Blue light generated by the screens of our smartphones, televisions, computers and other tablets, can be dangerous for the eyes of adults and children.
As we discussed in a dedicated article, blue-violet light (from 380 nm to 455 nm) can make several effects on the eye and on the aging of our cells. Although it is partially filtered by the lens in adults, it penetrates at the center of the retina and can trigger side effects : migraines, sleep and attention disorders, visual fatigue, premature aging of the eye (AMD).
Children are more sensitive, as their lens is still developing. Therefore, it doesn’t have the same filtering capacity until the age of 10, which means that the effects of blue light may be greater in younger people.
It is important both for the young and old, to protect their eyes from this controversial blue light, the effects of which are quite often neglected..
The good news being that several solutions do exist, to limit the negative impact of exposure of screens on the eyes.
Here are 3 tested and approved tips, to protect your eyes and those of your children from blue light.
Take action on ergonomics, the environment and lighting
Workstation ergonomics
When it comes to the screen, whether it’s the family computer or at the office, the ergonomics of the workstation are essential.
A good arrangement allows you to effectively protect yourself from the harmful effects of the screen’s bluelight. The top of the screen should ideally be at eye level. As for the space between the screen and the eyes, it should be between 50 and 80 centimeters. If the viewing angle for looking at the center of the screen is between 15 and 20 degrees, the positioning is optimal.
The room’s lighting
In terms of the room’s lighting, it must be enough to avoid placing too much strain on the eyes, especially in the case of a strong contrast. It is true that the more you force, the closer you get to the screen, and the more you are exposed to blue light. If the lighting is too bright, it can cause a glare and tire out the eyes.
This is why in terms of light, the screen should be placed perpendicular to a window in order to respect the balance between natural light and glare.
ANSES also recommends using indirect or "warm white" type of lighting at home and at work.
Address the problem of blue light at the source: the screen
Physical filters
Physical blue light filters for the screens of smartphones, tablets and computers do exist, even though they are still rare. This is an interesting first solution which helps take action at the source and protect your eyes and those of children from blue light.
These are effective but restrictive methods, because this technique requires one filter per device.
Brightness adjustment
Other means do exist for screens, mainly through the parameters, by adjusting the screen’s brightness. This makes sense, because less light means less blue light.
However, the ideal is not to reduce the brightness to a minimum, but to align it with the ambient lighting so that you limit eye straining.
Filters built into the operating systems of computers and other devices
Blue light filters are even built into computers and some smartphones and tablets while most people don’t know this: Night Shift settings on Mac OS and iOS but also the Night Mode on Android and Blue Light on Windows 10 mainly are among these.
The idea? Help curb the harmful effects of exposure to blue light, by automatically reducing the emission of this light’s wavelength on a programmed basis at fixed times.
Software and applications (like "F.lux", free on PC and MAC) also exist to adapt the screen’s brightness during the day which helps reduce the amount of blue light that is emitted. The idea? Keep enough blue light to stay awake and alert in the morning and during the day, and decrease as much as possible in the evening.
Wear blue light blocking glasses
Besides from the previous advice which works, the anti-blue light glasses (equipped with filtering glasses) remain the most efficient solution in the long run, to protect the eyes from the screens.
Adapted to the requirements of children and adults, anti-blue light glasses are becoming more common and offer their share of advantages, in addition to simple eye protection.
As specified by Pr Serge Picaud, neurobiologist, “These glasses block a major amount of light among the wavelengths identified as toxic for the retina. So we can assume that the retinal cells are really protected". This is confirmed by Dr Petra Kunze : "There isn’t really any protection per se, except to put filters between the light sources and our eyes", by referring both to the physical filters which need to be affixed to the screens and to the glasses against blue light.
The lenses of our glasses for children (Blue Light Kids) and adults (Blue Light) filter 99% of wavelengths from 380 to 410 nanometers, 80% of wavelengths from 420 nanometers and 40% of wavelengths of 430 nanometers (the most harmful wavelength). Therefore the protection is optimal, it is a real personal filter that protects against all sources of blue light.
Especially since Nooz lenses have the specificity of offering a high filtering power, which is also one of the most effective on the optical market today, for both adults and children..
Moreover, unlike others, our anti-blue light lenses are slightly tinted and therefore with an almost non-existent yellow tint effect and they benefit from an effective anti-reflective treatment, which makes them all the more comfortable.