Block out blue light for better sleep

Uvex Skypers are protective eyewear that have built-in side shields and a brow guard. Lightweight and comfortably snug, they fit me perfectly out of the box, but they do come with a nose bridge and an adjustable temple length for those who need to customize the fit. With great eye coverage and total comfort, I’m sure they fit the bill when it comes to safety glasses, but that’s not why I use them.

With interchangeable lenses that come in an array of colors, I’ve finally found the missing ingredient that completes my nighttime recipe to combat insomnia: the Extreme Orange Anti Fog lenses! For years I’ve had chronic insomnia, and have tried everything from herbal teas to hot baths to the occasional prescription. These things would help for a night or two, and then the insomnia would come back like a tenacious weed. I knew that looking at blue light after dark suppresses melatonin production (a hormone that regulates sleep), and I really did try for one night to avoid my iPhone, iPad, and television in the evening hours. Let’s just say that wasn’t a realistic solution.

Then my husband gave me these cool orange shades that block all ultraviolet, violet, and blue light while allowing green and red wavelengths to pass through, and it’s made a complete difference in my sleep! I try to remember to put them on a little after it gets dark, but even if I wait until just one or two hours before bedtime I still seem to get good sleep. The color might be too dark for those who want to work in their garage, but since the lenses are interchangeable that won’t be a problem.

-- Carla Sinclair

Orange Uvex Skyper Safety Glasses: $10

Mark Frauenfelder is the founder of Boing Boing and the editor-in-chief of MAKE and Cool Tools. Twitter: @frauenfelder. Come and hear Mark speak at the ALA conference in Chicago on July 1.

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ndrake

Relevant software: http://stereopsis.com/flux/
- ocker3
  
  Available for different platforms, has a built-in feature for searching via post-code (may only work in the USA), I’m an instant fan!
  - Symbiote
    
    There’s also “redshift”, which is open source http://jonls.dk/redshift/ (and for those of us more comfortable configuring a program by editing a text file :-D)
Teal Scott

I feel like I’ve seen this ad before https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_Png-PC0ews
- Grahamers2002
  
  Damn! You beat-boxed me to it!
  
  The name is still in use: http://www.blublocker.com/
Sasha K-S

Or use the awesome program ‘redshift’ which does the same thing to your computer. Noticeably helps me sleep much better when I use the computer before sleeping, it’s simple and awesome.

available in the ubuntu repository: sudo apt-get install redshift
http://twitter.com/Eric_WVGG Eric Jacobsen

I’m sure you know about F.lux for Macs and Linux computers; I jailbroke my iPad and iPhone recently so I could install F.lux there, and it is very, very much worthwhile.

No suggestions for your teevee, I’m afraid.
- BillyBumbler00
  
  It’s available for windows as well.
- http://twitter.com/wi_ngo wingo shackleford
  
  WHOA, dude. Thanks for the tip. I just installed it and felt my face and shoulders instantly relax. I was all crunched up and squinty looking at my bright screen in a dark room, and did not realize it. This is currently blowing my mind.
  - Antinous / Moderator
    
    So, if I normally go to bed at 0500, is this just going to make me feel tired while I’m working at night?
    - retchdog
      
      Yeah, it’s great software but I find its “night-time only” functionality to be stupid for that reason.
      
      However, you can enter different lat/long coordinates (!) to set the diurnal cycle, or you can manually set the color temperature for both daylight and night times.
    - http://devojane.blogspot.com devophill
      
      I find it’s a great way of knowing that the sun just went down without going outside, so there’s that.
  - LogrusZed
    
    2nd. It might be weird with some of the stuff I do at night (I read a lot of .cbr comics before I sleep) but it’s easy to tweak.
  - wrybread
    
    Me too. Super cool.
- LogrusZed
  
  Wow. Pretty easy to use and adjust too.
http://twitter.com/joeybladb joe k.

Great sleepin’ — plus you get that “Bono” look for free!
Mr_Smooth

I have discovered that sleeping in the dark effectively blocks blue light.

It’s AMAZING!
- retepslluerb
  
  I’ve discovered that reading more than the headline effectively help understanding it.
LogrusZed

I’ve been using overhead time projecting alarms for a while because I already have an anxiety related sleep disorder and being able to see the time (or just knowing I can easily see the time) helps me relax. Anyhow when my red light OHP clock died all I could find was a blue light version and I swear my sleep had been worse since.

So, if true, this makes sense with my own experience.
http://www.facebook.com/people/Chris-Jacques/588978151 Chris Jacques

Been saying this forever. This blue light craze from fluorescents, and LEDS is not just silly and ugly, but dangerous. I’ve got warm tones running on all my devices (except of course when doing color accurate work), my nighttime lights are all incandescent, and I fall asleep the second my head hits the pillow. Not to mention it’s just less stressful to the eyes.

For lights out reading on an iPad, I have a dark amber screen mode thanks to “Color Profiles”. It’s awesome!
sam1148

Are these the “As Seen on TV” repurposed “Blue Blocker” glasses? Same thing same filter as far as I can see.
Patrick Austin

yes I find it quite annoying those police cars chasing me with flashing blue lights they could cause an accident .I will get a pair
peregrinus

As I’ve slid into my 30s 40s I’ve found I’m sleeping less well – neatly correlated with the rise of iDevices. It all makes sense, this blue light stuff – tons of evidence on the interwebs. And what nailed it for me – early morning sunlight light is bluer than evening light. Might be saying something you all already know – but clearly evolution and the early bird and the worm come into play here.

Blue light is wakey light! Avoid avoid avoid.

Thanks for posting this, and the wonderful informative comments above.
dpiekny

Hi Carla,
If you’re online in Canada, or have Netflix, there was an excellent documentary about light-and-sleep interaction on a show called The Nature of Things, with David Suzuki, a longtime environmental proponent:http://www.cbc.ca/natureofthings/episode/lights-out.html

The link provides an overview if you can’t watch the video, but there are glasses available and in use for shift workers that block only the bandwidths that affect alertness and sleep-cycles, providing a less-orange tinted view. I don’t know where to get them or how much they cost, but I think the video will be of interest to you regardless. Good Luck!