How to avoid wearing blue blockers in the evening....
Published about 2 months agoΒ β’Β 6 min read
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π What the blue blocker companies don't want you to know....My step by step guide
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No blue blockers? What the blue blocking glasses companies don't want you to know.....
I will start this article off by saying: I LOVE my blue blockers, and have worn them religiously for the last (almost) 6 years. At this point they are like a Pavlovian signal to my nervous system to wind down - so you probably won't see me going without them anytime soon.
However - I do get a lot of feedback from people who are new to this work that they: 1. Don't like wearing them. 2. Get headaches or don't feel well when they wear them (rare but does happen) or 3. Have young kids who won't wear them.
So in today's article I will talk about how to set up your home for those who refuse to wear them (π¨spoiler alert: you will have to make some legitimate changes to your lighting).
At the end I will discuss what you can do if you have a partner who is not cooperative as well.
But first - WATCH THE REPLAY - of my free Webinar on Light & Health & get my brand new free light bulb guide! Click here to get instant viewing access.
First let's talk about the science of blue blockers & WHY someone would even want to wear them in the first place:
Blue blockers are designed to filter out disruptive wavelengths of light, particularly blue light (450-485 nm) and green light (500-550 nm), which are known to suppress melatonin and interfere with your bodyβs natural circadian rhythm.
In the evening, exposure to these wavelengths from screens, LED lights, and other artificial sources can trick your brain into thinking itβs still daytime, delaying sleep onset (blue and green light of these wavelengths essentially tell your brain to make cortisol & raise blood sugar and insulin in the absence of food) and disrupting hormonal balance.
By wearing blue blockers in the evening, you can protect your eyes from these disruptive frequencies, allowing melatonin production to rise naturally. This supports better sleep quality, improved appetite & energy regulation, hormone balance and overall circadian health.
It's important for people to understand that the "blue blocking industry" is highly unregulated, and there are companies out there selling products that don't actually block 450mn - 550mn.
The best way to know if your glasses work is to test them with a spectrometer - (which isn't necessarily affordable for everyone).... So I will show you some examples below, AND I always test anything I recommend with my spectrometer.
Why lux (brightness) matters as much as - and often more than blue light at night:
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Most conversations about sleep and circadian rhythm stop at blue light, but your circadian system doesnβt only respond to wavelength - it responds very strongly to photon intensity (lux).
Your retina contains melanopsin-expressing intrinsically photosensitive retinal ganglion cells (ipRGCs). These cells:
Respond most strongly to blue light
But are also intensity sensitive across the visible spectrum
Send signals directly to the SCN (your circadian clock)
This means brightness alone, even from βwarmβ or amber light, can suppress melatonin if itβs bright enough.
While a spectrometer is very pricey, and would be impossible to duplicate in an app (although I am working on integration ideas - so stay tuned π) - you can measure LUX with βMyCircadianAppβ to check to see if your evening environment is dim enough.
So to sum up: You need to evening environment to be void of blue/green & dim enough (I recommend the 3 hours leading up to bedtime), and your sleeping environment should be less than a one.
Back to the original question: How to avoid wearing blue blockers in the evening?
This will be hard with a busy modern family, but it is possible (at the end of the day - its easier for me to just wear blue blockers than try to control everyone π«£) - but so many have asked me about this that I want to provide some solutions:
Here are some lighting solutions (it is important to understand that TVs - phone screens & other lights must be offβ for these solutions to work effectively)
My UV bug zapper lamp
UV Bug Zapper:
Yes we have a couple of these through the house (and they are kind of fun π). These are great for someone who doesn't like red light - and likes a certain ambiance of purple in the home.
As you can see from the spectrometerββ reading above - these are below the 450mn range & would not disrupt your circadian rhythm, and at eye level - the lux measures a 2.
I just bought this one a month ago to go in the bedroom, and I already want another one for downstairs!
At eye level - approximately 1 foot away- the lux measures a 6, and there is no blue/green! Click here and stack code SARAHK for a total of 25% off for black Friday.
I also like this red night light for middle of the night assistance.
Hooga Bulb
Blue light blocking bulb
As you can see - this one has a tiny bit of green light - so it might not be as great of a choice as the other options - but it's massively better than your standard LEDs - click here for this one.
I do use these in the kid's rooms (in lamps) - and in the kid's bathroom (in a lamp).
Incandescent lamp
Incandescent bulbs
I LOVE incandescent bulbs (look at all that red & infrared - which is 100% missing from our indoor environments) - but more so for daytime use!
As you can see - they contain no blue/green, and when I measure with my lux meter - this one is only two lux (approximately one foot away).
The salt lamp I have been using has been out of stock - so I am waiting on a new one! They can vary in brightness & spectrum - so always use MyCircadianApp to test lux!
And just for your reference - this is what a standard LED bulb - TV screen and phone screen looks like when measured (lux will always vary based on distance & kelvin) β¬οΈ
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What to do if your family isn't cooperative with your latest lighting ideas π π¨:
I do talk about this a bit more in depth (and conversationally from the lens of a practitioner and a mom/wife) - in my latest free webinar, but if you have an uncooperative family - blue blockers will be your best friend!
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