Blue Light : Electromagnetic Spectrum

• As we transition into fall, many of us will be going back to school, in person to work or handling more tasks with less vacation time (bye summer!) and using devices more!
• Blue light is radiation that comes from most devices and is all around us – but is very dangerous due to its short wavelength
• It’s important to be cautious of such radiation and take the right precaution to stay as safe as possible!

How many of us are excited about fall? This season means back to school, back to work – and less vacationing for a bit! Gradually, many companies are encouraging workers to go back into the office in person or continue with a hybrid approach. Although bittersweet, this actually means that a lot of us will be going back to being on our laptops for a long time and working for hours trying to figure out an assignment or spending way too long on a zoom call for a team assignment/project due the next day. Well with this, it only makes sense to highlight the importance of practicing digital wellness as we return to school/our workplaces. You can check out our blog on what is digital wellness and ways to implement it, but today we’ll be taking a deep dive into blue light – which has been a trend in the digital wellness space for a while now.

What is blue light you ask? Well, chances are, you’re reading this article on a device that emits blue light. On the EMF spectrum, the blue light comes close to the bottom of the list, with a very short wavelength and only slightly better than UV rays. Surprisingly, blue light is actually all around us. The sun even emits it – humans are currently exposed to higher levels of blue light than ever before because of our prolonged usage of devices that depend on LED tech. And these devices depend on such light because of its benefits: it’s really effective for thin screens, is energy saving, is able to stay lit for a long time, and is sturdy. However, that also means that computers/laptops/flat screen TVs/cell phones/tablets – any smart device really, uses LED technologies with extremely high levels of blue light, hence its dangerous nature.

How does it affect you? Well as we know, staring at a bright screen all day actually results in straining the eye, premature eye wrinkles, and more tiredness. Blue light also has the potential to damage the photoreceptors in our eyes which can cause dry eye and degeneration of our eye muscles. Some animal studies have also demonstrated how blue light has the potential to cause severe damage to the retina, however, due to the newness of led devices, we still don’t have longitudinal studies to come to concrete conclusions.

However, another vital consequence of blue light is that it actually postpones the release of melatonin – our sleep hormone. At night, if we don’t have adequate levels of melatonin, we are not able to attain that high-quality sleep – which we all need to function. Without sleep, our circadian rhythms will be distorted, which we know is less than ideal for back-to-school season and for us to function optimally.

But don’t fret – check out our best tips to stay as safe as you can, and our shop link to ensure you get the best protection while using your devices.