Staring at your devices such as your laptops or smartphones for extended periods of time can accelerate blindness and cause other eye problems, say scientists.
A study was conducted on this by researchers at the Toledo University in Ohio, USA. It concluded that exposure to blue light triggers “poisonous molecules” that are generated in the eye’s light-sensitive cells that can cause macular degeneration and other eye illnesses.
Dr. Ajith Karunarathne, who is one of the researchers of the project, said that humans are continuously exposed to blue light because the eye’s cornea and lens can’t block or reflect it.
It’s no secret that blue light harms our vision by damaging the eye’s retina. Our experiments explain how this happens, and we hope this leads to therapies that slow macular degeneration, such as a new kind of eye drop.
Blue light itself has a short wavelength and more energy as compared to other colors and causes gradual damage to the eyes, given how many devices we use and the hours we spend on them per day. One of the diseases mentioned above is macular degeneration which is caused by deterioration of light-sensitive cells in the retina. In the US, where the study was conducted, around 11 million people are currently suffering from this disease with the number expected to double by 2050.
Moreover, blue light also disrupts our body’s clock and interferes with our sleeping pattern. Around the evening when it gets darker, the human body produces melatonin which is a sleep hormone. Excessive use of devices emitting blue light can slow down or stop the process of producing melatonin.
Thankfully, most smartphones now come with blue light filters built-in and it is highly recommended that they are used to prevent any kind of eye damage. You can set the intensity of the filter to whatever you like. Some are activated at a particular time but you can also have the option to enable it manually. Windows 10 also has a built-in blue light filter which goes by the name “Night Light”.
For those who don’t have any kind of blue light filter in their smartphones, third-party applications are available both on the iOS App Store and Android Play Store.
Source: The University of Toledo