It’s nearing midnight and Kyle Knapp ’22 is scrolling through the last of his social media accounts before he turns in for the night.
As he finishes up, and his eyes start to get heavy, Knapp takes off his blue light glasses and puts them close by, ready to grab once he wakes up.
“I feel like I’m sleeping better and getting more hours when I’m just laying in bed, instead of struggling to fall asleep,” Knapp said of his new glasses. “I can fall asleep easier with them.”
Blue light glasses are an increasingly popular solution for helping people deal with their reliance on digital screens and the side effects of so much digital glare. The lenses in blue light glasses contain special filters in them that help to eliminate the amount of blue light that the retina absorb, minimizing headaches and eye strain while looking at blue light devices, and increasing melatonin levels.
Online retailer Amazon sells a wide array of blue light glasses, ranging in price from $10 to well over $100. Knapp purchased his pair from Amazon for $15. The online glasses and sunglasses retailer Warby Parker also sells glasses with blue-light lenses.
Richard A. Stone, professor of ophthalmology at the University of Pennsylvania Perelman School of Medicine, explained how the cells in a person’s retinas react to blue light and how interactions with screens can rewire the brain.
“The concern of blue light, with screens [like] your phone, tablet, computer, they do emit blue light and stimulate these cells,” Stone said. “Those cells really activate your biology throughout your whole body telling you it’s daytime.”
Julia Sinkbeil ’22 purchased a pair of blue light glasses from Amazon for $13 to help eliminate the headaches she experienced while completing homework at night.
“They definitely help when I am doing my homework at night and looking at my phone,” Sinkbeil said. “Depending on how much work I am doing on my laptop is how much I wear them, probably like two to three hours a day.”
Jodi Mindell, Ph.D., professor of psychology at St. Joe’s, specializes in pediatric sleep psychology. Mindell said all light affects sleep, but blue light suppresses melatonin levels from rising, which presents someone from falling asleep faster.
However, Mindell said that although blue light glasses can have benefits for your sleep schedule, they are not the only solution.
“Your brain is super activated because you’re looking at social media, or an email that upset you, or engrossed in a video,” Mindell said. “[The glasses] probably have some positive benefits and if someone uses them, tries them and thinks it works, more power to them, but I wouldn’t rely on them as ‘I can then be on my screen with no problem if I just wear blue light glasses that filter out blue light.’”
Many electronics have applications that allow users to enable a setting that filters out blue light without having to spend additional money on glasses.
A night mode feature, where the layout of a phone is darkened, is available on most devices. Settings are called “Night Shift” on Apple products and “Night Light” on Lenovo products. It creates a yellow-tint in the screen, the same effect that the blue light glasses have while looking at a blue light screen.
Sinkbeil said she utilizes the night mode setting most when she’s using her phone before bed.
“It has almost the same effect as the glasses so I find it helps a lot as well,” said Sinkbeil.
While Sinkbeil utilizes the free setting on her phone, Knapp said he prefers his glasses.
“They help the best because of the eye strain,” Knapp said. “I think that’s what affected me in not doing that mode at all and just resorting to the glasses.”
Knapp also said the glasses are useful for watching television and playing video games, because television screens do not have a night mode setting.
Mindell said with night mode, headaches could subside, but falling asleep may still be difficult. Her best advice: tackle the problem at its source.
“Getting off your screens is more important than just keeping a pair of glasses on,” Mindell said.
