In today’s program, I discussed the latest information on blue light and its effects on our eyes and overall health. A research study showed that blue light exposure without protection can damage cornea cells, making it essential to shield our eyes, especially for high-risk populations. While blue light from the sun is healthy, the artificial blue light from digital devices can disrupt sleep cycles if exposed after 6 pm. Blue light can cause eye strain, fatigue, and reduced productivity, as well as impact our retina, leading to conditions like macular degeneration. It also affects sleep and cognitive processing. My recommendations include taking screen breaks every 20 minutes, hydrating your eyes with MSM drops, essential oils, and hydrosols, and staying hydrated with enough water. So let’s explore more about blue light and your health. Enjoy the show!

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SUMMARY KEYWORDS

light, eyes, blue, cornea, cells, corneas, podcast, studies, digital devices, exposure, today, screen, cognitive processing, affect, reduces, information, inflammation, talk, msm, itunes

00:06

Hey everybody, it’s Dr. Sam, I’d like to welcome you to my EyeClarity podcast. If you want to get in touch with me with questions, you can email me at hello@drsamberne.com. And you can always text me your questions at 1-844-932-1291. I would like to let you know about my new membership program. This is going to offer members new information on how to improve their vision and wellness. So you will get access to articles, video, blogs, podcasts, and webinars. Also a live Q&A with me. And all of this information will empower you to make informed decisions about your vision, and your health. So to sign up to go to my website, drsambernesmembership.com. And you can see the details there. All right now on to the show.

01:38

Hey, everybody, welcome to the program today. So I want to revisit a subject that I’ve spoken a lot about, and that is the latest information on blue light. Is it a problem is it made up? You know, what’s the latest research on how blue light not only affects our eyes, but our overall health. So looking at some of the archives of research that’s being done on blue light, I saw an article that was published in the British Journal of ophthalmology, where blue light was studied, as it was being exposed to cornea cells. So as you probably know, the cornea is the front window of the eye. It’s one of the first places we meet the world. And of course, light is a big part of this, whether it’s sunlight, or in this case blue light, artificial blue light that’s emitted from our digital devices, the cornea is one of the first places that’s going to be affected by blue light.

So in this particular study, researchers exposed the corneas to this blue light, the frequency used was 405 nanometers, which is right in the sweet spot of what is emitted from all our digital devices. So there was the three minute exposure to the cornea cells, and then the cells were in an incubation for 24 hours. At the same time, the blue light was exposed to corneal cells, but there was a blue blocker shield that was placed on top of the corneas. And so they could compare the difference between the blue light exposure between the two sets of cornea cells. So the results showed that the cornea cells that were exposed to the blue light without the blue protection had more blue light damage than the cells that received the blue blocking shade.

The researchers concluded that, especially in high risk populations, people with dry eye syndrome contact lens wearers people who’ve had either cataract surgery or lasik surgery. Even people who’ve been diagnosed with macular degeneration cataracts, and glaucoma should be either wearing blue blocker glasses or getting some kind of a blue shield on their screen. I’ll go into those things in a few minutes. But in a number of my video blogs, I’ve talked about the importance of protecting yourself from the damaging blue light. At the same time, not all blue light is bad for you. Meaning that the blue light that comes from the sun is actually healthy for you. It helps balance your circadian rhythms, and it regulates your endocrine system.

So I’m talking about the blue light, that high energy frequency that comes off all of our digital devices, getting some protection, especially after 6pm Because that’s where it can affect our sleep cycle. I want to go into some of the things that I’ve seen in my clinical practice with my students on how blue light affects our eyes. So number one, blue light definitely can cause things like eye strain eye fatigue, blurred vision, red eyes, tired eyes, difficulty with sustained

05:00

Gaining focus, it can reduce contrast, and ultimately it reduces our productivity. Number two, I have seen in certain studies and even in my clinical practice how prolonged blue light exposure may have an effect on your retina, you may have a higher risk of developing conditions like macular degeneration so the blue light can accelerate things like oxidative stress and inflammation in those sensitive retina cells. And of course, this creates acceleration in aging in our eyes, as well as maybe some serious eye diseases.

The next health risk, of course, is sleep and sleep disturbances, so people that are on their screens into the evening, this blue light can trick our pineal gland so we’re not producing the melatonin we need to fall asleep and stay asleep. And the studies out there are pretty definitive that blue light exposure in the evening definitely reduces the sleep cycle. And finally, blue light might affect your cognitive processing in your mood. Some studies have shown that blue light can affect these things in the brain the same time a morning exposure through the sunlight can actually increase your cognitive processing and improve your mood and memory. So here’s my short list of recommendations.

Number one, I would recommend taking a break from your screen time every 20 minutes, go outside, get a drink of water. Number two, I would hydrate your eyes during the day like your MSM drops MSM mist, you can also do essential oils hydrosols I love those but you want to keep your eyes hydrated and moist. I’d recommend the end palm home exercise I would do that maybe four to six times a day. And I mentioned this briefly but hydrating make sure you’re drinking enough water very easy to be at your screen and get dehydrated pretty quickly. This is going to increase your inflammation and certain medications can dry your eyes out more quickly. So some of the ones include any histamines, any depressants, I blood pressure medications decongestants.

Make sure you’re wearing your blue blockers after 6pm feed your eyes with those amazing nutrients I talk a lot about called carotenoids, vitamin A, remember the eyes have one of the highest metabolic needs in the body. So if you’re on screens all day, it’s like running a marathon. So make sure you’re feeding your eyes with high level antioxidants. Thanks so much for tuning in today. And until next time, take care

07:36

Thank you for listening. I hope you learned something from the EyeClarity podcast show today. If you enjoyed the episode, make sure to subscribe on iTunes or Spotify and leave a review. See you here next time.