Does Blue Light From Digital Devices Present a Danger?

Everyone knows that ultraviolet (UV) rays from the sun are harmful to both our skin and our eyes, making some decent UV blocking shades a necessity for anyone who is outdoors or driving frequently. But within the light spectrum, there’s another kind of light to be aware of: blue light.

UV light sits at around 100-380 nm and is invisible, and just above that and veering into the visible range of light is High Energy Visible (HEV) light – and blue light is within this range. Interestingly, blue light comes from the sun as well, but a significant amount of it is also emitted by flat-screen televisions, smartphones, and tablets.

Now, research would suggest that a small exposure to blue light is actually necessary for good health, there’s a possibility that too much exposure can lead to increased risk of macular degeneration in the eyes and decreased quality of vision. It also contributes to ‘digital eye strain’, or that feeling of discomfort you sometimes get after staring at a computer or phone for too long (thankfully, there’s a solution).

So, just like UV light, HEV blue light provides benefits in smaller doses, but a massive and consistent amount could be detrimental. Considering that basically every being with a thumb owns a smartphone, and most of us use them for several hours a day, it might be a good idea to block out some of the blue HEV light for a couple of hours a day to provide some balance.

One of the ways you can do this is by wearing glasses which lenses block the blue light, which would be applicable even for people who don’t require prescription glasses – think of these lenses as ‘enhancing’ your vision, rather than a ‘corrective’ measure.  Torga Optical offers blue blocker anti-reflective coating on their lenses to help mitigate an excess of blue light emitted by digital devices.

So if you’re someone who has to stare at a computer all day at work, or just uses a smartphone as much as the average person does and you’re experiencing eye-strain after a while, you should book an eye-test with Torga Optical, who have a handy, real-time online booking feature and consider getting a pair of glasses to assist!