7 Reasons Blue Light Blocking Glasses May Help Sleep

If you want to get even close to optimal health, then sleep is a priority. You need to discover ways to get the required length and quality of sleep your body needs.

Which will be different for everyone and will change depending on your lifestyle. 

For example, a general recommendation is 7 to 8 hours a night, but someone who weight trains or competes in Ironman is likely to need more sleep than someone who just enjoys an afternoon stroll. 

That’s where a bio-hack known as blue light blocking glasses may help and improve sleep quality.

What is blue light?

Natural blue light is actually critical to health; it helps you wake up in the morning and helps you stay alert.

You will get blue light mainly from sunshine in nature. 

However, the further we get away from nature, the worse things seem to get.

And this is the case with artificial blue light. Your Lighting, TV, Computer, Laptop, and Mobile Phone screens will all be omitting artificial blue light, and it is the artificial blue light that has been shown to cause eye problems and negatively affect sleep. (1) (2)

How to block blue light?

The ultimate way around avoiding the issues of blue light affecting your sleep is to avoid artificial forms of blue light.

It would help if you spent time outside under the sun’s rays during the day, and you use the moon and fire for light at night.

Once it is dark, you do not use any electrical light or screens. This will hone your circadian rhythm, and you should sleep for however long your body needs, and the quality will be high. 

This is obviously impossible for many people, so you will need to find ways of limiting the impact of artificial blue light in your life. 

One way to do this is to use Blue Light Blocking Glasses..aka Blue Blockers.

I cannot speak for all glasses, but I use RA Optics and I have found they were very helpful in improving my sleep quality and length. 

RA Optics uses special lenses with pigments that absorb artificial blue light. From what I have found in the marketplace they seem to be of the highest quality.

Plus, they have a daytime lens and a nighttime lens. Daytime lenses are perfect when you work indoors in front of a computer and under fluorescent lighting.

Their night-time lenses are great for when the sun goes down, and you still need to get work done on your laptop or want to watch some TV. However, the night time lenses are strong and will drastically impair colors.

But that’s the whole point, to take out the blues.

Why is sleep important?

Sleep is vital, if you don’t get it, you will go insane and then you will die.  (3)

If you are “merely” sleep deficient or deprived, you will suffer a huge range of health problems in both the short and long term.

It will seep into every aspect of your health. 

Did you know that a lack of sleep means that, (a) your body will crave more calories the day after a bad night’s sleep, (b) it will demand those calories in sweet sugary foods, and (c) it actually lowers your willpower? (4)

As you can see sleep quality is a huge player in the Obesity Epidemic, and it is rarely considered as such. 

How could blue blocking glasses improve your sleep?

Circadian Rhythm

It is significant for health and plays a huge role in hormone production. The Circadian Rhythm relies on external inputs, meaning it relies on clues from nature.

For example, spending 15 minutes in the Sun as soon as you get up will wake you up naturally.

And having darkness at night will mean you will start producing the night hormones that help you sleep like Melatonin.

Blocking the artificial blue light from LED screens will enable you to be closer to your natural circadian rhythm.

Melatonin

I am generally cautious with using “hacks”, as I think the body is simply too smart for most of them.

So before I researched into them I was concerned with the possibility that even if the glasses did block blue light, would this be enough to “fool” your body into acting naturally even if you haven’t decreased your screen time?

Well, it turns out your body can be fooled to a degree, and there are studies around which show that they help with the natural production of Melatonin.  (5)

Helps your lose weight

Getting a goods night’s sleep has been shown to increase your willpower, so you are more likely to lose weight because you are more likely to stick to a diet or lifestyle.

Going from being overweight to normal weight has been shown to decrease snoring and sleep apnoea, so you get better quality sleep, meaning you are even more motivated. It is a positive cycle, the opposite of a vicious cycle. 

Less sleep equals less motivation and will power. (6)

Productivity

Blue light glasses will help you get a good night’s sleep, meaning you will wake up feeling fully rested and will have higher levels of motivation and determination.

When you feel good, you are much more likely to do more mentally and physically stimulating activities.

Which will mean you will probably be more tired when it comes to night-time and you will therefore sleep longer and more deeply.

Another example of a positive cycle. I think many people who have problems with sleep simply don’t do enough during the day. 

Shift workers

Working shifts have been shown to actually decrease a person’s lifespan, never mind the day to day impact it has on your social life and sleep. (7)

Trying to sleep when it is light and trying to be alert and awake at night is a huge strain on your body.

But blue light blocking glasses could be a useful tool in mitigating a least some of the issues.

If you are trying to sleep during the day, wearing the glasses will help block both natural and artificial blue light meaning it might be easier to get some decent sleep. 

The cool thing is that if you are constantly bombarded by artificial blue light, there are other ways to mitigate it. This post will show you how:

• 9 Ways To Block Blue Light On Computers & Smartphones

Good habits

If the thought of not watching Netflix every night horrifies you, but you try blue-blocking glasses, and you sleep better, and then you notice you feel better.

Then it might inspire you to spend a couple of nights a week just reading or talking to your family, or it could inspire you to ditch that monthly weekend trip to Las Vegas and go Camping instead.

When you get on a roll with good health, you will be surprised by where it takes you. 

Linear thinking

I am not a huge fan of not thinking in straight lines. The body is almost infinitely complex, and it is rarely a case of A + B = C because A could actually affect B1 B2 B3 and means there is now no C, and you have actually caused D.

You can see how crazy it could get.

I prefer to think of general improvements, where you just focus on giving the body what it needs and what happens happens. 

This brings us to diet. I think the combination of blue light mitigation and a good diet can allow our bodies to thrive.

The reason why I like the Ancestral and Carnivore Diet is that it appears to be the most logical way of giving your body all the amino acids, vitamins, and minerals it needs whilst naturally limiting the things it doesn’t need.

So, I have given my body all the building blocks it needs, then I just sit back and see what happens. 

Sleep is also essential, so it is wise to make it a priority. I do prefer focusing on natural ways to improve sleep, and I am a big fan of being out in nature and camping.

However, we live in a predominantly artificial world now, so it may take some artificial measures to help your health. 

If I can sit in front of a fire whilst camping, then awesome. But if I am at home and need to do some work on the computer at night, then you bet your life I am going to use some blue-blocking glasses. 

Conclusion

Blue blocking glasses could help improve your sleep by 1% or 99%; I can’t tell you how much they will help you because I don’t know your personal circumstances.

And even if I did know them, I would still just be guesstimating how useful they may be for you. 

So, as I often say. 

YOU NEED TO DO YOU. 

If you think the glasses could prove useful. Please go out and buy some RA Optics and test them out. The only way you will know for certain if blue-blocking glasses will improve your sleep, is to use them for a while and see if your sleep improves.

When you do get them, this article will help address when to use them optimally.

• When To Use Blue Light Blocking Glasses & 4 Levels of Potency

Personal experience trumps anything and everything.

Disclaimer: I’m not a doctor. Consult with and ask your doctor about any diet or medical-related questions. No information on this site should be used to diagnose, treat, prevent, or cure any disease or condition. This is not medical advice.

Resources:

1. Research progress about the effect and prevention of blue light on eyes
2. Harvard Health Publishing: Blue light has a dark side
3. Can Sleep Deprivation Cause Your Death Due to Accidents and Disease?
4. Cleveland Clinic: Does Lack of Sleep Make You Crave Junk Food?
5. Light level and duration of exposure determine the impact of self-luminous tablets on melatonin suppression
6. Sleep Deprivation and Weight Gain: What’s the Link?
7. Time: Why Working at Night Boosts the Risk of Early Death