How to Protect Our Eyes from Blue Light?

The world can be a dangerous place, especially if viewed through the naked eye. Eye hazards resulting from artificial and natural sources of light are everywhere. We all know about the harmful effects of Ultra Violet radiation. Now a new ocular threat has emerged in the form of High Energy Visible (HEV) light or Blue light. Most of us spend all of our work and free time in front of one form of digital device like TVs, Computers, Mobiles, Tablets etc. All these electronics emits dangerous blue light, which negatively impacts not only your vision but also your overall health. Blue light radiation could cause a variety of health issues from sleep macular degeneration to sleep disorders and even cancer.

The effects of blue light are often cumulative and can lead to permanent eye damage like macular degeneration. Children and old age people, people undergone cataract surgery etc are more at risk when it comes to the negative effects of blue light exposure. The problem for children is that their eyes are still developing, and they don't yet have the protective pigments in their eyes to help filter out some of this harmful blue light. But it doesn’t matter how old you are or how good your eye sight is, all of that screen time isn’t good for you. Blue light exposure has also been linked to digital eye strain, that discomfort you feel in your eyes after staring at a digital screen for two or more hours.

So how could we possibly protect our eyes from blue light exposure?

In this era, it’s impossible for us cut down all those screen time completely. But you could reduce the effects of harmful blue light if you follow some simple steps. Don’t worry. The sky is not falling. You have resources to help reduce your blue light exposure.

 

Minimize the Exposure

Whatever you try, you cannot ward off all those blue light rays completely. But you could reduce the exposure. You should definitely try to avoid exposing yourself to blue light at least 2-3 hours before bed, as it disrupts your circadian rhythm and affects your sleep.

 

Protective Eyewear and Lenses

 

The use of protective eyewear helps to shield your eyes against the harmful effects of blue light. For indoors, in low light or at night, protective ophthalmic lenses with a special coating designed to reflect and cut high energy blue light penetration are available. This type of lens coating is referred to as a blue light filter coating.  Latest Blue Light Filter Coated lens available in the market filters out harmful UV and Blue-Violet light to improve contrast and alleviate eye fatigue at the same time allowing beneficial Blue-Turquoise light through for circadian rhythm regulation.

Sunglasses, which are specially tinted or polarized to absorb the HEV blue rays and Ultra Violet rays, are perfect for outdoors during the day.

Blink More

When we look at a screen, our blink rate drops significantly, and our eyes cannot cope with that resulting in dry eyes, eyes fatigue and head ache. The easiest way to address digital eye strain is to blink more. That might sound overly simple, but blinking helps to keep eyes lubricated.

Follow the 20-20-20 rule

This is the golden rule to reduce digital eye strain. Look away from your computer or screen every 20 minutes and focus on a distant object at least 20 feet away for at least 20 seconds.

 

Apps and programs for your digital devices

There are some programs or apps that filter out blue light from your digital devices and provide you with warmer tones of light. There are hundreds of them available in the market. Some of them are:

1.   Flux is a free software you can download onto your computer that changes the coloring of your display to adapt to the time of day.

2.   Apple Night Shift is an app that’s similar to Flux but for your iPhone and iPad.

3.   Twilight is similar to Night Shift, but it works in multiple platforms like android, Windows and iPhone.

Minor Tweaks

Many harmful effects of blue light and digital eye strain can be avoided by some minor adjustments to your devices and surroundings.

·         Reduce Glare

·         Clean your screen often

·         Dim surrounding lights

·         Adjust your screen to your eye level

·         Increase Text/Font size

Some of you feel all these a bit overboard. But by keeping in mind a few simple ways listed above, you could ensure your eyes last much longer than your devices. No matter your age, limiting your exposure to blue light and protecting your eyesight is important for your overall health and well being.