How Does Blue Light Affect Your Eyes?

Dhruvin Patel

Optometrist and Founder of Ocushield

Dhruvin studied extensively the role blue light has in the eyes physiology and circadian rhythms whilst studying to become an optometrist. This allowed him to build the research backed Ocushield products we have today. Alongside this he spent many years working in clinical practice, from hospital practice to community settings where he further developed his clinical skills.

Comment on blue light:

Having learned about the dangers of blue light very early on in 2013 meant, I have been following blue light research closely over the years. The research/knowledge base has increased dramatically compared to what was available in previous years. Now we have epidemiological studies, clinical trials and peer reviewed papers all on how blue light affects our health.

It is now conclusive that blue light emitted from sources such as screens and ambient lighting, can affect three main aspects of our health. Firstly our eyes, by causing eye strain and headaches in the short term but also contributing towards Macular Degeneration in the long-term. Secondly, our sleep by suppressing the hormone melatonin which makes it possible for our bodies to fall asleep. Without the secretion of this hormone, we stay awake essentially. Finally, skin which has come from newer findings. We now know 30 hours of exposure to blue light from smartphone or laptop screens can increase the inflammation level in skin cells by 40%. This means more fine lines and early ageing.

In a digital age, we can’t get away from technology. But, we can be mindful of how we and our families use technology and adjust our environments so our bodies are being protected from overexposure to harmful blue light.

Gemma Clare

Holistic Skin Expert

Gemma is a visionary pioneer in her field with a specialised 360° approach to deliver personalised treatments. Integrating traditional holistic methods with evidence-based science, she merges eastern and western techniques, ‘clean’ medical skincare and cutting edge aesthetic technology to achieve naturally clear, radiant and youthful skin from the inside out.

Dr Roban

Sleep Specialist

Dr. Whitney Roban is a Family, Educational, and Corporate Sleep Specialist, as well as the founder of Solve Our Sleep. Her mission is to provide the sleep education and support families, students, teachers, and employees need to not only survive, but to thrive. Dr. Roban’s training and experience as a Clinical Psychologist paved the way to her success as a leading sleep expert.

Dr. Roban is the author of the award winning Devin & Evan children’s book series, and the first-ever School Healthy Sleep Curriculum. She is also a sought-after presenter to school districts and corporations around the country. Dr. Roban serves on the advisory board of the American Sleep Association, and has been featured in publications such as The New York Times, CNN, The TODAY Show, NBC, Business Insider, Forbes, Rolling Stone, GQ, Cosmopolitan, Women’s Health, and Working Mother.

Comment on blue light:

Sleep has an impact on every single area of our lives, and is the most important behaviour we engage in on a daily basis. Technology usage is another behaviour we take part in on a daily basis, yet it can have deleterious effects upon our sleep. The blue light emitted from electronics tricks our brains into thinking it's daytime. This causes our bodies to decrease the production of melatonin, the sleep hormone, which is the hormone we need to feel sleepy. Ideally, you should turn off all electronics at least one hour before bed, and you should also charge your electronics outside of your bedroom. If you must use electronics before bed for work or school, I always recommend using blue lock blocking products such as those created by Dhruvin Patel of Ocushield. Once you have powered down your electronics, engage in a relaxing bedtime routine in a cool, dark, and quiet bedroom. Having a sleep promoting bedroom environment, a consistent and relaxing sleep routine, and an appropriate and consistent sleep schedule, will keep your circadian rhythm (your sleep/wake cycle) steady, which leads to better sleep. The benefits of healthy sleep are truly endless.

Dr Saliha Afridi

Clinical Psychologist

Dr Saliha Afridi Emirates is a USA/UAE Licensed Clinical Psychologist and the Managing Director of The LightHouse Arabia. LightHouse Arabia provides psychological and psychiatric care to children, adults and families. Dr Saliha Grew up in the suburbs of Chicago, Illinois and moved to Dubai in 2008 with a mission to have a positive impact on the mental health of the individuals in this region.

