Are you feeling dizzy, unfathomably tired and stressed, or are your tears falling without knowing why or how after a long day at work? Before rushing to take a complete psychiatric evaluation, maybe you could first take a look at how you go about in your day to day work life. Unbeknownst to many, everyday, we are actually being exposed to something that seems so benign at first, — well it is, and it should be. But, at increased quantities, we start getting negative reactions to blue light. As the title says, computer glasses, has been gaining buzz as something that can protect us from the evil that is blue light. But what exactly is blue light and why do we need computer glasses to protect us from it. Is it worth it to buy computer glasses? Would it be cheaper than getting, say, eye surgery? Let us dissect each of these questions one by one and finally understand what the fuss about computer glasses is all about.
Blue Light Glasses: Do we Have to be Blue about Blue Light
Blue is the color of the ocean and the sky and has been heralded as a symbol for peace and tranquility. Nothing bad should come out of it, or so we thought. Yes, very controversial, I know, but we are going to look at the good, as well as the bad side of blue light.
Blue Light Glasses: Blue Light – What it is
If you are as wily and keen as the next fellow, then you might already know the inner workings of light itself. But, if you are like most people who have better things to do than to walk through the nerdities of light physics, then here is a little primer. White light is actually made up of several strands, and the most prominent of them are the colors that you see on a rainbow. These colors are shades different because of the different energy levels they possess. This means that the waves that they project have lengths corresponding to the amount of energy that it has. When you hear people say that light is a wave, here is where that applies. The power in a light’s wave is measured by how fast the wave moves, and the way that a wave can move faster is if it has shorter amplitudes or apex. Basically, high energy lights have shorter amplitudes and low energy lights have higher amplitudes. The amplitude can get higher and higher and you get to microwave frequency and if you go the other way you get to the ultraviolet light. Notice how both of these lights are not visible? That is because when we talk about the spectrum of light the composes the white light, we are talking about the visible spectrum of light. And this matters because the eyes can only react, or be affected by light that it does see.
All the nerdiness aside, the real issue here is where blue light stands. As per the definition earlier, blue light is in fact formed by the wave which has the shortest amplitude and thus the highest power from all the visible light. But do not fear, normally blue light is benign and is in fact beneficial which will be talked about in the next section.
Blue Light Glasses: Blue Light – The Good
First, things first, blue light in itself is not necessarily evil. In fact, it performs as an important stimulator for human function. When our eyes get hit with blue light, we feel awake and responsive. This is the power that blue light has and is crucial to our everyday lives. If you have ever worked on a night shift, then you would know how waking up to a dark sky compares to waking up to a sunshiny day. Blue light wakes you up and you just do not notice it. If you are not convinced then think about how you normally sleep. Do you sleep better with the lights on or when the lights are turned off? The reason why people prefer to have the lights off is because the blue light will keep them from being able to rest. With lights turned off, the eyes will be subject to blue light and it will not be able to rest properly.
Blue Light Glasses: Blue Light – The Bad
So, what exactly makes blue light dangerous if it has all these important body functions? To answer this question we first have to look at how we lived before the advent of all artificial lighting. Back then, we had all the same glory that sunlight brought us and as we all know it is the biggest source of blue light. But, what changed was how we are being subjected to blue light after dark. Back then there was not any blue light after the sun has set making our prehistoric versions of ourselves able to manage their sleep schedules. Nowadays however, the sunlight competes with our smartphones, television sets, and computers for our daily blue light consumption. Evolution has, as so far only taken into account the blue light that is exposed to us during the day. A healthy amount of it means that we can be alert and awake during the day, but more than that means difficulty in sleeping.
Blue Light Blocking Glasses
As the handsome inventors saw a problem, so did they see an opportunity to help out on the matter of blue light. Enter, computer glasses. These glasses are specially designed to filter out the strands of blue light from white light to reduce our exposure to it. But, the question still remains, who should wear one, who does not have to, and when should we wear it.
Computer Glasses – Who Should Wear It
If you suffer from constant eye strain because of the nature of your work, then the reason for this might be the overexposure to blue light. Try slapping on a pair and see if it feels better after a few days. At the very least, it should improve your sleeping habits and it can give you a better mood by the end of each day. To be sure, check with your eye doctor if you should be allowed to wear computer glasses.
