The first time I put on a pair of Truedark glasses, I felt like I took 50mg of melatonin after about 15 minutes of having them on. They’re incredible (especially the Classic ones I wear) and have helped my sleep a ton since I’ve been wearing them consistently.
I was first aware of the Truedark glasses when they first launched their company. I had been following Dave Asprey for quite some time. In fact I had followed him from his days with Bulletproof and even watched some of his early videos on London Real probably a decade ago or more.
I then listened to his podcast for a while and got into his natural health and biohacking “ecosystem”. Dave is known in natural health circles as the “Godfather” of biohacking. I don’t really like terms like that because not only is he not much older than I am, but no “one person” is the defacto leader of a way of thinking.
It just sounds weird.
But I did learn early on that not only was he serious about his health, he was (and still is) serious about biohacking. Apparently he wants to live until he’s 150 years old at the minimum.
Would you want to do that?
I’d only want to live that old if I had a physically strong and capable body.
Anyway when you see him, he’s always wearing his Truedark glasses. I have and only recommend one pair of the Truedark glasses he sells. I’ll tell you more about why, later.
First we have to understand what’s all the rage about light and sleep? Why and how does light affect circadian rhythms and our natural diurnal sleep wake cycles?
“Light is the most important synchronizing agent for the brain and body. Proper exposure to natural light promotes sleep and maintains our circadian rhythms.” – Russell Foster, Neuroscientist
What’s Wrong With Blue Light?
If you look on Google trends for the word insomnia, you’ll notice the trends are definitely going up. I searched all the way back to 2004 and it’s a slow and steady rise of people having a hard time falling asleep or staying asleep.
Sleep is a big problem and it seems to be getting worse as time goes on. What has happened I wonder since 2004 until today?
The rise in social media of course….
The rise in social media, smart phones and devices meant more screentime staring at blue lit devices.
The color of light (whether natural or not) sends specific signals to the master clock in our body called the suprachiasmatic nucleus. The SCN communicates via biophotons to every cell in our body setting our circadian rhythm. This means that if it’s dark outside in the middle of Winter in Toronto, and you look at a blue lit screen, you’re telling your SCN that it’s high noon in the middle of Summer in Africa.
When this happens your body shuts down the release of key hormones like melatonin (which is your #1 anti cancer antioxidant you make, not just a sleep hormone) so that you can stay awake. It also increases cortisol to keep you awake.
Some people call this term, circadian mismatches. Your telling your body it’s one time instead of the actual time. This has profoundly negative impacts not just on your sleep but on your health also.
Because of its melatonin suppressing effects, blue light also causes cancer, increasing the rate of blindness, oxidative stress, macular degeneration, diabetes, insomnia and even cardiovascular diseases.
Blue light from man made devices is your #1 enemy to your sleep and overall health.
I call blue lit devices (or light bulbs) little man made alien suns.
Light bulbs are mans attempt to become God. We’re paying dearly as a result.
“Light at night is now considered a carcinogen that can disrupt our biological clocks and predispose us to obesity and cancer by impacting sleep.” – Richard Stevens, Cancer Epidemiologist
How Do Blue Blockers Help Sleep?
If they are the right kind of blue light blocking glasses AND you wear them correctly, they can help reset your circadian rhythm while at the same time help your body release melatonin that you hopefully made by watching the sunrise.
The lenses should essentially block the photons and blue wavelength of light from hitting your pupils. Blue blockers should block 460 to 480 nanometer blue light.
When there’s blue light from the sun during daytime, your body naturally prevents melatonin from being released into your bloodstream. This is natural and this is normal. When your body senses darkness (the absence of blue light) then the slow dripped release of melatonin begins to happen in the evening.
Essentially Truedark glasses mimic nighttime because they block the spectrum of light that keeps you awake, mostly blue and green colors.
