Blue Light: Less is More - simple steps for better health with less blue light (partner post)

Stress and anxiety, poor sleep, afternoon lethargy, scrolling addiction … These are some of the most common symptoms that I see in clients. While people may come to me to learn about herbs and nutrition, it’s not long before we dive into the deepest end. That is: What is causing your symptoms? Rather than recommending energizing herbs for the afternoons, sedative ones for the evenings and in-betweeners for daytime anxiety - though we surely could take that approach, and many do - let’s investigate. Let’s unearth. Let’s identify a habit, craving or dependency and then transform it. This, more than assigning herbs to symptoms, is what I do.

And one of the greatest areas of habit reshaping I see is related to our relationship with blue light.

Blue light is emitted by the sun, but also by screens (phone, computer, t.v., tablets, etc.). While the amount of blue light emitted by our devices is less than the sun, the amount of time we spend staring at them is, well, clearly much higher. And while getting in some daytime blue light (via the sun, please), it can be very problematic when over-consumed and taken in too late in the day.

Overall, blue light is sneaky, pervasive and far more affective than we realize. With the quarantine, while we’re even more sequestered with our screens, we have a rare opportunity to reset our relationship with the light, which can improve health in innumerable ways.

Rather than simply taking things away, I like to recommend that we replace them. Quitting sugar? Put something in its place. Reducing blue light? Here are the replacements I recommend:

1. Replace screens for at least an hour (ideally two) before bed:

   • Try reading a book, or playing a game. Do a puzzle, or talk to your roommate, partner, or pet. Stretch, meditate, clean up, meal prep, or listen to music. Journal, draw, do a facial steam, or stand on your head.

   • Have you ever had the experience of going on vacation somewhere remote and noticing how much earlier your body asked for sleep - naturally? That’s the goal. Try tuning into your body’s natural rhythms, which are made to sleep when the sun sets.

2. Sleep with the sunset by replacing late-night tasks with morning ones:

   • Think you’re not a morning person? That may be because you’re staying up too late. :) Rather than clocking in extra after-dark hours, move the tasks to the morning and get some sleep! Aside from exposing yourself to blue light at night (not ideal!), our bodies will produce an extra shot of cortisol (a stress hormone) if we appear to be staying up. This, needless to say, will not make for a great night’s sleep.

3. Replace screen-in-face mornings with some daylight.

   • While screens emit blue light, they’re not where we want to get it. Try using Downtime or an app-blocker to give yourself an extra 15 minutes of phone-free morning time. (You can still us the phone as an alarm.) As soon as you’re up, stand by a window, drinking you coffee while surveying the scene. Let your eyes absorb some natural light and you’ll queue photoreceptors throughout your body that it’s time to wake up.

   • This is otherwise known as syncing your circadian rhythm with the rise and set of the sun. Again, our bodies are designed to do this. Fighting against it with an artificially lit routine is like fighting nature. 

4. Use blue-light blocking glasses and replace bulbs to protect yourself from overconsumption:

   • Turn on Night Shift Mode on your phone. (The fact that this is a setting in all phones is a clue to the importance of it.) 

   • Use a browser plug-in with the same effect. (I recommend f.lux.)

   • Install red light bulbs in your house for use after dark. This will stop blue light disrupting your sleep through contact with your skin. BLUblox will be releasing flicker free LED red and yellow light bulbs by May 2020.

   • Wear blue-light blocking glasses! “The best blue light glasses are ones that filter about 30% of blue light across the 400 - 495nm range or block blue light between 400 - 450nm, if you have a sensitivity to light.”

     • For night, these block 100% of light that falls in the 400 - 550nm range, thereby helping to increase melatonin production and improve sleep quality. 

     • For daytime, working from home or just face-to-screen-timing, try a pair of computer glasses.

And now you know! Small changes can make a big difference, and every minute matters with light exposure. Protect yourself, get the good stuff, and enjoy the experience of your body clock resetting, which creates a domino effect of great health benefits.

use code “supernatural” for a discount on blue-light blocking glasses from BLUblox