In this post I want to talk about exactly how blue light glasses work not only to improve your sleep but also prevent diseases like cancer.

Did you know that blue light causes cancer, as well as prevents quality sleep? Understanding how blue light affects melatonin, hormones, ATP production, sleep and chronic diseases is mission critical if you want to have a long healthy disease free life.

As you probably know from my story, I bought my first pair of blue blocking glasses in 2012 from Amazon. Prior to that I was dealing with insomnia pretty bad from working swing shift at a nationwide mortgage company.

I worked in the data center with racks and rows of servers that were responsible for processing bank loans and home loans in real time. It was a stressful job especially working from 3pm to 12am every night.

Little did I know at the time that not only was working the swing shift affecting my circadian rhythms and melatonin production but I was on the 13th floor (which increases oxidative stress) AND exposed to blue light and nnEMF consisting of magnetic and electrical field frequencies.

We know that blue light increases oxidative stress as does nnEMF. EMF can be coming from dirty electricity from the wiring in your walls, smart meters, wifi signals, routers, electrical panels, microwaves and cell phones. If you’re concerned about cell towers you can see how many towers are in your area here.

If you are looking to get some tools around your house that will help protect you from nnEMF I use a website called LessEMF.

Finally I have a friend that has a company where they’ll come to your home with $30,000 worth of sensitive electrical equipment and spend 4 hours testing your home. We had this done for us a few years back and it was invaluable information.

Blue light on the other hand is most likely coming from fluorescent or LED lights in your home, unless you’re like us who have circadian light bulbs.

If I had known then, what I know now, I never would have worked that job. But I was young and needed the money. 😉

But now, I feel so grateful that I have an open mind and I started learning about light and health back in 2003. Not only did acting on this information save my sleep but it also saved my life. Because of my insomnia, my health was taking a serious turn for the worst.

“The sun is the source of all energy. The sun is pure, untainted, and clean energy. And if we can use it to sustain life, it must be life-giving energy.” – D.H. Lawrence

How Blue Light Disrupts Your Circadian Rhythm

The blue wavelength of light particularly when devoid of yellow, orange and red wavelengths send the wrong signals to the master clock inside your body called the suprachiasmatic nucleus which is located in the hypothalamus in your brain.

The SCN for short, is the master clock that controls all the other clocks in your body. Each cell has a function and a timing. It’s kind of like us, when it’s night, we sleep. On Wednesday’s we take out the trash because trash day is Thursday. We get paid every two weeks from our job. April 15th is tax day, when it’s daytime we’re awake, in the morning we have breakfast.

There are biological processes that have to happen at the cellular level every second of every day. When there’s blue light from the sun, it sends signals to your SCN and pituitary gland to increase cortisol and slow down melatonin release.

The only way to get the correct wavelength of light at the right time is by being exposed to sunlight. You see your eyes are more of a clock than they are a camera.

Light is how we embrace the natural rhythms of nature that control our internal circadian rhythm.

High intensity blue light devoid of yellow, orange and red gives us the wrong signals at the wrong time of day. This causes hormones to be released at the wrong time and prevents biological processes from happening when they’re supposed to.

This is one of the reasons I don’t recommend wearing sunglasses or contacts when you’re outside.

“The sun is the great healer, the universal panacea, the remedy of all remedies, the best of all doctors, the one indispensable element in our living world.” – Frank Lloyd Wright

How Blue Light Impacts Your Vision

If you look at a chart of the wavelength of intensity of blue light, you’ll notice it spikes really high and really low very closely together. This high intensity causes retinal hypoxia, leading to oxidative stress in the ocular cells.

The brain requires lots of oxygen to function and your eyes are an extension of the brain. Eyes as a result require lots of oxygen. The issue is that the capillaries and veins around the eyes are very very small so your blood needs to be oxygen rich as well as flexible and mailable so blood can flow to your eyes, keeping them healthy.

