Why I Wear Red Glasses Every Night (And It Has Nothing to Do With Fashion)
Somewhere in the sky wearing my blue-light blocking glasses.
Maybe you’ve seen these funky red glasses before… or maybe you haven’t…
Either way, I’m here to clear up that these aren’t just the new fashion trend. Honestly, I personally think these are kind of cool but they do way more for you than just add a unique touch to your outfit.
These glasses have a red tint to the glass in order to prevent, or at least significantly minimize, blue light from coming into your eyes.
Now why might this be necessary?
Well, blue light is the light that is emitted from our phones, screens, and other artificial light sources nowadays, and it dramatically impacts our circadian rhythms as well as cortisol patterns.
Blue light, especially after sunset, makes our bodies think it’s still day time, affects our natural sleep-wake patterns and delays melatonin production (the hormone that makes us sleepy). As a result, exposure of blue light after sunset is what keeps us tossing and turning when it’s time for bed or results in us waking up in the mornings still feeling tired and not fully rested.
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Back in the day, people used their evenings to sit around a fireplace or socialize with their community outside in the darkness; however, nowadays, a lot of people spend their evenings sitting in front of devices that emit blue light, sittings in their homes with artificial overhead lighting, or working late in front of a device that emits blue light. This drastic difference in lifestyle is why so many of us now tend to have trouble with our sleep.
And sleep is a fundamental aspect of our health because:
Little or bad quality sleep = minimal recovery of your body
Minimal recovery of your body = cortisol dysregulation
Cortisol dysregulation = inflammation
Inflammation = disease (not to mention mood swings, brain fog, weight gain, infertility, etc.)
Now, ideally we wouldn’t ever spend our time in front of devices or lights but, I know, that’s not how the world works nowadays. And I’m not expecting you to lock yourself in a dark room every evening for the rest of your life. But there are measures you can take to minimize your exposure to blue light, especially in the evenings when it’s most detrimental to your health and sleep which includes dimming the lights in your house and avoiding blue light emitting devices 2-3 hours before bed.
Once again, I know this isn’t always realistic. Maybe you get invited to an evening social gathering or need to run to the store - all places where you can’t really control the brightness of the lights around you. That’s when these red tinted glasses come into play.
Disclaimer: these glasses won’t solve all your sleep issues (other factors come into play like caffeine intake, stress, etc.) BUT they do play a large role in helping you wind down and decreasing the affects that blue light might have if you’re not able to completely avoid it or for the entire 2-3 hours before bed.
Personally, I wear them in the evenings around the house before bed, to evening social gatherings, if I don’t have access to a regular old-school book and need to use my Kindle to read in the evening, if I’m doing work late at night, or when I’m traveling between countries and I know I want to sleep on the plane.
There are many different frames on the market with these red tints now but here are some of my favorites!