The Blue Light Paradox
Sounds interesting, doesn’t it? Almost a red-pill vs blue-pill scenario. Only, not at all. What I’m going to be discussing is a bit scarier. If you read my previous (and first!) newsletter, there was a small quip discussing blue light exposure. Today, we’re going to dive into the blue light affecting your eyes, brain, and body this very minute, as you are reading this newsletter. That, my healthnuts, is the paradox.
If you have paid attention to any headline in the previous 20 years, you will have seen the dire warning of how blue light is affecting our sleep. A lot of people tuck that into the same pocket that the headlines about margarine being unhealthy, eggs being too fatty, and red meat being bad for you go into. (the only one with truth there is margarine) Sometimes, there’s a headline that sticks, such as the one about salt being the cause of high-blood pressure. Unfortunately, this one still affects how the generation before mine eats. I digress.
For some reason, the blue light headline has never made it passed the newsstands. In the last 5 years, it has started to receive some traction, but it is not a discussion to be held over the dinner table. Yet. While you are staring at your phone or computer and absorbing blue light, let me teach you about what it is doing to you.
I firmly believe that the only way to understand something, is to fully dive into said thing. Perhaps it’s the way my brain works, but to understand where something is going, you must first understand where it came from. If we want to truly discover the root of any health questions, hiccups, or issues, we must first discover the dirt surrounding the root, and where/how/why that root was able to grow in the first place. To relate this to this specific newsletter, that means we must determine what blue light is.
Blue light is part of a spectrum that makes up what we call sunlight. Sunlight contains red, orange, yellow, green, and blue light rays, with several different shades of each. White light, like the light emitted from the sun, is the combination of these colored visible light rays. There are also invisible ones, such as UV rays which is what tans (or burns) your skin. Too much physics aside, our eyes interpret colors of light based on the amount of energy they contain. Certain light rays that have short wavelengths contain more energy within them, and those with longer wavelengths contain less energy. (allaboutvision.com/cvs/blue-light.htm)
Blue light rays have short wavelengths and high energy. Red wavelengths are longer and less energy, and most other rays fall somewhere in between the two. Sunlight contains both these visible rays and invisible rays, as mentioned above. In moderation, UV rays help the body manufacture Vitamin D. Too much exposure causes sunburns. Like UV, blue light exposure contains risks and benefits. Sunlight is the main source of blue light, and being outside during daylight is the most abundant exposure. However, think about our current lifestyle. We are house-dwellers, and no longer work outside in the daylight. We have manufactured our own blue light, whether in the form of light bulbs, digital screens, or fake candles.
Source: https://gunnar.com/blog/what-are-blue-light-glasses/
The difference here is we no longer can step away from the blue light. Before the proliferation of electronics with screens, we were outside with the sun, and when the sun went down, we went inside and spent the evening in relative darkness. This is where our Circadian rhythm comes into play (see my last newsletter here!) Our circadian rhythm is our body’s natural biological clock that ticks to our body’s light exposure, which in turn keeps us aligned with our environment. This is where eating according to where you live can also come into play. Wellness is a spiderweb, not a linear journey. See where we’re going? Blue light is an unnatural exposition for our brains, eyes, and bodies. So what exactly happens to our bodies?
Our bodies, as we continuously feed them blue light
Exposure to light suppresses the body’s production or secretion of melatonin, which is the hormone that influences our circadian rhythms. It’s what makes us sleepy. Prior to the digital age, we would get up with the sun, expose our bodies to the blue rays which help with attention, reaction times, and mood, work all day, then conclude our day when the sun was going down. This slowed the production of vitamin D, and allowed our bodies to begin creating melatonin to allow us to get sleepy and go to sleep at a decent hour in order to wake up and do it all again. Now, we have artificial lumens everywhere, and blue light exposure is abundant. Blue light at night affects our ability to be sleepy, which in turn affects our circadian rhythm, which in turn affects our sleep efficiency, mental tenacity, and decision making.
Now that we understand what is going on, what can we do about it? One of the easiest ways to reduce our blue-light exposure in the evening is to create a night-time routine. You may have heard of this before, and the suggestions on the interwebs can include lowering the lights, staying away from screens, drawing a long hot bath, meditating, lighting candles, etc. However, those of you reading this are real people with a real schedule. As a new mom, my evening is precious, as it is the only time I get to myself, and I love watching TV, or playing PlayStation, or catching up on my phone. So, to be realistic, an hour before bed, we can put our phones down. Put them on the charger and forget they exist. 2-3 hours before bed, turn the blue-light blocker on your smart phone. Most all of them have a Digital Wellbeing setting nowadays that lets you adjust that. You could turn the TV off, but that would make me a hypocrite by suggesting such a thing.
Me sleeping, knowing my body hasn’t been interrupted by blue light exposure after my night-time routine
What I’ve come to realize through trial and error is that the night-time routine could just be you taking a shower (if you don’t in the morning), brushing your teeth, getting ready for bed, then going to bed. Think about it, that could be 20-45 mins of time spent away from blue light just like that (unless you have a TV in your shower which I do not recommend. You’d get exposure to more than just blue light, HA!) Once you put your phone on the charger and get ready for bed, you’ve almost done an hour sans blue light. Now, here’s the trick. Once your phone is charging, DO NOT PICK IT BACK UP. Once you’re ready for bed, lay down and don’t watch anything else, don’t scroll social media, and don’t even look at your charging cord. I challenge you to do this for 1 week. Take note of your sleep progression, and how you feel the next day. I have trained myself to do this. It is challenging, and sometimes I fail, but once every couple of months looking at my phone in the dark is much better than every night.
If you were to establish this routine, another benefit of it would be to train your body to prepare for bed and begin the melatonin production at a higher rate as you are doing your routine. It’s like setting up a routine for a baby. They become used to it so they know what to expect. Same thing goes for your body. After a few days, you will begin to get sleepy on your own as you move through your nighttime routine. It doesn’t have to be at the same time every night, but it should be within an hour. Just try it and see if you are able to notice the benefits. Please let me know if you try it by emailing me at holistic@glisteningnutrition.com! See you next time!
Helpful Resources:
https://www.health.harvard.edu/staying-healthy/blue-light-has-a-dark-side
https://www.allaboutvision.com/cvs/blue-light.htm
https://www.sleepfoundation.org/bedroom-environment/blue-light
