There is no doubt how precious your eyes are, and in these high-tech times, as we gaze into our many digital gadgets 24/7, we are doing our eyes no favors. It’s almost impossible to escape using our smartphones, tablets, laptops, computers, gaming systems, televisions as well as LED lighting. These items have become a way of life for most of us but can cause eye strain and eye problems down the road.
What Exactly Is Blue Light?
Blue light is light with blue wavelengths, but it’s a lot more than just that. In fact, blue light contains the shortest wavelength with the highest energy.
Sunlight provides an essential source of blue light. What it does is keep you alert, elevate your mood, help your cognitive function and memory, and maintain your body’s natural circadian rhythm. This has to do with your wake and sleep cycle.
Blue light from digital screens is artificial and can cause issues with the eyes in regard to screen time, screen exposure, and how close your eyes are to a digital screen on a daily basis.
Blue Light Messes With Melatonin
Blue light is so powerful that our eyes cannot block it out. In other words, the light can pass through the cornea and lens and reach the retina. The blue light also disrupts your melatonin levels at night, which can make it difficult to sleep when you’re looking at these digital screens before bedtime.
Studies have also shown that blue light is damaging to both children and adults. It can cause cataracts to develop in addition to age-related macular degeneration and even eye cancer.
That is why wearing blue light readers before digital screen time is a wonderful solution. These special glasses can block out up to 30 percent of harmful blue light and help you avoid getting annoying headaches and tossing and turning in your bed.
The glasses also allow you to fall asleep and stay asleep.
Digital Eye Strain Is No Joke
We all love our high-tech devices and use them non-stop, but these amazing advancements in science and technology have also resulted in problems for the eyes because of all that blue light being emitted from these gadgets.
The nation’s Vision Council has been researching the issue for quite some time now and has found that anywhere from 27 to 35 percent of Americans have reported experiencing symptoms of eye strain after using digital devices.
This also includes blurred vision, burning, itching eyes, trouble concentrating, difficulty keeping the eyes open, headaches, and neck and shoulder pain.
The information also showed that many of us (or 67 percent) often use more than two digital devices simultaneously.
You Can Manage Blue Light Effects
The readers made for blue light are one solution. You can also use the well-known “20-20-20” rule for reducing digital eye strain, which many eye experts have recommended.
For example, make it a habit to take a 20-second break to view something 20 feet away every 20 minutes.
Doctors say that it takes your eyes about 20 seconds to relax completely.
Check out your phone app, too. There are free apps that will remind you to take a break for your eyes every 20 minutes using your screen.
Some health and wellness folks swear by drinking green tea for the eyes. When you take a break, make a cup of green tea. It contains catechin antioxidants that help the eyes maintain proper lubrication when it comes to making tears.
Try These Ergonomic Eye Care Tips
Here’s another one; sit farther away from your computer screen, for example. The rule is to sit 25 inches away or at arm’s length.
If your eyes feel dry, buy a humidifier to help retain eye moisture.
Clean your screens. Even grime and dirty fingertips can add eye strain when viewing the screen.
It’s hard to imagine a world without our incredible digital devices, right? The best way is to manage the blue light we are around every day and limit usage before bed
Balancing the amount of time we spend in front of mobiles or computer screens will ensure that our eyes are healthy in the long run.
