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I Wore Blue Light-Blocking Glasses for a Week and Here's What Happened

Are blue light glasses the answer?
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Style

As a routine glasses-wearer who has sentenced herself to wearing slightly frumpy wire-rims for reasons of comfort and laziness, my snazzy new blue light-blocking frames gained me a good amount of compliments. I got various forms of "Are those new glasses? I love them!" the whole time I was testing the lenses. It definitely tempted me to throw out my nebbish frames in favor of something more stylish...but, once again, laziness won out.

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Reduced eye strain

Wearing them at my computer all day, it was a little tough to discern just how much of a difference the glasses were making — especially as I know myself to be particularly vulnerable to the placebo effect. (What can I say? I'm gullible.) That said, when I wore them while using my phone, the effects were much more noticeable. When I'm reading a book or playing games on my phone, my eyes usually start to feel a little strained and tired after half an hour or so. With the glasses, I didn't experience that feeling of eye strain, even though I got sucked into reading a page-turner ("Lethal White," the latest from J.K. Rowling's alter ego, Robert Galbraith) for well over an hour.

Image via Imaxtree



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Will I keep wearing my blue light glasses?

After trying out the glasses and gaining a healthy fear of blue light from Dr. Thau and the AOA, I'm going to do my best to wear the glasses when I think about it. I now keep a pair by my desk that I find myself reaching for towards the late afternoon when my eyes are getting a bit more tired. I also have a pair at home for whenever I'm spending a prolonged amount of time wiling away the hours on my smartphone. I'm not going to lie: It's not going to be something I'll always remember to do, but a little blue light protection is better than none at all, right?

Overall, I'd definitely recommend checking out blue light frames if you spend a lot of time staring at various screens (and in this day and age, who doesn't?)

Image via @healthyoffice



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A few more tips for avoiding eye strain

Since I feel like something of an extreme case when it comes to blue light exposure, I asked the AOA for some other tips I could use to protect myself, in addition to wearing the glasses. Here are some of their top suggestions:

The 20-20-20 rule: "Doctors of optometry urge patients to follow the 20-20-20 rule: Take a 20-second break to view something 20 feet away every 20 minutes, especially when using any electronic device or computer."

Distance: "Maintain a comfortable distance from your device. To avoid bringing the device closer to your eyes, use the zoom feature to see small print and details."

Adjust your devices: "Reduce the glare on your device by adjusting device settings or using a glare filter to decrease the amount of blue light reflecting from the screen." (Sleep mode is one such option).

Avoid before bedtime: "Using digital devices that emit blue light before bed prolongs the time it takes to fall asleep, so avoid using technology at least an hour before bed."

See your doctor: "Visit a doctor of optometry regularly for a comprehensive eye exam and to learn more strategies to prevent blue light overexposure."

Image via Imaxtree



BY ROSIE NARASAKI | OCT 1, 2018 | SHARES
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