Fact: Blue Light from your Electronic Screens can mess with your sleep.
I recently discovered that I find it hard to go to sleep at night but yet I woke up very late and feeling exhausted. In this article I'll share with you what I found was responsible for this.
Maybe you already know this or maybe you don't but light, as in white light, is a combination of different spectrum (colours) of light.
That being said experts find that the blue-light or the blue wavelengths have a powerful effect on your mood.
Here's how it works.
Your body produces an hormone called melatonin that makes you sleepy. So during the day when there's sunlight, there's a high intensity of blue light coming from the sun and what it does is to block the melatonin. And the result is that you're mentally alert and sharp.
That's basically how you stay active during the day, that's if there are no other factors in play. So when the sun goes down the production of melatonin progresses without hindrance and when it gets to a particular threshold it takes it's toll on you and you feel sleepy.
But all that was before the advent of artificial lights. This is because the source of the blue light is no longer exclusively from the sun. These artificial lights (mostly those from electronic screens) have a high intensity of blue light that blocks melatonin.
The consequence is that the production of melatonin which should be hindered only during the day to maintain what is called the "circadian rhythm" is disrupted. The circadian rhythm in lay terms can be seen as the body's internal clock that controls your sleeping and waking up.
So when it's dark the melatonin levels is like an informant that the time for sleep draws near.
However, being exposed to blue light in the night, it's like turning back the hands of your alarm clock and it feels as though it's still day. That way you still feel alert as during the day and are more likely to be absorbed in coding or gaming as you'd be during the day.
It's note worthy that all other light spectrum can have same effect on your sleep at night but that of blue light is more significant because experts state that our eyes can't block blue light so it passes straight through to the back of the retina. And study shows it could cause damage to the retina.
Artificial sources of blue light include:
• Televisions
• Smartphones
• Tablets
• Gaming systems
• Fluorescent light bulbs
• LED bulbs
• Computer monitors
Ways to Manage Blue Light include
• Use of blue-light blocking glasses
• Cutting back on screen time especially in the night hours.
• Reducing screen brightness or switching to night mode may also help.
• Use fluorescent bulbs instead of LEDs. You can also use a dim red lightbulb as a nightlight. Red is the color that least affects your circadian rhythm.
• The National Sleep Foundation recommends that you should stop using electronic devices, at least 30 minutes before going to bed.
Thanks for reading!!
REFERENCES
Harvard Health Publishing. Blue light has a dark side. https://www.health.harvard.edu/staying-healthy/blue-light-has-a-dark-side. Accessed 19th August, 2022.*
Sclhealth. Why it's time to ditch phone before bed. https://www.sclhealth.org/blog/2019/09/why-it-is-time-to-ditch-the-phone-before-bed/.Accessed 19th August,* 2022.
Maureen Salamon. How Blue Light Affects Your Sleep. https://www.webmd.com/sleep-disorders/sleep-blue-light. Accessed 19th August, 2022.*