Comment on blue light:

I believe one of the “must have” products of the digital age is a blue light screen protector. Blue light is causing havoc to our sleep cycles, as it suppresses the release of an essential hormone called melatonin. The disturbance of sleep and the lack of quality sleep are not only linked to a host of mental health problems such as heightened anxiety and lower mood - but also decreased levels of motivation, productivity and concentration. As well as poor judgement and problem-solving. To me, it’s a no-brainer. You should add this screen protector to every device in your household, especially as technology becomes more and more interwoven in our lives and the lives of our children. What I really appreciate about the Ocushield blue light screen protector is that it does not change the appearance of my screen at all (unlike my phone’s “Night Mode” or other protectors). I have more energy/focus in my day and my eyes are noticeably less fatigued after hours of sitting in front of my laptop/mobile phone. I highly, highly recommend this product for professionals, parents, and their children.

Dr Nikola Ragusa

Ophthalmologist

Dr. Nikola Ragusa is a glaucoma and laser cataract surgeon. He has a special interest in preventative medicine and improving visual health. He works in the New York City metro area and sees patients in The Bronx. He has given lectures nationally and internationally on various eye care issues - as well as innovations in eye care.

Comment on blue light:

We have seen a shift over the past year to working from home and increasing popularity of Zoom meetings/teleconference solutions. The need for protection and alleviation of digital eye related illnesses is becoming a must for a lot of patients.

Ocushield offers a way to increase comfort in a stylish and effective way. By offering blue light blocking technology - the user can work on their computer, tablet, and smartphone with less vision or ocular fatigue. For the Zoomer generation, this is a must. I recommend Ocushield’s products to all of my patients who work in front of screens regularly.

The best way to prevent eye strain from digital devices is through preventing their negative effects. Ocushield delivers on this, by helping their clients stay healthy and avoid digital eye strain before it begins.

Dr Nikita Desai

Optometrist

Dr. Nikita Desai is a therapeutic optometrist and has a special interest in ocular disease and low vision. She loves to care for her patients along with educating them about their ocular health.Dr. Desai was born in Toronto, Canada but raised in Savannah, Georgia. She obtained her Doctorate of Optometry from the University of Incarnate Word Rosenberg School of Optometry in San Antonio, Texas. She currently practices in Savannah, Georgia as a primary care and low vision optometrist. Apart from caring for patients, she enjoys spending time with her family and friends - along with traveling.

Comment on blue light:

Blue light is a type of visible light with a shorter wavelength, making it emit higher energy. Blue light is not only given off by the sun but also by computer screens, smartphones, flat-screen televisions, and anything that has fluorescent and/or LED backlighting (which includes regular light bulbs btw!).

It is important to understand the effects of blue light because it is not only damaging to the eyes short term, but also long term. Short term blue light effects can make the eyes fatigued and dry. This can contribute to the symptoms of throbbing pain around the eyes - some even suffer from itchy/”burning” eyes. The long term blue light effects can decrease the pigment in the centre part of the vision known as the macula. This can increase the risk of development of macular degeneration - and even blindness.

The sun can actually radiate more blue light than screens. However, with the increasing amount of time in front of/staring directly at screens, we’re starting to see it affect a lot more eyes than the sun. Using blue light filter glasses or screen protectors can help to decrease the amount of blue light that enters the cornea, lens or retina.

Ocushield has a lot to offer for their customers from screen protectors - from electronic devices to blue light blocking glasses. The variety of their products has allowed me to protect many of my own devices to help protect my eyes. This is why I feel so comfortable suggesting these products to my patients. Plus, with their beautiful range - I know they won’t have a hard time finding a product they like, to help protect their eyes!

Rachel Clarkson

Specialist Dietician & Nutritionist

Rachel has worked as a Clinical Dietician in the NHS at Chelsea & Westminster hospital before setting up her own private practice on the famous London’s Harley Street. Rachel is a board certified dietician and a healthcare professional that can assess, diagnose and treat medical conditions, working with both healthy and sick people.

