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The Run Down
Many of us have heard of blue light. We know it's bad but don't know why. Harvard Health Publishing at the Harvard Medical School has published new information regarding blue light and its affects on us. For one, they mention that blue light negatively affects our sleep cycle which in turn can possibly cause future disease. Blue light refers to the blue wavelength on the spectrum of light. Harvard Health mentions that blue light gives us some positive results in the daytime such as: increasing awareness, energy levels, and mood. This is because it can mimic the affect of the sun's natural light. However, the harm from blue light comes mostly when the sun goes down. They mention that being exposed to blue light (even a dim light) in the darkness suppresses the release of melatonin. This is why we are always recommended to put the technology away at least 2 hours before bedtime. It is important to note that blue light slows down melatonin production twice as much as other forms of light.
Solutions
It is recommended to use warmer or even red tinted lights as the sun goes down. Warmer toned lights resemble natural light and are not as harsh as blue light (which is cool toned) is in the darkness. It is good to install a blue light filtering app on our tech devices (computers and cell phones included!). Installing the app puts a digital filter on the screen, which is better than just wearing glasses. It is even better to place a physical blue light filter on our tech screens- kind of like a screen protector. This is because they filter out more blue light wavelengths than an app. While most of us know we must block blue light from the computer we forget about our small tech devices. Smart phones produce the same blue light as computer screens so we must put a filter on our phones as well. Something that I personally found interesting was that it is recommended to: "expose yourself to lots of bright light during the day". Apparently, exposing ourselves to more daytime-daylight (with proper SPF precautions) is beneficial for our sleep cycles! The more daylight we get in the daytime the easier it will be for us to adjust to nighttime and fall asleep.
For more in depth information on the harms of blue light and general information on staying healthy while working from a computer, check out the post: Keeping Healthy From Behind the Screen.
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