Computer Glasses – When to Wear It
As has been discussed earlier, blue light is essential to make us more alert and wake us up when we get up from sleeping. When you plan to wear computer glasses that block out blue light, it might be best to use it sparingly, especially if you are not gonna be in constant contact with sunlight. Since you would need a certain amount of blue light to keep yourself awake, depriving yourself of blue light when you should actually be awake might mean you would be sleepier than what you wanna be.
Do You Need Computer Glasses
If you think that your eyes may feel a lot more irritated and drier than usual after long days while doing work on a computer, then you might actually need a brand new pair of computer glasses. This happens normally happens to us as we age and there is nothing to worry about. The eyes can get a lot more sensitive to blue eyes as we get older so computer glasses should start to be a consideration especially if we start working with computers at a younger age.
It is no secret that every modern modern business workplace nowadays will be stockfull of computers or any kind of digital devices such as phones or other gadgets. As a concrete proof, you have arrived at the bottom of this article, looking for an answer from your eye woes. It is no surprise that at home, at work, or wherever, there is a perfectly good reason for a lot of us to completely rely on these blue light emitting devices. However it must also be the reason that most of us suffer from stress quite often as well.
Who here has not wanted to do a remake of the office movie on his or her computer whenever it causes us unnecessary delay? This however is not the kind of stress that is getting to us and, in fact, it could even have a far worse effect. It is indeed true that blue light causes us stress and strain that could mean a lot of problems further down the road.
Computer Glasses: CVS – Computer Vision Syndrome
If you have taken notice of how your eyes can become sometimes strained, irritated, or both at times in spot occasions during the day, then you might be dealing with something that we call, computer vision syndrome. This condition is a temporary kind of vision condition which is attributed to our bad habit of staring down at your computer monitor for periods that may last for hours upon hours without any form of protection whatsoever that can guard us from the blue light coming from the computer screen. There are quite a lot of symptoms that can be had from this kind of subjection like dryness or redness of the eyes, blurred vision, headaches and dizziness, and even double vision. Computer vision syndrome is largely a condition that can be traced back primarily into from having to stare at a glowing computer screen that radiates blue light into our eyes directly.
In today’s age, it has been accepted that many of us are forced to wear corrective glasses for us to deal with our vision problems. However such kinds of corrective eyeglasses are far from enough when we are talking about protection from computer vision syndrome. Computer glasses are designed specifically to assist us in limiting the strain that we put on our eyes. These computer glasses will have a coating that can filter our some reflective light and thus, help in reducing the glare. Additionally, the tint can also help in increasing the contrast so we can have an easier time reading on screens that emit light. If you are already prescribed glasses that has corrections, do not worry as there are already computer glasses that are designed specifically to help with our nearsightedness or our farsightedness.
What to do before Buying Computer Glasses?
Buying Computer Glasses: Have a comprehensive eye exam
As much as corrective lenses can help our eyes deal with its conditions, any wrong prescription can actually do more harm than any good. Before buying a set of computer glasses, make sure that it is right for you and will not do more harm than good, especially in the long run.
Buying Computer Glasses: Check your Lighting
We are trying to limit our eyes exposure to only a specific kind of light so there is a way for you to have the same kind of ventilation without having to turn from light bulbs to candle light when working. There are warmer colored electric lamps that can be used in place of the traditional LED lamps that are brighter but will cause damage to your sleeping pattern.
Buying Computer Glasses: Use better computer screens
If you are one of the older computer users, then you would recognize a dark little screen on front of a clunky monitor that was supposed to block terrible radiation from reaching our eyes. In the age of flat screens and curved monitors however, this is no longer applicable. Not only do LED screens no longer flash the same radiation levels, it would completely destroy the picture, and not to mention how tacky and uncomfortable it looks.
As an alternative, you can choose to instead, pick out better monitors that have lesser blue light as compared to what you are using when you are experiencing the eye strains. These kinds of monitors are designed specifically to bring out the warmer colors and reduce the brighter ones to ensure that the strain does not accumulate in our eyes. However, it is worth noting that however you pick out your monitor, there will still be some level of blue light coming from it so do not get complacent. Computer glasses paired with low blue light emitting computer screens may just be exactly what you need.