How to Test if my Glasses Block Blue Light?
Blue light is most prevalent in LED screens and low energy LED bulbs.
We encounter blue light every day, without even realizing it: Many smartphones, TVs and LED lights, whether at home or in public places, contain blue light.
For a long time, it has been discussed whether blue light influences sleep and can possibly be responsible for retinal damage in the eye.
Faced with this, the emergence of anti-blue light glasses was meteoric and raises some questions. To ensure the effectiveness of your pair of glasses, we have listed some particularly useful techniques to know if your glasses really block blue light.
What is Blue Light ?
According to the Warentest Foundation, blue light contains short, energy-rich light waves. In nature, we experience blue light mainly through sunlight.
It stimulates our blood circulation, allowing us to stay awake and not get tired.
Blue light is found in electronic devices that use LEDs.
LED stands for Light Emitting Diodes. It can be tablets, smartphones or LED lamps.
Since the 1990s, LED lamps have been successfully used on the market, as they are considered to be very energy efficient.
Stephan Degle, Professor of Optics and Optometry at the University of Iena, believes that the problem lies in the blue light of LED lamps, according to the MDR: "At the zenith, the bright light would automatically force us to squint or put on sunglasses.
On the other hand, we remain exposed to bright light for hours under an LED lamp without protection, for example when playing video games on our screens.
Some people have LCD screens, feel free to read our article comparing the effects of LED and LCD screens on our eyes.
What are Blue Light Blocking Glasses?
Blue filter glasses can now be purchased at very reasonable prices and on many websites. For the buyer, however, it is difficult to determine whether the blue filter in the glasses actually filters out blue light. One must be careful, especially if the glasses are very cheap.
However, it is first important to distinguish whether you want to opt for glasses with a blue light filter with clear lenses for everyday use or whether you are really looking for glasses with a powerful blocker.
Blue light glasses with clear lenses reduce blue light by about 30% and have no tint or a very slight yellowish tint.
Highly tinted glasses with yellow or orange lenses reduce blue light by about 60-80% and glasses with a red filter can block 100% and are particularly suitable as "sleep glasses".
You can wear your blue light glasses to filter out the blue light spikes during the day. This can be especially useful during an 8-hour gaming session in front of the computer, as your eyes will be less tired and dry.
This is because, in addition to digital blue light sources, fluorescent tubes also emit a lot of cold light. In addition, a nice pair of blue light blocking glasses is an excellent accessory.
With this type of glasses, you can be sure that blue light will not affect your eyes anymore. However, the tint of these glasses can be particularly annoying if you don't like color distortion.
How to Test if my Glasses Block Blue Light?
There are special, expensive measuring devices that can measure the exact characteristics of eyeglass lens filters. However, these few simple tips will help you know the attributes of your glasses:
- Ask the seller
To get the exact measurement values from the test center, you can ask the manufacturer/seller/optician. Not everyone will give them, but with a reputable company, this shouldn't be a problem. The blue light filtering rate should probably be at least 30%.
- Test the reflection of your glasses
Hold your glasses up to the front of an LED screen and see what reflection you can make out. If it is blue, or sometimes purple, it means that the blue light is being deflected.
If you can't see any color, that's a bad sign and means your glasses are probably not working.
Take a closer look at the eyeglasses from opticians or eyeglass manufacturers on a white background. Do the glasses have clear or slightly tinted lenses?
If so, they only filter out some of the non-visible blue light. This certainly helps to have more relaxed eyes, but not more.
Finally, if you feel that the light or brightness of the screens is causing headaches, sleep disorders or dry eyes, it is important to react.
In a similar case, we strongly advise you to spend less time in front of your screens, or to opt for a pair that blocks blue light.
In the evening, it may be useful to have the night mode activated on your computer screen and your smartphone, which will immerse the screen in an orange light.
If you don't have this feature, make sure you don't use your electronics in the dark, but have an extra light source in the room.
This is because in the dark, the pupils dilate, allowing bright light to reach the retina more.
Avoid daylight LED lamps in the last few hours before bedtime.
And if you want to know more about blue light and especially what ophthalmologists think about it, feel free to check this article!