We've heard of the blue screen of death, but who knew the color blue could actually be harmful? Well, the wavelength anyway.
The blue light suppressed melatonin for about twice as long as the green light and shifted circadian rhythms by twice as much (3 hours vs. 1.5 hours).
In another study of blue light, researchers at the University of Toronto compared the melatonin levels of people exposed to bright indoor light who were wearing blue-light–blocking goggles to people exposed to regular dim light without wearing goggles. The fact that the levels of the hormone were about the same in the two groups strengthens the hypothesis that blue light is a potent suppressor of melatonin.
from Harvard Medical School Health Publications; http://www.health.harvard.edu/staying-healthy/blue-light-has-a-dark-side
So nighttime is an especially bad time to be browsing, chatting, steeming, or playing Candy Crush for two hours whilst in bed. Not saying that anyone here does that...
BUT there's a solution! Kinda. I mean, it's not a total solution, but it's fun to wear.
See those nifty shiny lenses and the cool colors they're reflecting back? They're blue light blocking glasses. No prescription required, they turn the world a pastel shade of orange, keep out a lot of the blue light baddies, and check out those frames. Not since 1945 have there been frames as styling as these.
I feel like Clark Kent, dilligently donning my geek-goggles before I sit down and start typing away the daily news. That deer-in-the-headlights look is because before my finger pushed the little camera icon on my phone, it suddenly started a countdown from three and just snapped the picture on its own. I smiled a millisecond too late. And I'm too lazy to take another.
Seeing as how the past couple of weeks my eyes had been feeling like tiny tumbleweeds (not meandering aimlessly about town, but deathly dry and crackly...), I decided to give these a shot. Got them off Amazon (two-day shipping is a godsend to lazy and impatient people like me) and I've been wearing them for almost a week.
Besides a nagging pressure on the bridge of my nose, I guess they're working. It's hard to tell. I spend so much damn time on Steemit, I really can't say if it's the blue light that's bothering my eyes, or just the hours upon hours spent reading text on a computer screen.
But if this doesn't help I'll have to find something else, because the alternative - not spending as much time on Steemit - is just not an option.
Anyone else have solutions to the bug-eyed computer zombie eye strain issues? I'd love to hear them!