Blue-Blocking Glasses Might Not Do Much of Anything, Says New Review 36
According to a new study of studies, researchers have concluded that blue light-filtering eyeglasses might not deliver on claims made by advertisers or optometrist offices. NewAtlas reports: To reach their conclusion, researchers at the University of Melbourne with colleagues from Monash University, and City, University of London looked at 17 published studies from six different countries relating to the use of eyeglasses that block blue light. The randomized control studies ranged in size from five to 156 participants and each took place over a time period of just less than one day to five weeks. They found that based on the current research, nothing conclusive could be said about the benefits of blue-light-blocking glasses on overall eye health, sleep quality, or visual performance. This is despite the facts that there are a range of advertising claims regarding these very benefits, and that such lenses are often prescribed for patients based on their alleged efficacy.
Downie and her team are quick to point out that even with such a comprehensive review of the current research on blue-blocking glasses, it would take a much larger study to reach truly valuable data about the use of such specs. One of the issues they point out is that none of the studies reviewed had long enough follow-up periods for the researchers to make conclusions about the long-term use of the glasses. Singh also points out that even without larger, longer, and more rigorous studies, the efficacy of blue-light-blocking glasses remains dubious. "The amount of blue light our eyes receive from artificial sources, such as computer screens, is about a thousandth of what we get from natural daylight," he said. "It's also worth bearing in mind that blue-light filtering lenses typically filter out about 10-25% of blue light, depending on the specific product. Filtering out higher levels of blue light would require the lenses to have an obvious amber tint, which would have a substantial effect on color perception." The new study has been published in the Cochrane Database of Systematic Reviews.
Downie and her team are quick to point out that even with such a comprehensive review of the current research on blue-blocking glasses, it would take a much larger study to reach truly valuable data about the use of such specs. One of the issues they point out is that none of the studies reviewed had long enough follow-up periods for the researchers to make conclusions about the long-term use of the glasses. Singh also points out that even without larger, longer, and more rigorous studies, the efficacy of blue-light-blocking glasses remains dubious. "The amount of blue light our eyes receive from artificial sources, such as computer screens, is about a thousandth of what we get from natural daylight," he said. "It's also worth bearing in mind that blue-light filtering lenses typically filter out about 10-25% of blue light, depending on the specific product. Filtering out higher levels of blue light would require the lenses to have an obvious amber tint, which would have a substantial effect on color perception." The new study has been published in the Cochrane Database of Systematic Reviews.
Of course they do something (Score:5, Funny)
Re: Of course they do something (Score:3)
My wife got me a nice pair of such glasses. I got laser surgery years ago so I would not need to wear glasses so I was not looking forward to wear glasses again. The results are that I got headaches from wearing them. What happen is that the inside of the glasses caused some glare from the surrounding light sources. I stopped using them after a few days, never again.
YMMV (Score:5, Informative)
Iâ(TM)ve gotta say, my yellow-lenses glasses really help for driving at night. But Iâ(TM)m old. YMMV.
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blue can be very annoying in the dark. I recently got this device that had a white-on-blue LCD and it was really hard in the dark. It was sitting on top of an older device with orange-on-black display. So I put a deep orange gel in front, and wow - it now looks amazing. the blue disappeared but the background had enough white to make it "barely visible". and the white text is now orange.
my air conditioner had a white LED 7-segment display for the temperature. I modded it the same way. completely transformed
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Some people find that blue reduction glasses help with fatigue and sleep. I've found that using blue reduction on my phone and computer monitor in the evenings does help. Conversely, a daylight white lightbulb really messed things up.
It's all anecdotal of course. One of the best things I ever did was to simply reduce the brightness of my monitor. Dark mode is nice too, but you don't want too much contrast. Full black and about 70-80% grey is good. Or if you need black on a white background, e.g. for editing
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AmigaOS 2 and up defaults to a grey background for windows. Most text apps stuck with that, and black text. Editors, shells, IDEs... When I started using WYSIWYG document editors I noticed the fatigue setting in, and realized why.
The "why" of AmigaOS using black on grey was to reduce flicker in interlaced video modes. Reducing contrast increases eyestrain, but not as much as low rate interlaced video flicker.
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There is a sweet spot between too little and too much contrast.
KiCad recently changed the default background colour in the schematic editor to be off white, and it's a lot nicer.
I wish I was better at selecting colours to look good, but they usually end up as obvious coder colours.
Nooooo! (Score:3)
âoeblue light-filtering eyeglasses might not deliver on claims made by advertisers or optometrist officeâ
Stop the presses!
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This is despite the facts that there are a range of advertising claims regarding these very benefits, and that such lenses are often prescribed for patients based on their alleged efficacy.
Gosh, someone's selling something based on dubious claims of health benefits? Say it ain't so!