Comment on blue light:

Now more than ever, sleep is becoming a major factor in our health and wellness. Sleep is not only important to give our body rest but it also gives our brain a chance to flush out toxins that have accumulated throughout the day, which can only be done when we are asleep.

We’ve all heard that phones and screens before bedtime are a big no! But do you know the science behind this? We have a helpful hormone in our body called melatonin, which is secreted in the dark, causing us to become tired and sleepy. In the morning as the sun rises and there is more light, melatonin stops being produced by our body which causes us to wake up! Our laptop or phone screens emit a particular type of light called “blue light”, which stops the production of melatonin. And without melatonin, our sleep quality is greatly compromised!

So how does this affect our body’s overall health? Recent research is showing us that sleep quality also plays a huge role in weight management. Studies are showing us that the less we sleep, the more hunger hormone (ghrelin) is produced and the less satiety hormone (leptin) is secreted. This causes us to eat much more after a night or two of bad sleep. Not only do we overeat because of this imbalance of hormones, but the research is showing we also don’t make the best food choices when our body is in this state! We are more likely to snack and eat energy dense, high carb and saturated fat foods. This can cause weight gain and also long term, can have other implications on our overall health.

Dr Joshua Roland

Board-certified sleep medicine physician and clinical instructor

Joshua Roland is a board-certified sleep medicine physician with extensive clinical and research experience in the field of sleep medicine. He is currently serving on the California Sleep Society board of directors.

He has multiple publications in scientific peer-reviewed literature, has contributed to sleep medicine textbooks, and has been cited by numerous sleep-related articles and media outlets.

Comment on blue light:

Sleep is a crucial aspect of our physical and mental wellbeing. Not getting enough rest has been linked to cardiovascular disease, diabetes, obesity, infection, inflammatory conditions, mood and mental health risks, car accidents, and issues with memory and cognition. Many people have trouble sleeping at night, often thought to be due to insomnia, when in actuality they have a circadian rhythm disorder known as delayed sleep-wake phase disorder, which can be due in large part to the negative impact of blue light.

Blue light, as emitted from our many devices and artificial lights, can be detrimental to our sleep through disruption of our circadian rhythm, or internal clock. Our internal sleep-wake schedule is in large part dictated by the naturally produced hormone melatonin. Our bodies are built so that in the evening when the sun goes down and it gets dark, melatonin is released from our pineal gland, keeping our circadian rhythm in sync and helping us to sleep at night and be awake and alert during the day. Studies have shown that blue light actually suppresses this naturally occurring melatonin release, diminishing one of the major driving forces propelling us to sleep. While in modern society it is hard to completely escape evening blue light, utilisation of blue light filters and low blue light products such as those offered by Ocushield can go a long way to reducing blue light’s deleterious effect on sleep.

Dr Natalie Chai

Optometrist

Dr. Natalie Chai is a board certified optometrist serving the Edmonton and surrounding area in Alberta, Canada. Her practice is focused on her special interests in Dry Eye Disease, Myopia Management, and Specialty Contact Lenses - all of which can be categorised as preventative medicine in vision health. She obtained her Doctorate of Optometry from Pacific University College of Optometry in the state of Oregon before moving back home to Canada. In light of COVID, she has re-entered the world of social media to spread awareness and provide educational content to her patients and others worldwide.

Comment on blue light:

One of the biggest advances in human history was the advent of the internet dating back to the 1970s. From there we entered the Information Age, also known as the Computer Age, the Digital Age, or Information Age. Alongside the exponential improvement in technology, the amount of people with personal computers have increased significantly - this rings true in the present time. Outside many factors such as closer working distances, dry work environments, low-blink rates, decreased hydration, poor ergonomics, what we know is that these screens are emitting invisible sources of energy that are being absorbed by our tissues - including our eyes. Though the science is suggestive of certain issues related to eye health, there is still a considerable amount of research that is needed for conclusive evidence. However, time and time again, many of my patients have provided their personal testimonies of how adding blue-light protection to their spectacle glasses or digital screens have helped with eye fatigue, less eye strain, and improved sleep habits. There is definitely something to it - I am a proponent of staying open minded and encouraging my patients to trial blue-light protectors, like Ocushield. As with anything in life, challenges are usually multifactorial, therefore the solutions we seek should also be multifactorial. Considering blue-light protectors is certainly part of the equation that will work complementary to other lifestyle changes.

