Simple, Easy And Free Way To Reduce Blue Light Exposure (and Increase Red)

[Sucrates]

Using f.lux but having bulbs emiting blue light (they are standard bulbs so I guess they emit it) in the room completely makes the program useless, am I right?

Yeah, it would depend on the intensity of blue. 2100K incandescent have a good spectrum.

 

[Djukami]

Yeah, it would depend on the intensity of blue. 2100K incandescent have a good spectrum.

Lol... yeeeah, mine is 6400K. Interesting, I've never noticed the xxxxK number before, since I've never really studied enough about red light therapy nor color temperatures. I was only worried about the watts and volt.

Regarding changing everything to red color, between solid red background and solid black, doesn't solid black work also to reduce blue light exposure? It feels like when I put solid red, my eyes strain more than solid black. Or does black still have some blue light?

 

[tankasnowgod]

Using f.lux but having bulbs emiting blue light (they are standard bulbs so I guess they emit it) in the room completely makes the program useless, am I right?

Not completely. There's degrees to all of these things. I think computer monitors, TVs and phones emit a disproportionate amount of blue light. If you look at yourself in a mirror when using an unaltered screen, you'll see a blueish glow reflected. Switch to darkroom mode on f.lux, and you'll see a redish glow.

If you have the old school incandesents, they emit less blue light than CFLs or bright white LEDs. I realized this when they changed the lights outside of my apartment (in two different locations). Never bothered with blackout shades with the old school lights, but when the "energy saving" ones came it, they became an absolute necessity.

 

[Sucrates]

Lol... yeeeah, mine is 6400K. Interesting, I've never noticed the xxxxK number before, since I've never really studied enough about red light therapy nor color temperatures. I was only worried about the watts and volt.

Regarding changing everything to red color, between solid red background and solid black, doesn't solid black work also to reduce blue light exposure? It feels like when I put solid red, my eyes strain more than solid black. Or does black still have some blue light?

I don't know. I use f.lux at 1600-1900 when it's dark outside.

 

[BibleBeliever]

As @Black Ops said

If you want to check if your program or even glasses is really blocking all the blue light, just check if the blue color is black. If it is completely black, it means it is blocking it. Twilight app doesn't do that...
My blue blocking glasses only remove the worst spectrum for our eyes (as they say) so I still see some blue, but flux makes the color blue completely black.

This is how I test it:
https://vignette3.wikia.nocookie.net/phobia/images/1/16/Blue.png/revision/latest?cb=20161109225351
How Effective is your Blue Light Filter - Test Your Glasses with this Graphic
Another Way to Test Your Blue Light Filtering Eyewear

Thanks for the tip; you're right, the blue square is completly blue with Twilight. Completly black with f.lux.

 

[Djukami]

Not completely. There's degrees to all of these things. I think computer monitors, TVs and phones emit a disproportionate amount of blue light. If you look at yourself in a mirror when using an unaltered screen, you'll see a blueish glow reflected. Switch to darkroom mode on f.lux, and you'll see a redish glow.

If you have the old school incandesents, they emit less blue light than CFLs or bright white LEDs. I realized this when they changed the lights outside of my apartment (in two different locations). Never bothered with blackout shades with the old school lights, but when the "energy saving" ones came it, they became an absolute necessity.

I've tested what you've said in the mirror. Perhaps I did it wrong, dunno, but I think my laptop still emits some blue light. It's a LCD. It has a bright white light "inside". I mean, in dark mode there's without a doubt much less blue/white, but there's still some, it seems. Does this happen to you too? If not, I think I've learned something new: blue blocking glasses are better overall.

But regarding redlightman advice, do you think changing the background to solid red in all screens is the best solution? I will be repeating the question, but isnt changing to solid black good enough also? Or the extra advantage of changing it to solid red is to get some red light?

Yeah, in my flat everyone changed to the energy saving ones too. Do old school incandescents warm too much? When I was a kid, the old school bulbs would get too hot and sometimes would smell bad (fishy smell). At least, this is what I remember.

I don't know. I use f.lux at 1600-1900 when it's dark outside.

Well, you're right. I mean, the computer screen isn't a problem. The problem is what to do about phones and tablets' screens :p

Thanks for the tip; you're right, the blue square is completly blue with Twilight. Completly black with f.lux.

I was really disappointed with the app when I found that.
F.lux is much better, but I really don't want to root my phone to install it. I still like to have my phone with red screen, it seems lighter to my eyes at night. But to block blue light, it seems it's better to use blue blocking glasses.

 

[Sucrates]

Well, you're right. I mean, the computer screen isn't a problem. The problem is what to do about phones and tablets' screens :p

Throw that rubbish away!

