To begin with I’d like to ask you a question – do you know what blue light blocking glasses are and what do they do? I’m sure you all know the answer by now. These are special spectacle lenses that apparently block blue light–a major contributor to eye strain and several other eye problems—emitted from digital screens. Since blue light also occurs naturally in sunlight, signaling that it’s time to wake up, digital blue light tricks our brains into thinking it’s time to wake up. The result is pretty obvious – you’re unable to sleep. Even though your device may have a blue light filter on, it’s never 100 percent reliable. Additionally, if you’re using blue glasses are you sure it blocks 100 percent of the blue light emitted from your devices? Have you done a blue light glasses test or do you have blind faith in the claims made by brands?
Blue light filter eyeglasses are the IT accessory of the season and everyone wants one, but not all blue lenses block those harmful rays. It’s more of a marketing strategy we fall for, but not anymore! Here are some quick blue light glasses tests to see if your blue light blocking glasses really work.
But first, let’s find out how electronic displays create color.
Many electronic displays utilize a technology called Liquid Crystal Display (LCD) to create the color images on the screen. To simplify, the screens are composed of many pixel panels. Each pixel has three subpixels which are composed of red, green, and blue. Through control of the voltage applied, each pixel can be switched on or off, or have its intensity-modulated. This variation produces the range of colors that you see on a screen.
How We Perceive Colors
We perceive colors through certain specialized cells present in our eyes known as cones. These cones are photoreceptors that are sensitive to color. A human eye has approximately six to seven million cones that are concentrated at the back of the retina. And when light reaches your eye, a specific type of cone – either red, green or blue will fire, depending on the wavelength of the light. The visual lens cortex within the brain obtains the message and forms an imaginary picture of the image. Simultaneously, the brain also uses the additive color method to form secondary colors. For example, when we see an object that’s yellow, only the red and green cones are stimulated because red + green = yellow.
How To Do A Blue Light Glasses Test?
There are a lot of blue light glasses available today, but how can you check if your blue glasses really live up to their claims?
The Reflection Test
One of the easiest blue light test that you can try at home is the reflection rest. In order to do the reflection test at home, all you need to do is:
Step 1: Pop your computer glasses on and see what color reflects off the lenses by standing in front of a mirror.
Step 2: If you see blue light reflecting off them then it’s a sign that they are filtering blue light.
Step 3: If the reflection is violet or purple, then your lenses aren’t filtering blue light effectively.
This is a basic blue light glasses test that you can do at home to test the effectiveness of your blue light blocking glasses. If needed you can also do this test before purchasing your computer glasses.
RGB Color Chart Test
Another way to test your blue light glasses at home is by using the RGB circle blue light test. For that, you will need to look at this image.
If you’re using normal prescription lenses without any blue light filter the two images shown above will appear differently. Now if you try looking at these images with your blue light filtering eyewear, both images will appear almost identical.
Let’s do this step-by-step:
Step 1: Wear your blue light glasses and look at the image carefully
Step 2: If your glasses are able to filter blue light, the B section will appear black and the G section should darken considerably. This demonstrates that your blue light glasses are not only filtering blue light but some green light, as well, which is very important when using your glasses after sunset.
Types of Blue Light Glasses Lenses
Clear Lenses
Clear lenses block up to 40% of blue light and are ideal for relieving digital eye strain and improving focus during the day time. Additionally, these lenses may also be helpful to people who need to see true colors on screen or who wear a uniform at work.
Yellow Lenses
Yellow lenses block up to 75% of blue light. And if you’re wondering why pick clear over yellow lenses, here’s the thing, technically they both serve the same purpose just that yellow lenses block twice as much as blue light. In spite the fact that these lenses block more blue light than clear lenses, always remember that not all blue light is bad and your body needs some blue light, especially during daytime. And, that’s because blue light also helps in keeping you active.
Orange Lenses
Orange lenses block up to 98 to 99% blue light. Orange blue blocking lenses are one of the most popular ones, however, they aren’t as effective as you think. These lenses block way too much blue light during the day and not quite enough in the night. Like we mentioned earlier, not all blue light is bad and we all need at least some amount of it. Blue light helps in keeping your biological rhythm aligned with the natural rise and fall of the sun, so you need different amounts of blue light during the day and no light at nighttime.
Who Should Use Blue Light Blocking Glasses?
Frequently Asked Questions
Q 1. How to tell if your glasses have blue light protection?
A. Two things that help you identify if your glasses have blue light or not is from the color of the light reflecting off the surface of your lens, if it’s blue, yes and if it’s violet or purple it doesn’t. Similarly, if all colors of a RGB color chart appear similar it does not block blue light and if the blue appears black or darker it does block blue light.
Q 2. How to test blue light glasses at home?
A. Here are some simple at home blue light glasses test to identify if your glasses offer blue light protection or not. You could either use the reflection test or RGB chart test. For the reflection test, all you need to do is look for the color of the light reflecting off your lenses, if the color is blue, it does filter blue light and if its violet or purple, it does not. Whereas for the RGB color chart test, just need your prescription glasses to look at the image we shared above (The RGB color chart). If the two images shown above will appear differently, your eyeglasses do no block blue light and if it both images will appear almost identical, they do block blue light.
Q 3. Can I wear blue light glasses all day?
A. Yes, you can. Wearing blue light glasses all day long does not have any adverse effects, however, it’s best to wear it only when your eyes are most exposed to digital devices that emit blue light continuously.
Q 4. At what of the time should I wear blue light glasses?
A. There’s no specific time to wear blue light glasses, you can wear it anytime you like, however, the best time to wear them is when you’re using a laptop, computer, mobile or basically any digital device that emits blue light.
So, there you have it, two simple and easy ways to test your blue light glasses and see for yourself if they actually work or not.
