Can Blu-ray hazard so many LED desk lamps still work?

There is ample evidence that the blue light emitted by smartphones, tablets, laptops and other electronic devices is affecting the quality and length of our sleep. The darkness naturally reminds our body to rest, but now, we spend several hours every day after sunset to watch the bright display. In addition to turning off all of the light sources, there are many ways to reduce the exposure of blue light. But before that, let us first explore the scientific principles behind all of this.

What harm does Blu-ray have?

The expert's argument is that Blu-ray will tell us that our brain has not yet gone to sleep.

“About 30,000 of our glasses respond to blue light,” says clinical psychologist and sleep therapist Michael Breus. “The spectrum of blue light is about 460 nanometers. When it comes to these eye cells, the latter It sends a signal to the suprachiasmatic nucleus in the brain, commanding it to stop the production of melatonin. For sleep, melatonin is like the key to the engine."

Sleep researchers and scientists have fully understood the effects of blue light years ago. The circadian rhythm determines our internal clock. Those who are used to sleeping late have a longer rhythm than those who get used to getting up early. Sunlight usually makes these rhythms correspond to our environment, and Blu-ray therapy is often used to change sleep patterns and treat sleep disorders.

“In the past 50 years, the average sleep time and quality of humans have declined, which has also had a negative impact on our health.” Harvard Medical School said in a book entitled “Using a light-emitting e-reader at night will sleep, The circadian rhythm and the vigilance of the next morning have a negative impact," the report said.

This report evaluated the two groups. One group will read a four-hour regular paper book for five consecutive nights, while the other group will use the same time to read a glowing e-reader. It has been observed that testers using e-readers fail to produce sufficient amounts of melatonin, and they spend an extra 10 minutes on average to fall asleep. The rapid eye movement (REM) during sleep is also less than that of the other group of testers. many.

Naturally, the testers said they didn't feel tired at night, but they got more tired after waking up the next morning—although they slept the same time as the other testers.

Insufficient sleep can also cause other, more serious health problems. Researchers believe that circadian rhythm disorders can increase the incidence of various diseases, including heart disease, obesity, type 2 diabetes, and a variety of cancers. Although most of these diseases only occur during long night shifts or severe sleep disturbances, any problems with circadian rhythms can affect the human body. Lack of sleep can also cause emotional problems – anxiety and depression – and increase the risk of accidents.

Does blue light hurt your eyes?

Some scientists believe that age-related macular degeneration is associated with blue light, but the evidence is not sufficient. However, excessive exposure to blue light may indeed increase the incidence of cataracts and even blindness.

“The number of patients with age-related macular degeneration is increasing dramatically, even for today’s aging devices. As a result, risk factors are indeed changing,” said Professor John Marshall of the London Eye Institute. “In the case of cataracts, You will find that its incidence is highly correlated with the UV intensity of the living environment, which is why residents close to the equator often suffer from cataracts 5-10 years earlier."

We know the destructive power of ultraviolet light, and the blue light among them is the most influential to us. Blue light with a peak wavelength of 440 nm will cause damage to our eyes, while wavelengths up to 460 nm will inhibit melatonin production.

“Currently, the biggest source of Blu-ray is the sun, which is the biggest Blu-ray hazard you will encounter in your life,” Professor Marshall said. “As for smartphones, if you calculate their spectrum emissions, you know what they can do. The damage is actually very small."

The risk of injury is strongly related to intensity and brightness. “The light bulb is a brighter light source,” Marshall explains. “If you look directly at a light source, especially an LED, there will be a multi-color image on your retina that will fade for a long time. If you stare at the iPad. It's hard to see this on the screen."

LED bulbs may be more harmful than mobile phones

The effects of light bulbs in our homes may be greater than those of electronic devices. The study report "External exposure to indoor light at bedtime inhibits melatonin production and shortens melatonin duration" indicates that if exposed to indoor light before bedtime, 99% of people will have suppressed melatonin production. Its duration will also be shortened by about 90 minutes.

“The incandescent lamp emits almost no blue light, so it is relatively friendly to the human body,” Professor Marshall said. “But nowadays more common LED lights produce a lot of harmful blue light, so much that I personally won’t use it. ."

There is evidence that light bulbs can also affect our circadian rhythms and even damage our skin like the sun, but this is usually at close range and long exposure. A lot of bright light is obviously a problem, especially for night shift workers. But for ordinary people, reducing indoor lighting before going to bed is enough to solve the problem. But how do we deal with Blu-ray from electronic devices?

"Put a big hat, the right sunglasses, and think about the lighting at home," Professor Marshall said. "As for the iPhone and iPad, I won't worry about it anyway."

The correct balance of blue light

“Blu-ray doesn’t cause any problems for most of the day,” Dr. Breus said. “You just don’t have to be exposed for 90 minutes before going to bed.” The sun has a lot of blue light, they produce The negative effects are mainly concentrated on the inhibition of melatonin and the disturbance of circadian rhythm. But we need blue light in the morning, because it will increase our alertness.

“When we wake up in the morning, our circadian rhythm is a little bit off. In many cases, our biological clock is slightly longer than 24 hours, so we need to reset it every morning,” Dr. Breus said. One of my big advice for patients is to go out for 15 minutes of the sun every morning."

Of course, we also need to be careful to deal with blue light exposure. Distance is a very important factor, which is why many people think that mobile phones, tablets and computers are more threatening than light bulbs or TVs. But it is worth noting that the only thing that affects sleep is blue light exposure.

“I think people often overlook (other factors affecting sleep), that is, the degree of dependence on electronic devices,” Dr. Breus said. “If you are used to using electronic devices before going to bed, you are psychologically Behavior has a dependency."

How to filter blue light with special glasses

There are already some protective glasses on the market, but they usually use colored lenses, but some of the recently introduced lenses are no longer so heavy, such as the Jins Screen glasses. The scientific principles behind such glasses sound to be credible. Researchers have done a lot of research on anti-blue lenses, and they seem to have a positive impact on our sleep quality.

to sum up

If you have problems with your night's sleep, you should consider adjusting the use of indoor lighting and electronics. Blu-ray is just one of many factors that affect sleep patterns, but it should definitely attract our attention. Some experts suggest that we should avoid the use of electronic devices for half an hour before going to bed.

“Is electronic devices affecting our health? The answer is yes,” Dr. Breus said. “But they are not the only incentives.”