Blue light destroys ocular tissues leading to age related macular degeneration (something my mom is dealing with right now that we’re helping her with), myopia, glaucoma, cataracts and even blindness.

If you want to be able to see when you’re older, I HIGHLY recommend installing Iris Tech on your computer and changing the settings of your cell phone. Getting a pair of high quality blue blocking glasses is something I wear daily and recommend to everyone.

You’ll notice you sleep better and have more energy as a result. Another “side effect” of sleeping better is preventing diseases.

“When the sun shines, let it shine on you and fill you with the health and vitality that only it can provide.” – B.K.S. Iyengar

How Blue Light Depletes Melatonin

Most people think that melatonin is something you take for sleep. Most people have no idea how melatonin actually works. Melatonin is not just a sleep hormone, but it’s the most powerful anti cancer hormone your body makes by converting tryptophan to serotonin to melatonin.

This happens in relation to light. I never really gave melatonin much thought until I watched the two videos below.

When you wake up in the morning, and your body is exposed to morning light, it decreases the amount of melatonin that circulates in your blood. At the same time it stimulates your adrenal glands to produce cortisol which raises internal body temperature that will wake you up.

Exposure to blue light (especially at night) signals to the body to stop releasing melatonin naturally. It’s crazy to me that people turn lights on at night and wonder why they cannot sleep.

Your body is telling you it’s time to sleep. Nature is telling you, it’s time to sleep. Everything is telling you it’s time to sleep. What do you do? You turn on blue lights that shut off hormones from being released so you can watch Netflix.

It’s absolutely crazy how we live today in this modern world. It’s so unnatural. I wrote an entire article called The Best Light For Sleep that will help you pick the correct light bulbs.

“The light of the sun is a reflection of the light that shines within you. It is what gives you life, energy, and the power to transform.” – Dr. Joe Dispenza

How Blue Light Blocking Glasses Work

Since your eye is more of a clock than a camera, it makes sense to make sure the light that hits your eye will not deplete melatonin. Also the only biological mechanism that connects to your SCN is your eyes.

Here’s the chain of events when unfiltered blue light hits your eye…

Light → Pupil → Lens → Retina → Optic Nerve → Optic Chiasm → Retinohypothalamic Tract → Suprachiasmatic Nucleus (SCN)

Blue light blocking glasses block the blue wavelengths of light BEFORE those photons hit your eyes. These blue light blocking glasses don’t filter but block these high intensity wavelengths from even entering your eyes.

The other thing to consider is not just the spectrum of blue light but the intensity and luminosity of it. The brightness of light matters. When the irradiance is too high, that also sends the wrong signals to the SCN altering your melatonin secretion and circadian rhythms. These blue light blocking glasses alter the intensity of light as well. This is really important.

Studies show that these blue blocking glasses need to block 100% of blue and green light between 400-550nm. The blue Light Blocking Glasses I wear and recommend have been lab spectrometer tested to block 100% of blue and green light between 400-550nm making them in my opinion the best blue blocking glasses on the market.

“Sunlight heals, energizes, and can give a sense of balance and perspective to life.” – Richard Louv

Conclusion

If you wear blue light blocking glasses like I do, it’s very important that you wear them correctly. It’s kind of like melatonin, it has to be taken correctly. Here’s how I wear my blue blockers…

• If I wake up before sunset, I wear my orange pair until the sun rises
• Then I watch the sunrise every day
• After that I set my computer screen to 1,800 kelvin.
• I change the settings on my phone to orange
• During the day when I’m inside I wear my yellow glasses (with Iris running)
• At sunset (which I’m always outside for grounded to the earth) I put on my orange glasses.
• Two to three hours before bed I take 50mg of melatonin and put on my red pair of glasses

Questions: 

1. Have you tried blue light blocking glasses before?
2. Did they work?
3. How do YOU wear them during the day and the night?

Comment below I’d love to hear your thoughts.