Long months of lockdown and online classes have exposed us to high-intensity blue light that can cause multiple chronic and acute optical defects. You might have surely seen one of your friends buy glasses online with an anti-blue light coating on them and wondered what blue light is. Well, here is the answer:
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What exactly is blue light?
You might have already read about this in the science lectures but read on for a recap:
- The sunlight is a spectrum of lights of seven different colours of the rainbow – Violet, Indigo, Blue, Green, Yellow, Orange, and Red.
- Moving from red light to violet light, the wavelengths decrease and their energies increase.
- Red, orange, yellow, green and blue lights are the colours visible to the human eyes, hence they form the “visible spectrum”.
- Now, being the last colour of the visible spectrum, blue light moves with an extremely high energy.
- This high energy of the blue light contributes to its damaging nature for the human eyes.
How does blue light affect our eyes?
There is not just one, but multiple reasons for doctors to recommend blue light glasses for students during online classes:
Cataract
Do you know that the human eye lens can absorb light rays of short wavelengths, that is, the blue waves to block them from reaching the light-sensitive retina? However, during this absorption, the lens releases some substances and derivatives that get added to the lens cells and turn them yellow. This is how the lens turns opaque and the eye develops a cataract.
Macular degeneration
The retina of our human eyes are extremely sensitive to different colours of light, and this is why it identifies different colours and creates an image on the screen. When high-intensity blue rays from tech screens fall on the retina, they induce some toxic reactions in the cells of this screen. Gradually, the tissues start to deteriorate and with time, the eye develops macular degeneration. Age-Related Macular Degeneration is a major cause for age-related blindness among the UK population.
Dry Eye Syndrome
Digital Eye Strain is another extremely prevalent eye defect among the masses. It is caused by excessive exposure to blue light emitted by laptop, computers, tablets, and smartphone screens. The symptoms include dry, itchy, irritated, and sore eyes that can be very painful.
Insomnia
Do you feel like an insomniac these days? It’s probably because of the blue rays you are being exposed to. The sleep cycle in our body is regulated by the sleep hormone, called melatonin. Melatonin is released in increased quantities in the absence of blue light, signaling our body for sleep time. However, blue rays from tech screens during bedtime suppress the production of the sleep hormone, thus resulting in loss of sleep.
Tips to prevent blue light damage
Limit screen time
Prevention is better than cure. You can try to minimise the use of tech gadgets by switching Kindle with paperbacks and online gaming with indoor board games. When you sit on the screen, try to follow the 20-20 rule: after every 20 minutes, look away from your screen for 20 seconds.
Wear blue light glasses
Blue light blocking glasses are becoming extremely popular these days, especially due to online schooling and work from home routines. These glasses come with a special coating that reflects back any blue rays falling on them, thus preventing them from reaching the eyes. You can ask your optician to add an anti-blue light coating on your prescription or varifocal glasses.
Eat good food
Eating a balanced and nutritious diet, filled with fruits and vegetables good for eye health can help to combat all the above mentioned diseases and disorders. Foods like carrots, oranges, blueberries, bell peppers, legumes, green leafy vegetables and nuts include nutrients and antioxidants like Vitamin C, E, lutein, zeaxanthin, beta-carotene and bioflavonoids. While beta-carotene functions as a precursor for the production of Vitamin A, lutein and zeaxanthin help to shield the eye against light damage.
If you have been looking for cheap glasses with blue light coating online, you can check Specscart’s website for a decent variety of premium quality spectacles at the super affordable price range.
Danis Woods in Businessman, investment banker and stock exchange traders. On the same time he loves writing financial blogs to shed lights on different aspects that new and existing businessman are not aware of.
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