for blue light protection. I have included all the device filters, light bulbs, blue light filtering glasses we use in our home: