Do blue light blocking glasses help sleep?

Sleep is an important pillar of optimal health. However, sleep quality has declined and people are sleeping less than they did in the past. Artificial light is still relatively new and the exposure to this type of lighting is still being studied for how it is affecting your biology. Researchers do know that poor sleep can be linked to heart disease, depression, obesity, and Type 2 diabetes. The increased use of electronics and artificial lighting at night has been contributing to sleep problems. Since these devices emit blue wavelength light, it can trick your brain into thinking its actually daytime. There are many studies that suggest that using devices that emit blue light in the evening can be disruptive to your brain's natural sleep and wake cycles. These cycles are important for your overall health.

How Does Blue Light Disrupt Your Sleep?

In order to understand how blue light disrupts your sleep, it helps to know more about the body. The body has an internal clock, which regulates the sleep cycle. The circadian rhythm is the 24-hour biological cycle that affects different internal functions, including when you should be asleep or awake. The circadian rhythm needs signals from the external environment in order to adjust. These signals are usually darkness and daylight. The wavelength of blue light stimulates the sensors in your eyes and will send signals to the internal clock in the brain. Sunlight and white light do contain different various wavelengths but both have a large amount of blue light.

Blue light is not all bad.

When you get blue light from the sun in the daytime, it will help you stay awake and alert and it helps with your mood and performance. In fact, blue light therapy has been known to treat depression and blue light bulbs can help improve the performance and mood of office workers. Avoiding blue light during the day can also be linked to sleep troubles.

Electronic devices, especially computer monitors and modern light bulbs, will produce large amounts of blue light and this disrupts the internal clock if you are exposed to it during the evening. When it’s dark outside, the pineal gland will secrete a hormone called melatonin that tells your body to get tired and start to fall asleep. Blue light, whether it’s from a device or the sun, is an effective inhibitor of melatonin production, which reduces the quality and quantity of sleep. There are also studies that link melatonin suppression in the evening hours to different health problems, including cancer, metabolic syndrome, and depression.

How Do Blue Light Blocking Glasses Help?

The best way to get better sleep is to stop using devices when it gets dark outside. However, this usually isn’t an option for most people. Blue light blocking glasses may be the easiest way to avoid blue light exposure at night. These glasses block blue light so your brain doesn’t get the signal that it is supposed to stay awake. Different studies show that those who use blue light blocking glasses while using an electronic device produce the same amount of melatonin. Those who wear the glasses notice improvements in sleep.

Blue light blocking glasses can also be helpful for shift workers. Shift workers are at a higher risk for disruptions because of non-traditional schedules. Shift workers who use blue light blocking glasses during their shift find that it improves their sleep efficiency. There are plenty of great and trendy blue light blocking glasses that will block out a majority of the blue light. Put them on when it gets dark outside and then take them off right before you go to bed in order to improve your sleep patterns.

Other Blocking Methods

If you don't want to use blue light blocking glasses, there are different ways to reduce blue light exposure before bed. You can install programs on your computer or smartphone in order to adjust the color and brightness of your screen. You can also turn off lights in the home one to two hours before bedtime and keep your bedroom completely dark or use your sleep masks. It also helps to expose yourself to blue light during the daytime hours in order to keep the cycle working.