Since 1992
Print and digital marketing
By Patrick W. Smith
Headaches, eyestrain, insomnia and more have been linked to blue light emanating from display screens. Whether you are a casual smartphone user or on your computer until the very last hour, you’ll benefit from reducing exposure to blue light.
Before Thomas Edison invented the light bulb, people spent their nights in relative darkness. Our evenings are now illuminated with electronic screens that interfere with the body’s biological clock — the circadian rhythm.
Our sleep suffers, which can lead to an array of health problems including obesity, diabetes and heart disease.
Blue wavelengths differ from other colors. In the daytime, they boost alertness and mood. At night, they’re disruptive.
While any type of light at night can suppress melatonin (a hormone that helps control sleep-wake cycles), blue light does so more extremely. Experts suggest avoiding electronic screens three hours before bedtime.
But for those of us using computers during the evening, there is help. It’s a blue light filter and it’s probably preinstalled on your devices. You can turn it on by going into the settings. It’s such an important feature that all major companies have their own version. Windows 10 calls it Night Light, on Apple products it’s Night Shift, on Kindle it’s Blue Shade.
All of them warm up the screen colors by subduing the blue light. Like magic, the painfully bright display immediately stops piercing your retinas. Colors become softer, whites warmer. Aside from improving sleep and other health benefits, the softer glow provided by a blue light filter is so preferred among avid computer users that many keep this feature activated, even during the daylight.
