Strengthen Your Immune System By Blocking Blue Light
In 1879, Thomas Edison invented the electric light bulb. Since then, technology has changed life as we know it. We became the masters of our domain, but it hasn’t been without consequences. According to the CDC, 35% of Americans are not getting the recommended sleep of seven hours per night. Short-term sleep deprivation has been linked to decreased quality of life, emotional well-being, and a reduction in cognitive functioning, including reduced memory and performance (1).
Long-term sleep disruption has been shown to increase your risk for numerous diseases, including, but not limited to, cardiovascular disease, diabetes, obesity, colorectal cancer, and metabolic syndrome (1). I believe excessive nighttime blue light exposure plays a vital role in reducing sleep quality and health due to its detrimental effects on melatonin.
Potent Antioxidant
Free radicals are unstable atoms or molecules that play an important role in keeping you healthy. But when their levels go unchecked, they cause damage in the form of oxidative stress. Excessive oxidative stress formation can increase your risk for numerous diseases (2). Melatonin is 10x more effective than Vitamin C and E at protecting you from these stress-inducing molecules (2). It has also been shown to reduce inflammation and body fat (3,4). A new study has even demonstrated an association between melatonin usage and reduced Covid-19 risk (5).
“We found that melatonin usage was associated with a 28% reduced likelihood of a positive laboratory test result for SARS-CoV-2 after adjusting for age, sex, race, smoking history, and various disease comorbidities.” -Zhou et al., 2020
Melatonin Deficiency
Melatonin is a circadian rhythm hormone that signals rest and recovery. It is created in the pineal gland of the brain when lower levels of light are detected. During a regular rhythm, melatonin will begin to increase around 9:00 pm and reach its peak in the middle of the night. But nighttime light exposure disrupts this sleep cycle by inhibiting and delaying melatonin release.
In the New York Times bestseller, Why We Sleep, Matthew Walker writes,
“Compared to reading a printed book, reading on an iPad suppressed melatonin release by over 50 percent at night. Indeed, iPad reading delayed the rise of melatonin by up to three hours…”
Is There A Solution?
In a perfect world, you would eliminate all artificial light sources and stop engaging with screens after sundown. While ideal, this is far from a realistic solution for many. The modern world requires work to be done at all hours and the pace of life demands us to often keep the lights on well after sundown. So what ARE some steps we can take to battle this negative effect of light and electronics?
Blue Blocking Glasses
Like most, I am often required and, dare I say, even enjoy being on my phone and laptop at night. As a means to combat the detrimental effects mentioned above, I began wearing blue-blocking glasses before bed.
At this point, I look forward to putting my glasses on at 730pm. My eye-strain fades and a calming effect takes hold. In a couple of hours, I am ready for bed. I’ve even gotten a handful of clients and friends on the blue-blocking bandwagon. They have all had similar beneficial effects. Just remember to take the glasses off before going to sleep.
But is there any research to back these claims?
A study sought out to test the effectiveness of blocking blue light at night. The scientists randomized twenty volunteers into two groups.
Blue blocking glasses
Non-blue blocking glasses
Both groups went through a baseline assessment to measure their sleep and mood for one week before beginning the study. The group who wore the blue-blocking glasses three hours before rest reported improved sleep quality and mood over two weeks (6).
I understand this is just one study, and you can’t extrapolate too much from it. However, there is conclusive evidence showing nighttime light exposure suppresses melatonin and disrupts our natural circadian rhythm (7-10).
Blue Light Blocking Products
Suppose you aren’t feeling the glasses, no worries. Through modern technology, there are ways in which you can minimize the blue light at the source. A quick search through the app store will allow you to find numerous blue-blocking applications for laptops and phones (F. Lux Blue Blocking App). Also, you can adjust your iPhone’s display by clicking “settings”. Watch the video tutorial below.
For the home and bedroom, I recommend installing Philips Hue Lighting. You can control the light bulb’s color and brightness from the comfort of your phone. Additionally, you can program them to wake you up naturally, mimicking the effects of a sunrise.