Dr Julia Kogan

Health Psychologist, Behavioural Medicine Specialist

Dr Kogan is a health/medical psychologist and behavioural medicine specialist with expertise in stress and anger management, medical psychology, insomnia, and positive parenting.

She runs a large, integrative primary care-behavioural health program at the Jesse Brown Veteran's Hospital, providing behavioural health services to veterans reporting a variety of physical and emotional health concerns in primary care. Dr Kogan is certified in cognitive behavioural therapy for Insomnia (CBT-I) and motivational interviewing (MI) for health behaviour change.

Comment on blue light:

Blue light can negatively impact sleep by disrupting the body’s natural internal clock - the circadian rhythm. Exposure to blue light at night suppresses the secretion of melatonin, the hormone responsible for inducing sleepiness that can help us fall and stay asleep at night. Blue light is often found in our devices, such as televisions, smartphones, video game consoles, and tablets.

Poor sleep can increase the risk of depression, anxiety, and other mental health concerns. Poor sleep can also increase the risk of metabolic disorders and other chronic medical conditions.

Therefore, limiting blue light exposure close to bedtime is an important aspect of improving sleep at night. This includes dimming lights, minimising exposure to devices emitting blue light at night, utilising night features on smartphones, and using blue-light blocking products.

Dr Elise Kramer

Optometrist

Dr. Elise Kramer is a residency-trained optometrist in Miami FL who specializes in ocular surface disease and regular and speciality contact lens fitting. She enjoys lecturing all around the world in several different languages about ocular surface disease and speciality lenses. She strives to assist each patient with quality and advanced eye care whether he or she requires a basic eye exam or specialized eye or vision care.

Comment on blue light:

Today, excessive screen time is inevitable whether it comes to academic or professional requirements. One aspect of concern is blue light. Low-level squinting of the eyes, which has been shown to be elicited more easily with exposure to blue light can cause digital eye strain. Indeed, more screen time brings with it increased eye fatigue, eye strain, and headache frequency, and reduced sleep quality—not to mention increased exposure to potentially harmful short-wavelength (blue) light. Ocushield offers the only medically rated products to help protect us during work. While screentime is something we cannot avoid today, Ocushield arms us with a way to continue working safely and effectively.

Erinn Murphy

Ophthalmic Technician

Erinn is a Certified Ophthalmic Assistant, clinical trainer, and Director of Social Media Marketing at Fairview Eye Center located in Cleveland, Ohio. The Eye Centers is a multi-specialty eye care group composed of Ophthalmologists and Optometrists. Outside of work, Erinn enjoys spending time with her family and friends. She is an avid shark enthusiast and when not in the office, enjoys painting and cycling

Comment on blue light:

“In this digital age we live in, we are spending more time in front of computer screens and devices and there is a growing concern that blue light may have long term effects on the health of our eyes. Overexposure can lead to digital eye strain and retinal damage. To minimize the effects of blue light exposure, we should consider wearing blue-light glasses.

Ocushield offers blue light glasses which can help decrease eye strain from screens, reduce risk of eye diseases, and help reduce headaches caused by eye strain. Blue light lenses help increase contrast on your screen, making it easier to focus and therefore helping reduce eye strain. And while the eyes are good at blocking out harmful UV rays, they cannot block blue light which can lead to retinal disease such as macular degeneration.

We can not avoid digital screens so we need to find ways to protect our eyes from the potential negative side effects blue light can cause. Wearing blue light glasses can make an impact on maintaining good eye health.”