 

[Djukami]

I don't know. I use f.lux at 1600-1900 when it's dark outside.

Never tried to use it on 1600K. I was always putting it on Ember, which is pretty red. But 1600K seems pretty enough to block all the blue light.

Throw that rubbish away!

To be honest, if I could, I would. I simply avoid them most of the times.
But, in our modern society, I have to say that it's very hard to live without a phone.

And btw, @tankasnowgod , I now understand why I still see some white/blue in my notebook. There's a LED light inside, as I was already suspecting, so I can't completely avoid all the blue. It seems those monitors which are OLED, you may be able to block all the blue. For instance, I've noticed the monitor from my iPad, the color black is completely black and not with some white on the back. Now I also understand why a background with solid red is better than solid black. Solid black in my laptop is still, in the end, bright white. With fully red, I can reduce more that white color.

 

[ilikecats]

This might sound stupid but could the color of your walls have an effect on you? Mine are bright blue....

 

[Djukami]

This might sound stupid but could the color of your walls have an effect on you? Mine are bright blue....

LOL. I actually thought about that the other day. I think it only might have an effect on you, if you have some light that emits blue light. I am saying this because when the sun is reflecting in a mirror, it burns two or three times more. So there must be some radiation that is reflecting. A wall is not a mirror, I know, but there must exist some degree of it. If you shine red light on a blue wall, doesn't it become all black?
But I am not an expert on radiation and light.

 

[ilikecats]

hmmm idk. I was reading that some sailors get eye damage do to the light reflecting off of the sea... The fact that people say that changing your desktop to something red colored changes the spectrum of light that comes off of it is what got me thinking about wall color.

 

[Sucrates]

https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC2509016/pdf/brmedj08798-0013b.pdf

 

[Djukami]

https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC2509016/pdf/brmedj08798-0013b.pdf

This may be correlated or not, in the past, I went to a hospital where one of its sections had walls with wood shape. Usually, hospital's walls are all white. Actually, everything is white there lol. For whatever reason, I remember the feeling of well being and calmness increasing, which was the opposite to what was happening when I was in the white bright walls: tense, nervous and so on. I really remember telling to the MD how cool this section was; having the feeling of being at home.
This is an anecdotal experience. Again, it may be correlated or not, but I found it funny to remember it the moment I read Sucrates' post.

White seems overrated. All the walls in my house are white. I guess it's more convenient to cleaning purposes though (the same reason for hospitals).
It seems I will have to make sure my bedroom will look something like this in the future:

 

[lollipop]

This might sound stupid but could the color of your walls have an effect on you? Mine are bright blue....

I think colors do influence our brains and body chemistry. I remember several studies of using different colors to stimulate different behaviors and capacities of brain. If you search, you could probably find it.

 

[Amazoniac]

- Exposure to LED lights could be harmful; scientists suggest a simple solution | Down-to-Earth

"Monto Mani, an associate professor at the Indian Institute of Science’s (IISc’s) Centre for Sustainable Technology in Bengaluru, had a tryst with LED lights not so long ago. “While working with fine artwork/tools under LED lights, my students complained of intense eye strain and a diminished clarity. On one occasion, while working under LED lights for about 20 minutes, I developed an uncharacteristic pain in the upper part of the eye (ball) which nearly lasted till the next morning. We then decided to find a solution to the problem,” says Mani."

"Mani and his team tested most of the commercially available LED luminaire with a spectroradiometer and found the blue peak to be unnaturally high and very unlike the natural indoor light. Finally, through some quirk of intuition, Mani tested the lights after applying Kapton tape ["copper"], a polyimide film that can remain stable across a wide range of temperatures. "To everyone’s delight, it did the job so well that one would even be convinced that these tapes were developed only to cut the blue peak. So much so, that our lab has all our LED lights with Kapton, and everyone who visits our lab feels that these lights feel good," says Mani."​

 

[GreekDemiGod]

Silly question, but should blue light be reduced even during the day, not only in the hours before sleep?
So should you wear blue light blocking glasses during the day too?

 

[Lizb]

Silly question, but should blue light be reduced even during the day, not only in the hours before sleep?
So should you wear blue light blocking glasses during the day too?

I've just watched Mike Fave's recent video on YouTube stating that you should get exposed to blue light as soon as you can in the morning (get outside).

It's the first time I've heard that.

You could ask Mike to expand on that. I'm sure he would.

I'd be interested to hear more detail.


View: https://youtu.be/egHsQ7lVB9A?si=j90SrRDWIPTelLLv

 

[Kyle970]

Atom Bergstrom says blue light is good during the day.