Why Do My Eyes Hurt With Blue Light Glasses?
Do blue light glasses make you tired? – Blue light glasses can sometimes make you tired. Nonetheless, as we stated above, blue light glasses don’t entirely prevent digital eye strain, but some perceive less strain on their eyes when wearing blue light glasses and enjoying digital devices.
Can blue light glasses hurt your eyes?
Can wearing blue light glasses hurt your eyes? – Baxter Blue’s blue light glasses will not be doing any harm to your eyes as the majority of them are plain lenses with added blue light protection. If you’re new to the world of blue light glasses, you may be experiencing a few initial issues when wearing your glasses for the first time, particularly if you haven’t worn any form of eyewear before.
A good suggestion if you are experiencing any issues is to start slowly. Wear the glasses for short periods of time and slowly build up the length of time they are worn. For the first few days try wearing the glasses for an hour at a time, with 15-minute breaks in between. Then, when you feel ready slowly increase that time over the following weeks.
Although blue light glasses can be worn throughout the day, we would suggest just wearing them in front of your digital devices to start. So, are blue light glasses good or bad? Let’s settle this debate once and for all. Blue light glasses will not harm your eyes, in fact, they can greatly enhance your digital performance as well as protect your eyes from digital eye strain.
However, like all things, they are not for everyone and there may be some people who have initial pains if they aren’t used to wearing glasses. With all the hype over blue light glasses in the last few years, it can be hard to find a quality pair of blue light glasses, so make sure you do your research.
Do glasses that block blue light help your eyes?
If you still aren’t sure we’d recommend checking out Baxter Blue’s range of blue light glasses. Baxter Blue’s lens technology goes deeper. Unlike their competitors, their blue light filter is not a surface layer or coating. Baxter Blue glasses have a blue light pigment technology embedded right into the lens, filtering out as much as 80% of the highest energy wavelengths known to cause digital eyestrain. Liquid error (sections/upsells.liquid line 5): Could not find asset snippets/upsell-header.liquid
Do blue light glasses cause headaches?
– Search for “blue-light glasses” on the internet, and you’ll see dozens of specs that claim to prevent digital eye strain and other dangers. While studies have shown that blue-light glasses are effective at blocking blue light waves, there isn’t a lot of evidence showing that these glasses prevent digital eye strain or headaches.
- Some people have reported headaches from blue-light blocking glasses, but there haven’t been any reliable studies to support or explain these reports.
- It is not uncommon to have headaches when you first wear new glasses or your prescription has changed.
- If you’re having headaches when you wear glasses, wait a few days to see if your eyes adjust and your headaches go away.
If they don’t, speak with an optician or ophthalmologist about your symptoms.
Are blue light glasses uncomfortable?
To wear or not to wear – After talking with Dr. Khurana, I still opted to wear my blue light glasses. I wanted to see if my eye fatigue would improve. I started to wear them around the clock, but I wondered how much time is appropriate? “So there’s no clear number that has been studied,” explains Melina Morkin, MD, ophthalmologist and assistant professor of ophthalmology at Tufts University School of Medicine in Boston.
We know in general extended digital light exposure is known to cause eye problems, so there’s a lot of proven methods to help with eye strain. I wore my glasses all day, and as a contact lens wearer, I began to find them annoying for wear. They weren’t uncomfortable, but they didn’t fit the way a top-of-the-line pair of prescription glasses fit either.
These felt more like the sunglasses you might buy at a mall kiosk, which makes sense as I didn’t spend too much on them.
How long does it take for blue light glasses to work?
Mixed Reviews and Ongoing Research – A 2017 study of 80 computer users found that after one month of using lenses coated with a blue blocking coating, one-third felt they received benefit. They claimed that the glasses improved vision and reduced glare while they used digital screens.
How accurate are blue light glasses?
Do Blue Light Blocking Glasses Really Work? NPR’s Lulu Garcia-Navarro speaks to vision researcher Mark Rosenfield about the efficacy of blue light-blocking glasses. LULU GARCIA-NAVARRO, HOST: Screen time has gone up during the pandemic. Many of us, of course, are working from home.