Dr Marc Grossman

Doctor of Optometry

Marc Grossman, Doctor of Optometry and New York State Licensed Acupuncturist, medical director at www.naturaleyecare.com and in practice for over 40 years.

Comment on blue light:

There have been a number of studies about how mobile device use impacts sleep due to the fact that the blue light radiation from smart phones inhibits melatonin production, which in turn inhibits sleep.

Researchers did an experimental study investigating the relationship between sleep, the distance the user holds the phone from their eyes, and eye fatigue.

In a small sample of nursing students the researchers used a subjective measure of quality of sleep and physically measured the distance between the smartphone and the users' head. The distance was measured for subjects both lying down and sitting up.

The amount of the viewing distance is directly related to the amount of eye fatigue, or asthenopia. Consequently it was expected that the viewing distance would also be related with the quality of sleep.

They noted that the viewing distance ranged from 5 1/4" to almost 13" for students who were using smartphones while sitting up. Users who were lying down tended to have a shorter viewing distance (3 3/4" to about 8 1/2").

Those subjects with the shorter viewing distance had poorer sleep and sleep efficiency.

The recommendation therefore is that a longer viewing distance causes less eye strain than a shorter viewing distance, and especially as it impacts sleep.

Dr Batool Sultan

Doctor

Batool Sultan, Doctor based in United Arab Emirates.

Comment on blue light:

Blue light is everywhere. It’s found in the sun’s rays and is emitted from the fluorescent lighting and screens of electronic devices.

Since we spend most of our times on our screens, it’s important to protect our eyes from the damage it holds. This excessive exposure to blue light has a lot of negative impacts on our health.

Blue light blocking glasses helps you to have better sleep quality and reduce eye strain. To combat the effects of too much blue light exposure, consider wearing blue light protection.

Dr Jess

I am Jess, a child sleep specialist and founder of Jess’ Sleep Secrets.

I am passionate about providing families with the tools and knowledge required to get their little ones sleeping well, using gentle and responsive methods.

I evaluate everything about the child and family, taking into consideration every aspect of the child’s day to day enabling me to create a program that helps ease a child into a good, healthy routine that provides them with the recommended amount of sleep for their age.

I provide the family with the knowledge and understanding behind any issues they have been experiencing. I teach and guide them through gentle, supportive methods that eliminates the sleep issues by giving them my one to one support throughout the whole process.

It’s really important to me that I provide my clients with support and guidance through this process and we work as a team to guarantee results. We are helping children build a positive relationship with sleep and improve the family’s overall quality of sleep.

Comment on blue light:

I try to raise awareness of different elements that can have a negative effect on a child’s sleep; blue light exposure has one of the most significant impacts. I have seen a clear correlation between blue light exposure and more unsettled, poorer quality of sleep in children. Our children are generally exposed to a higher level of blue light in their day to day life and this is having a huge impact on their circadian rhythm, their natural sleep-wake cycle.

Blue light acts like extreme daylight, causing the brain to release the wake hormone, cortisol. Blue light suppresses the production of the sleep hormone, melatonin so this confuses their natural body clock. Our children need quality sleep to support their growth and development, protecting them from blue light should be a priority.

Kari Michniewicz

Kari is the owner and founder of The Pediatric Sleep Teacher, LLC. She is a licensed early childhood educator and learning behavior specialist, as well as a certified pediatric sleep consultant. She has 10 years of experience working with children, families, and professionals after receiving her degree from Purdue University and additional certification through The Institute of Pediatric Sleep and Parenting. She works on creating individualized plans to collaboratively support families and young children in achieving their goals.

Comment on blue light:

The natural production of melatonin and cortisol is essential for our body's natural circadian rhythm (our sleep-wake cycle), which helps keep our body in a healthy homeostasis. Light is a MAJOR factor in regulating this hormone production. Cortisol is produced in the morning/daytime in coordination with sunlight to keep us wakeful, while melatonin is produced during the evening and nighttime hours to help us sleep. When we start introducing artificial light, especially during the evening hours and especially on the white and blue light spectrum, our production of melatonin is altered.

