Blue Light: a Cause for Insomnia & Other Side Effects

Technology can be quite useful and entertaining - and for that reason it became a big part of our lives, tho... there's a also a big downside: we (and same goes for the environment) - are test subjects! Whenever they develop a new gadget - they focus on the positive side, on what it can do/offer - and yes, safety is also something that's taken into consideration (to some extent... cause there's also scrupulous corporations - who endangered both human lives others alike - for the sake of profit) - but, that's just it, even the ones who might have good intentions (improvement) - can only take into account "what they know". As for the rest... that's something "we get to find out on our skin". Pollution - could be very good example, but that's not what this topic is about - so I'll get straight to the point...

The light coming from your TV, Monitor, Smartphone or any other type of gadget that can be a source of light - has a color temperature (measured in kelvin). We, as human beings (and the other living creatures of this planet - whit eyes) - have a "innate/natural reaction" to color temperatures. A reaction that's based on "natural light (the way of the natural world)" - and it's regulated by a biological clock known as the circadian rhythm. Here's a graphical figure - which shows an individual who happens to live by the book (:





...and here's how it works:







As you may have noticed - light can have an impact on your mood, and this - has a lot to do with color temperature. This days - light bulb manufactures can even offer some guidance in this regard:





It's not like this tech manufactures weren't aware of this detail, it's actually - something they took into account while making a display for a Monitor/TV/Phone. Tho, if there's an important detail that wasn't taken into account - that's the circadian rhythm. Since most of this gadget displays - were/are set by default on a color temperature of 6500K+ - "for all times of day". And, that's the color temperature for broad day light - as can be seen on this scale:



The thing is... that's actually a good setting for "day time" - and since 6500K was chosen as a standard among displays - it's also a standard for graphic designers, video editors and such... which makes this color temperature the recommended choice for an accurate color reproduction. On the down/damaging side... if you still use this color temperature during night time, a color temperature - which your internal clock identifies as "day time" - Insomnia is just one of the possible outcomes...



Simply put it: the conscious side of your brain can acknowledge that it's night time - while the subconscious part (which regulates our sleep patterns - our Melatonin production), can not... because it still reacts to external stimuli:







Most computer monitors - already have the option to change the color temperature, but... there was no awareness in this regard. Not until the last years. Same old story: people got ill first... and now they're putting the pieces together. As mentioned in the beginning: we're all test subjects.

From what i noticed Asus and Benq - are using this detail for their latest marketing campaign - since they introduced some new monitors - which are suppose to solve this issue (and I'm sure the other brands will follow). But, there's also other solutions - which can work with your current monitor. I discovered one of those options accidentally - while dealing with eyestrain and migraines (caused by the light from my monitor). Was doing some research at that time - and some peps recommended computer glasses - so i bought a pair which happen to have protection against blue light. This glasses are from Gunnar - the models with a yellowish tint, tho if you type on google: "blue light glasses" - you'll find all kind of models from different brands. I'm satisfied with the ones from Gunnar in terms of efficiency (vs blue light), but there's some stuff that bothers me about them: they attract dirt (you have to wipe them all the time) and there's also a slight magnification - which they call a feature... it's suppose to help with reading, and that might help from close distance - but the text gets fuzzier at a higher distance. If i was to get another pair, i'd look for another brand - might be cheaper and better too.



There's also an option which implies a software/application - something i've been trying from quite some time - and this is free - so you can try it right now. It's a simple application - which changes the color temperature automatically - based on the time of the day (it uses the coordinates of your city - to measure that). You can get it from here:

https://justgetflux.com/

Download > Install > add you city to coordinates and restart your PC. Should start automatically from their on. There's an icon in task bar for if you want to change some settings.

That's what i use for Windows. It does have support for other operating systems (Mac OS X as well) - but for Linux i prefer RedShift.

For your mobile phone, you can search for: Twilight in google store. That's the most popular, cause there's also other alternatives like Splendid (this one came pre-instaled on my phone).

Same as it goes with any other change - you'll need a bit of time to adapt to the reddish temperature of 3500K - for night time, might even look a bit weird at first (since you're not used to it) - but after a week or so - it will became part of the norm. The colors won't look as good/accurate (as they do on 6500k - this being the standard) - but still good enough. And it's worth it, after all - it's for your own good (eye care, better sleep, better health... might even prevent other health issues).

Here's more info on this subject:

http://www.health.harvard.edu/staying-healthy/blue-light-has-a-dark-side

There's dozens of articles all over the Internet, just type: "blue light melatonin"

Thanks for posting.

This could explain why even when I'm dogtired,

I feel like its just not time to go to bed.

Will look into for sure.



On a similar note, I read something about sound

and its effect on our mind-- apparently, the hZ

is fairly important and it changed (the universal

standard) in the last century.

Things I would never consider.

It's also worth to be added that: certain types of blue light can have a positive effect on our mood (as long as you use them during the day). Since they emulate the effects of Sun light - and that can be quite useful when the Sun is not around (more often around winter time or in places where the Sun makes rare appearances or quite short). The lack of Sun light for long periods of time - is known to have a negative effect on many peps (more prone to depression).