Polarized yes, yellow meh (Score:5, Informative)
I've tried both, I had blu blockers back in the day before they looked like safety glasses (they were still crap, but they looked slightly less crap) and the only thing the yellow ones do is make trees look really amazingly green. Polarized lenses are the business, and you can get photochromic ones that are great for driving or for safety glasses. (The cheap ones scratch easy and take forever to shift, but you can get them for ten or fifteen bucks for common bro glasses like Oakley M frames.) Polarized lenses cut glare from the road, headlights, daytime fog, etc etc.
Re: (Score:2)
I polarized my first driving glasses and will happily replace them with non-polarized next time.
It doesn't affect most screens, but depending on angle, will of course not show some screens, which impacted one person I read about at a gas station--they thought all the displays were broken.
You still get glare, it's just all the oriented glare, which is still most the glare. Lessening some doesn't help, you still need to not look at it and/or are blinded by it.
You also can get weird rainbow artifacting from s
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You still get glare, it's just all the oriented glare, which is still most the glare.
IME they cut the vast majority of the glare. Besides full sun, I appreciate them the most is when it's moderately bright out, but there's water in the air. Whether it's fog, light rain, or just water being picked up off the pavement by cars, polarized lenses improve sight distance when it's present. But there's also a lot of light scattered from headlights by the lenses that gets filtered out, and probably at least as much of a help of all that combined is reduction in the light that reflects off of wet pav
Re: Polarized yes, yellow meh (Score:2)
For me, not seeing the gas pump screens means I can block ads. My driving glasses aren't great for reading up close so taking them off to read the pump is normal for me. Once I start pumping I can pop my glasses back on and the big screen showing ads looks like a weird dark purple kaleidoscope.
Polarizing can be really great for fishermen when fishing to see into the water, but I don't fish when I drive, or at all actually.
Drive by fishing... You may have accidentally invented a new sport that I want to try.
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Back when I needed glasses for distance, I used to get amber-tinted prescription lenses for my sunglasses. They did totally cool things to the colors, enhancing the experience of being outdoors. Yes, colors were not accurate, but it was a pleasant experience.
The only filtering you really need to have for outdoor eye wear is UV blocking. And you really need that if you want to have reasonably normal vision later in life. Without UV blocking, there's a good chance that your eye's lenses will irreversibly
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Practically all lenses are UV blocking now. They need that just so the plastic lenses won't yellow, let alone for your eyes. They are literally all supposed to be UV protective, but of course a few aren't.
Completely worthless. (Score:1)
Re: (Score:2)
True. Any benefit will be statistical in nature. Blue light is known to have long term detrimental effects on eye sight and that would not be seen for many years of use. The human circadian clock is also tied to blue light entering the eye so the lack of or better sleep could have long term effects that would only be realized by analyzing data of many people over a long period of time. Would people wearing yellow lenses make better workers because they get more sleep, or would they be late to work more ofte
Common sense says (Score:5, Insightful)
All life on Earth evolved under the sun, land animals got all wavelengths for millions of years
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Exactly! That's why sunburn isn't a thing.
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On a natural diurnal cycle.
Maybe we would all be less crazy of we did that too.
So what? (Score:2)
Most of us are not living a natural lifestyle, so natural light may have negative consequences for us — it might be incompatible with our current mode of operation. Few of us are up with the dawn and going to sleep at dusk.
Next up... (Score:4, Funny)
"Anti-ageing skin lotions don't work".
Ask your optometrist (Score:2)
The place I went to get my glasses made (not part of the Elissor-Luxxotica monopoly) gave me the option when I had glasses made. They asked if I wanted the yellow tint added to the lens (it was free). I opted not.
I asked my optometrist about it and he told me the research has been incredibly spotty, he simply told me there was nothing saying it was good or bad, regardless of whether or not you spend your days in front of a screen.
Instead, he just said it was a personal choice. Get them if you want, or don't
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okay (Score:2)
but what if i put them on as a shocker
Fitovers (Score:2)
I think its better to have fitover sunglasses for use outside in daylight hours, and choose the tint that best suits your eye problems. You then take them off when inside and need better color definition. Its also cheaper than getting your prescription lenses tinted and or light sensitive darkened. (I have given up on 'Transitions' tinted prescription lenses since they don't work in winter)
As the owner of 3 different versions of them, (Score:3)
So they're like copper bracelets? (Score:2)
Remember back in the day when everyone and their grandmother were wearing copper bracelets or had copper-infused foot pads in their shoes because of the "miraculous" properties of copper? They even had sports figures [ispot.tv] getting in on the scam.*
If these glasses blocked blue light to the level they claim, people would have been complaining about not being able to see properly.
* Among others he happens to be involved with.
A week long study of 150 participants (Score:1)
Amber tint? (Score:2)
I noticed that screens with blue elements were more glary at night than reddish screens so I picked up a pair at the discount store to see what was up.
They help a little bit. Worth $6.
But they're not tinted. They have a coating that reflects bluish light and permits reddish light. To be sure it's not dramatically shifting the color range.
Why is the researcher talking about tinted lenses? Is she talking about different tech?
MY EYES! (Score:2)
If you can't tell they're blueblocking, of course (Score:1)
Photographers are wrong? (Score:2)
Yellow-lenses (Score:1)