The biggest culprit of unwanted blue light comes from screen time. It can block efficient production of melatonin, thus completely throwing off our body's natural circadian rhythm, and therefore our good night's sleep. Living in the modern age doesn't always allow us to "power-down" when we really should, so having the ability to minimize its effects with Ocushield products is extremely valuable since we know quality sleep is essential to the growth, development, and health of our children!

Janet Whalen

Subtitle

Janet Whalen is a sleep and stress management coach for high performing, ambitious midlife women who have a hard time unwinding from their stressful lives and getting the rest they need. Her coaching program, Permission To Sleep, teaches women about the science of good sleep, then coaches them to understand how perfectionism, people pleasing, a too-strict productivity focus gets in the way of sleep so they can feel better mentally and physically, at work and at home.

Comment on blue light:

To stay healthy, humans must do three things: eat, move our bodies, and sleep. We know how to manage the first two, but sleep is harder because most of what we’ve been taught about sleep and insomnia is inaccurate.

We try harder to sleep, even though sleep is a passive activity that doesn’t respond to more action. We add complicated habits and routines to bedtime, trying to perfect it all, effectively doing the opposite of winding down. And most of us think we’re relaxing in bed by reading on our electronic devices when that behaviour prevents our bodies from producing the melatonin – the circadian rhythm regulating hormone that helps us prepare for 7-8 hours of sleep.

I always suggest turning off electronic devices at least an hour or two before bed for two reasons:

1. The content you’re consuming is often stressful. And once you’re stressed, sleep doesn’t come easily; and

2. The blue light your devices emit can trick your brain into thinking it’s daytime, and prevent you from producing the melatonin that helps initiate your sleep system. The result is you stay awake longer than you’d like.

While you’re learning new habits to help you unwind without electronics, or if you sometimes need to work into the evening hours, blue light blocking glasses and screen protectors can help reduce your exposure to that daytime mimicking light.

Nicole Shallow

I was born and raised in the mountainous province of British Columbia, I am an animal lover, sushi fanatic, and life long learner.

I have been a Board Certified Behavior Analyst®, since 2019 and love helping people feel empowered, and supported on their journey to make positive changes in their lives.

I love sharing what I have learned about sleep, habit building, and behaviour with everyone who will listen!

Comment on blue light:

In the modern world, we are exposed to blue light everywhere we look. From connecting with friends to doing the majority of our work from computers, zoom meeting and evening wind down with Netflix. With the amount of blue light exposure all day, no wonder majority of the population is struggling to get a good night’s sleep.

When it comes to blue light, it is not only impacting our sleep schedules, it is having an impact on our daily productivity and ability to show up and perform at our best every day.

A study was completed by Guarana & One (2021) and they found that there was a significant correlation between blue light exposure, sleep quality and work performance. Here is a brief review of the results

Blue light filtering glasses at night had higher sleep quantity and quality.Higher sleep quality and quantity performed better on work engagement.More likely to complete their assigned tasks for the day when they slept better.

Here are a few things you can implement to support you and/or your staff:

Flexible start/end times - Learn about yours and others body clocks, when they feel the most alert and when they feel the most tired.

Invest in blue light blocking products - Embed natural daylight exposure and breaks into the day and day light into the offices (windows are also important if they can’t get outside.

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Expert Approval

Dhruvin Patel

Gemma Clare

Dr Roban

Dr Saliha Afridi

Dr Nikola Ragusa

Dr Nikita Desai

Rachel Clarkson

Dr Joshua Roland

Dr Natalie Chai

Dr Julia Kogan

Dr Elise Kramer

Erinn Murphy

Dr Marc Grossman

Dr Batool Sultan

Dr Jess

Kari Michniewicz

Janet Whalen

Nicole Shallow

Is blue light damaging your eyes? A whitepaper developed by Clinicians.