So there you are. Hammering away at your keyboard, not breaking eye-contact with your monitor, your eyes observing intently the letters that manifest themselves against the white backdrop of your e-mail window with each click and clack of your fingertips. Before you realize it you have moved just a bit closer to your screen, your eyes feel strained and you have that little headache growing again.
These, my friends, are some of the side effects of prolonged exposure to artificial blue light. I’m sure many of us out there have the firsthand familiarity with the effects of the dreaded blue light, but those who might be a little unfamiliar let’s take a closer look.
We know light is made up of electromagnetic particles that travel in waves. These waves emit energy, and range in length and strength. The shorter the wavelength, the higher the energy. These varying wavelengths are each represented by a different color and they’re grouped into the following categories: gamma rays, x-rays, visible light, infrared light, and radio waves. Put all of these together and you have the electromagnetic spectrum, visible blue light is the neighbor to ultraviolet which as we know is quite harmful. Blue light has a very short wavelength and thus it contains a higher amount of energy.
This isn’t to say all forms of blue light are “bad”, by any means. In fact, quite the opposite. Let’s break down blue light in the forms of natural and artificial. Natural blue light is found virtually everywhere you look. It’s the reason the sky is blue, and it’s the reason our bodies tell us when it’s time to sleep. On a physiological level, blue light is quite beneficial for not only our physical wellbeing, but also our mental state. One could argue that it’s the reason some of us get bummed out when hit with a string of rainy days, and the same reason we feel joy when the sun comes back around again!
However, in this age of information, we’re subjected to artificial blue light on a daily basis. Devices such as your cell phone, your computer screen, your television, your tablet and energy efficient lightbulbs all mimic and imitate natural blue light. This fact is and of itself, is of course not inherently adverse to our health and wellbeing but overuse and prolonged overexposure to these devices can counteract the positive effects that natural blue light has on our bodies. Issues ranging from disruptions to sleep cycles, increased risk of depression, back and neck pain and of course permanent eye damage.
So what can we do to find the balance? Luckily for us all, more and more developers are taking steps to counter the adverse effects of artificial blue light. A new addition to macOS Sierra, 10.12.14, was Night Shift. When enabled, Night Shift will adjust colors of your display to the warmer, less intense colors on the spectrum when the sun goes down. Night Shift can also be found on your iOS devices, assuming you are updated to at least iOS 9.3. (Note: not all devices running the prerequisite iOS/OS are capable of running Night Shift) The shift in warmer colors has been shown to lessen the exposure and intensity of the artificial blue light and it’s also is more in-sync with our circadian rhythm, which governs the natural sleep cycle. Too much exposure to artificial blue light before heading off to bed has been shown to adversely effect our chances at getting a good night’s sleep, but reducing that blue light glow to a warmer color has yielded great results for me, personally.