“The pervasive use of electric lighting, especially at night, disrupts sleep and adversely affects the natural rhythmicity of the human body.” – Dr. Charles Czeisler, Harvard Medical School
What I Don’t Love About TrueDark Glasses
Here are a few things I don’t really love about the Truedark glasses.
I don’t love how heavy the frames are. I have a pair of their yellow blue blockers to use while on my computer and during the day. They’re well made and they work but the frames are a bit heavy and a bit wide for my face. If I had a wider face I might not mind the weight of them or the width of them.
This is just purely my own preference based on the structure of my face and jaw. In terms of their style and how effective they are at blocking blue light, I love them.
Right now I only use the “Classic” Truedark glasses and my first pair broke. They were not very durable. The plastic frame broke and I had to super glue them together and put tape around it once the glue dried. I now use these on my nightstand in case I get up in the middle of the night to go pee, which is pretty rare.
I didn’t realize how they were not “built to last” and I had to buy another pair. Now I’m super careful with how I handle them. I’ve had my second pair of Truedark glasses for a few years and absolutely love them.
The Classic Truedark glasses aren’t the best looking, I will say that. They’re not designed to be worn outside of the house. They look like the wrap around gargoyles from the mid 1990’s. I don’t love the look, but man do they work.
“Exposure to room light before bedtime shortens the duration of melatonin production, making it more difficult to fall asleep.” – Anne-Marie Chang, Neuroscientist
What I DO Love About TrueDark Glasses
The wraparound style is something I love and don’t love. I don’t love it because they’re not stylish for today’s look. But I do love the wraparound style because it blocks blue light coming in from the sides of the frames and lenses.
This gives me added blue light protection.
Which I don’t really need because we’ve installed circadian lighting inside our home.
The other thing I love about the Classic Truedark glasses is that they block 100% of blue AND 99% of green light and violet light which also suppresses melatonin secretion altering our circadian rhythms.
“Our modern environment is flooded with artificial light, which can alter sleep patterns and disrupt the hormones related to sleep and wake cycles.” – Dan Pardi, Sleep Researcher
How I Wear Blue Blocking Glasses
I mentioned above that you have to wear blue blockers correctly for them to work. We know that even a few photons of blue light can prevent your body from releasing melatonin for a number of hours.
This means if you wear your Truedark glasses and then look at your unprotected phone (emitting 6,500 kelvin color temperature blue light) you’re going to suppress your melatonin before bed. This is going to increase oxidative stress, cortisol and most likely prevent you from falling asleep quickly like you want.
Then you’re going to say that blue light blocking glasses don’t work.
It’s not that they don’t work, it’s the you don’t understand the physics of light and how light impacts your biology. You have to wear them correctly.
If you want blue blocking glasses to work, you have to block 100% of man made light from the moment the sun sets, until you’re laying in bed with your eyes closed, taking off your Classic Truedark glasses and replacing them with your sleep mask.
I don’t let 1 photon of man made light high my eyes unprotected after sunset.
During the day (even as I type this article) I’m wearing yellow glasses (even with my computer settings at 1,800 kelvin). When the sun sets, I go outside and experience the sunset while grounded (I can’t see it from our house), then I put on my orange glasses.
Two to three hours before bed (depending on the season) I put on my Classic Truedark glasses. As soon as I put them on, I also take 50mg of melatonin. Generally this is around 8pm and I go to bed around 9:30 or 10pm.
“The correct timing and type of light exposure is critical to syncing our internal clocks, which in turn dictates everything from our sleep to our mood.” – Phyllis Zee, Professor of Neurology
Conclusion
As you can see I’m a huge fan of Truedark glasses to block blue light and if you wear them correctly, they’ll work wonders for your sleep. I would also recommend you live a circadian lifestyle but watching the sunrise, watching the sunset, getting outside multiple times per day (grounded if possible).
Questions:
- Have you tried blue blockers before?
- Did they work?
- How long did you wear them?
Comment below your experiences.