Do It For The Melatonin
Melatonin is one of the most vital antioxidants in the body, ten times more effective than vitamin C and E. It helps fight inflammation, body fat, and may reduce your risk of Covid-19. Thus, we should do our best to limit nighttime light exposure to boost our melatonin levels naturally.
Can I Supplement Instead?
I am not recommending you take any supplement. If you do have an interest in supplementation, please talk to your doctor first. Nevertheless, I do supplement with 1.5 mg of melatonin here and there. You can find the supplement below, but make sure you talk to your doctor first.
Citations
1. Medic, G., Wille, M., & Hemels, M. E. (2017). Short- and long-term health consequences of sleep disruption. Nature and science of sleep, 9, 151–161. https://doi.org/10.2147/NSS.S134864
2. Tan, D. X., Manchester, L. C., Esteban-Zubero, E., Zhou, Z., & Reiter, R. J. (2015). Melatonin as a Potent and Inducible Endogenous Antioxidant: Synthesis and Metabolism. Molecules (Basel, Switzerland), 20(10), 18886–18906. https://doi.org/10.3390/molecules201018886
3. Akbari, M., Ostadmohammadi, V., Tabrizi, R., Lankarani, K. B., Heydari, S. T., Amirani, E., Reiter, R. J., & Asemi, Z. (2018). The effects of melatonin supplementation on inflammatory markers among patients with metabolic syndrome or related disorders: a systematic review and meta-analysis of randomized controlled trials. Inflammopharmacology, 26(4), 899–907. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10787-018-0508-7
4. Mostafavi, S. A., Akhondzadeh, S., Mohammadi, M. R., Keshtkar, A. A., Hosseini, S., Eshraghian, M. R., Motlagh, T. A., Alipour, R., & Keshavarz, S. A. (2017). Role of Melatonin in Body Weight: A Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis. Current pharmaceutical design, 23(23), 3445–3452. https://doi.org/10.2174/1381612822666161129145618
5. Zhou, Y., Hou, Y., Shen, J., Mehra, R., Kallianpur, A., Culver, D. A., Gack, M. U., Farha, S., Zein, J., Comhair, S., Fiocchi, C., Stappenbeck, T., Chan, T., Eng, C., Jung, J. U., Jehi, L., Erzurum, S., & Cheng, F. (2020). A network medicine approach to investigation and population-based validation of disease manifestations and drug repurposing for COVID-19. PLoS biology, 18(11), e3000970. https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pbio.3000970
6. Burkhart K, Phelps JR. Amber lenses to block blue light and improve sleep: a randomized trial. Chronobiol Int. 2009;26(8):1602-1612. doi:10.3109/07420520903523719
7. Potter GD, Skene DJ, Arendt J, Cade JE, Grant PJ, Hardie LJ. Circadian Rhythm and Sleep Disruption: Causes, Metabolic Consequences, and Countermeasures. Endocr Rev. 2016;37(6):584-608. doi:10.1210/er.2016-1083
8. Chang AM, Aeschbach D, Duffy JF, Czeisler CA. Evening use of light-emitting eReaders negatively affects sleep, circadian timing, and next-morning alertness. Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A. 2015;112(4):1232-1237. doi:10.1073/pnas.1418490112
9. Nagai N, Ayaki M, Yanagawa T, et al. Suppression of Blue Light at Night Ameliorates Metabolic Abnormalities by Controlling Circadian Rhythms. Invest Ophthalmol Vis Sci. 2019;60(12):3786-3793. doi:10.1167/iovs.19-27195
10. Esaki Y, Takeuchi I, Tsuboi S, Fujita K, Iwata N, Kitajima T. A double-blind, randomized, placebo-controlled trial of adjunctive blue-blocking glasses for the treatment of sleep and circadian rhythm in patients with bipolar disorder [published online ahead of print, 2020 Apr 10]. Bipolar Disord. 2020;10.1111/bdi.12912. doi:10.1111/bdi.12912