Blue light blocking glasses have become popular with the general public recently. I have seen ads for these types of glasses on Facebook, heard reads on podcasts, and even seen colleagues in the office wearing them. So what’s the deal with blue light blocking glasses, and why are they so in fashion right now?
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My Introduction to Blue Light Blocking Glasses
It was probably six or seven years ago that the idea of blue light blocking glasses entered my world. I was working at a videogame retailer at the time, and we happened to be having a midnight release on or around Halloween. My team decided to have fun and dress up for it.
A good friend of mine (he was the best man at my wedding) decided to dress like a professional eSports athlete. The costume was funny because he made himself a caricature. He pinned all kinds of entertaining and fake sponsorships to his jersey, work a pair of Astros around the store, and wore these strange yellow-lensed glasses.
Eventually, I had to ask about the glasses, as I don’t like to be left out of a joke. My friend informed me that GUNNAR Optiks made them, and they were used to reduce eye strain during long training sessions.
I must be honest; I went home and investigated them. Unfortunately, due to wearing prescription glasses, it seemed cost-prohibitive. I forgot all about them until earlier this year.
How Do Blue Light Blocking Glasses Work?
At the beginning of this year, I started taking my health more seriously. I fell into the world of health optimization and “bio-hacking.” While listening to a podcast about sleep hygiene, the concept of blue light blocking glasses came up. When I looked into them, I noticed that they were very similar to the GUNNARs my friend owned. It turns out that it is because the GUNNARs are just blue light blocking glasses marketed to gamers.
What’s the Science Say?
So, what’s the deal with blue light anyway? All day, we interact with different types of light from across the spectrum. Blue light is one of those and is quite beneficial. When blue light hits the photoreceptors in our eyes, it can trigger our bodies to be more energetic. We are kept awake during the day, to some degree, by blue light.
Blue light becomes a problem when we start dealing with it at night, because it stops the production of melatonin. If you aren’t aware, melatonin is the chemical our bodies produce to go to sleep.
Dealing with blue light at night was not previously an issue for most of us, and when the sun goes down, naturally occurring blue light stops. The problem is the amount of time we spend on our screened devices. Laptops, TV screens, gaming monitors, and cell phones all emit blue light.
The idea behind blue light blocking glasses is to reduce the amount of artificial blue light that we absorb. In theory, blocking the excess artificial blue light will make it so that your sleep cycle doesn’t get messed up. Science backs up that claim. Unfortunately, what science does not back up is that these glasses reduce eye strain.
Baseless claims are an ongoing problem in the industry. Some blue light blocking glasses brands go as far as to claim that their glasses protect your retinas from damage and enhance focus. Maybe they do; there is just no hard evidence.
Should You Buy Blue Light Blocking Glasses?
It depends on what you are looking for. If you are worried about eye strain and headaches, you can try them. Just be warned that no hard data supports that blue light blocking glasses will help. A better-proven method of reducing eye strain is to use the 20/20/20 plan. When working on a screened device, every twenty minutes, focus on something twenty feet away for twenty seconds.
If you work on blue light-emitting devices all day and have a hard time going to sleep at night, I would suggest trying a pair out. The science supports this particular use case.
The final reason you may want to wear a pair of these glasses is that you want to look like your favorite eSports athlete or streamer. That’s fine too. There is nothing wrong with emulating those you look up to.
Closing Thoughts, What’s Next
Hopefully, I have given you enough information to determine if blue light blocking glasses are for you. The science is solid for some claims, but not for others. Something to take into consideration is that we are all different. What works for me may not work for you.
I’m still very interested in blue light blocking glasses from a personal perspective. I work all day on computers and then play games at night. I have a hard time going to bed after playing Paladins into the early morning. How much of that is being hyped up from the game versus blue light reducing my melatonin production I don’t know.
So what I plan to do is grab a few pairs of these glasses. I will wear each throughout the day while I work and while I game. When I have given each pair a fair shake, I will come back to you all with my experience.
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