Blue Light Exposure and Your Mental Health
Artificial blue light exposure is unavoidable; if you're up, you're exposed to light of all kinds. It impacts how we feel physically, as well as our mental well-being. Research shows that letting in natural light can help with your sleep and energy and even help with your depression levels. But, there's a twist – too much exposure to artificial light, especially those sneaky blue light rays from our beloved gadgets, can throw our mental health off balance.
It Can Mess With Sleep
So here's the tea: being bombarded with blue light at night messes with our body's inner clock – the circadian rhythm. Our circadian rhythm is the main thing that holds us together. We can only achieve excellent sleep if we go through our typical cycle and achieve REM (rapid eye movement) while sleeping. If we can't get on a healthy cycle, this chaos leads to lousy sleep quality, becoming dead-tired, lacking productivity, and getting super stressed(1). This cycle can worsen, especially if you live in a city where the bright lights and signs never shut off. It's not an environment where you can ever escape artificial light (2)
Mental Heath Issues Are More Common
Moreover, blue light isn't holding back; it even contributes to a higher risk of depression. Along with mental health disorders and depression being more common year over year, one study found that people exposed to blue light for too long had worse depression symptoms than their blue-light-free counterparts. (3)
So, what can you do? Take a break and head outside! Basking under natural sunlight does wonders for mental health – it boosts your mood and helps to cast away those depression clouds.
Another easy way is just chilling on screen time, especially as bedtime nears. Switch off your devices a couple of hours before bedtime and relax. Reading, drawing, or any non-digital activity will significantly help.
Blue Light Blockers Help
One of the best ways to help block that blue light is investing in Gamer Advantage blue light-blocking glasses. With multiple levels of lens protection, you can feel confident going from the office to a night of gaming without worrying about your eye staring due to screen time. Gamer Advantage lenses block at 455 nanometers for ultimate protection and comfort.
Long story short: though exposure to light has its ups and downs for mental health, it's worthwhile to keep an eye on how much sneaky blue light we absorb daily. By limiting that exposure and embracing more natural sunlight vibes, we'll do wonders for our mental state and overall well-being.
Sources:
1 Harvard Health Publishing. (2018, August). Blue light has a dark side. Retrieved from https://www.health.harvard.edu/staying-healthy/blue-light-has-a-dark-side
2 Bedrosian, T. A., Nelson, R. J., & Sundararajan, M. (2011). Sleepless in a light-polluted city: The effects of short-wavelength light on sleep and circadian rhythm in the urban context. The Science of the total environment, 409(20), 4434–4442. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.scitotenv.2011.06.048.
3 Boubekri, M., Cheung, I., & Reid, K. (2014). Impact of windows and daylight exposure on overall health and sleep quality of office workers: a case-control pilot study. Journal of clinical sleep medicine : JCSM : official publication of the American Academy of Sleep Medicine, 10(6), 603–611. https://doi.org/10.5664/jcsm.3780