Ids are schooling at home, clicking on computers rather than raising their hands in classrooms. And this has resulted in what’s known as digital eye strain, tired and dry eyes from so much screen time. So some have turned to blue light-blocking glasses. Sales have more than doubled during the pandemic, but are they worth the cost? Dr.
Mark Rosenfield is a professor at the College of Optometry at State University of New York. He conducted two studies on the effectiveness of blue light-blocking glasses on digital eye strain, and he joins us now. Welcome to the program. MARK ROSENFIELD: Thank you.
- GARCIA-NAVARRO: So what did your study discover about wearing these glasses? ROSENFIELD: Both of the studies actually found that the blue-blocking filters have no effect, no significant effect on digital eye strain.
- This didn’t really come as a major surprise to us because there really is no mechanism whereby the blue light should be causing digital eye strain.
GARCIA-NAVARRO: I have to say that feels like a big reveal, but I’m not surprised. It always feels like these things might just be sort of gimmicks. I mean, how did you prove that in your study? ROSENFIELD: Well, we did two studies. The first study, we used the filter that blocked almost 100% of the blue light.
And we had the subjects read from a tablet computer for about 30 minutes. And we found no significant difference in symptoms, whether they were using the blue-blocking filter or they were just using a tinted lens, in effect. Now, because that filter blocked almost 100% of the blue light, and very few commercially available lenses actually do that, we redid the study.
But this time, we used commercially available spectacle lenses that typically only block around 20 to 25% of the blue. And the second study was done on a double-blind basis, which meant that the subjects didn’t know whether they were looking through the blue-blocking filters or just a clear lens.
- And the experimenter also didn’t know which lens that the subjects were looking through.
- And again, we found exactly the same effect – that the blue-blocking filters produced no significant change in symptoms of digital eye strain.
- GARCIA-NAVARRO: So what is the cause of digital eye strain? ROSENFIELD: We think – it’s not so much the screens themselves but rather the way people use them.
They tend to hold them at pretty close distances, especially smartphones. We found that people were holding them sometimes as close as 8, 9 inches away, whereas printed material is typically held around 16 inches away. And also people tend to look at these screens for very long periods of time without taking breaks.
GARCIA-NAVARRO: So these glasses – are they good for anything at all? ROSENFIELD: The only thing they may be good for is that studies have shown the blue light can interfere with our bodies’ light cycle. So we all have natural rhythm so that we know when we get tired, when it’s time to go to bed. If you want to look at your screen late at night, which probably isn’t a good idea – but unfortunately many of us still do, then the blue-blocking filters might be useful in that regard.
GARCIA-NAVARRO: So what can we do to sort of minimize digital eye strain, since so many of us are needing to be in front of a screen at this time? ROSENFIELD: Well, taking breaks, I think, is very important. We talk about the 20, 20, 20 rule, where every 20 minutes it’s a good idea to look at something at least 20 feet for at least 20 seconds.
- Try and increase the viewing distance, especially with a handheld device like a phone or a tablet.
- Don’t hold it so close because the closer you hold something, the harder the eyes have to work to focus.
- So we recommend the device should never be less than 16 inches away.
- GARCIA-NAVARRO: Dr.
- Mark Rosenfield is a vision researcher at State University of New York.
Thank you so much. ROSENFIELD: My pleasure. Thank you. (SOUNDBITE OF MUSIC) Copyright © 2021 NPR. All rights reserved. Visit our website and pages at for further information. NPR transcripts are created on a rush deadline by an NPR contractor. This text may not be in its final form and may be updated or revised in the future.
Do blue light glasses keep you awake?
RISE Helps You Maximize Blue Light Glasses’ Benefits – Blue-light blocking glasses help you fall asleep and stay asleep when used at the right time, i.e., 90 minutes or so before your target bedtime. But that’s not to say you should avoid blue wavelengths 24/7.
You still need blue light when you wake up and throughout the day to keep yourself in circadian alignment, which, in turn, has the added benefit of helping you meet your sleep need more effortlessly. If you need help deciding when to get blue light and when to avoid it, try the RISE app, Its 20+ science-backed habits, including “Block All Blue Light” and “Blue Light Control,” provide personalized in-app reminders based on your unique chronobiology to help you fulfill your sleep need.
Because when you sleep better at night, you’ll have better energy levels during the day.