In this technology imbued world of ours, we spend countless hours everyday in front of a screen, be it a computer or a phone or any other device. Today’s lifestyle has made it quite necessary to do that to a degree.
And then we take it a step further when we spend time doing non-productive tasks on our gadgets as well. Social media is a huge example of that. The problem is, both our work and entertainment requires some sort of a screen.
The problem with screens is that they hurt our eyes. This is something we had known for quite a while but didn’t fully understand exactly why or how that happens.
But thanks to the research conducted by a team of researchers at the University of Toledo, we may have finally found the answer. You can find the original research published here.
A Harmful Light
Even though blue light is present everywhere around us, it is the constant staring at our brightly lit displays that is increasing our eyes’ exposure to them, and it is a major cause for the weakening of eyesight and even blindness.
So, how does it happen exactly? Well, the researchers found out that the photoreceptor cells in the eyes (that help with capturing light and sending signals to the brain) need something called retinal molecules to function.
When this retinal is exposed to blue light, it produces toxins that also kill the photoreceptor cells in the eyes, thereby causing damage to eyesight, and in the long run, causing blindness as well.
Scientists confirmed this by combining the retinal with some other cells of the body like the heart cells and neurons. These cells were killed too when the retinal combined with them was exposed to blue light, due to it producing toxins.
What’s The Solution?
Well, I don’t think screens are going to go away anytime soon. They are our primary interface to the world of computing and life has pretty much become dependant on computers.
Yes, we can certainly decrease the amount of time in front of a computer but we can only do that by a certain degree. We still need to spend quite a bit of time in front of screens, which can damage our eyes in the long term.
But luckily for us, the same team also discovered that a molecule derived from Vitamin E, called alpha tocopherol can prevent the death of the photoreceptor cells and so, in the future, we could very well develop a treatment, to slow down the damage considerably.
I think this will be crucial as people are only spending ever more time in front of screens and as more and more people get on the internet, this problem is going to spread.
Thank you for your contribution. Dont forget to link references and sources when applicable!
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Have a nice day. :)
Just put the link up. Thanks for reminding :)
You have a minor misspelling in the following sentence:
It should be in the long run, instead of in the long term,.Thanks! Edited :)
It's amazing to what dephts scolience has gone into...to find the exact cause of our eyes getting damaged due to screens...
I hope they could develop a treatment as soon as possible :)
Yeah, science keeps advancing every day and now it is happening on an ever increasing speed. I too hope they are able to develop a treatment for this as this is something everyone is affected by it.
Yeah..they may suprise as by a treatment next week...it's so unexpected and fast moving that we would be caught by suprise :)
well that's new. I never knew blue lights affected the eyes that much. Yes, I do know that prolong exposure to light from our screens can have a negative effect on our eye sight, now I also know that Vitamin E can help mitigate its effect. well, more vitamins for me then.
yeah, the blue light has some really bad effects. That's why computer manufacturers are introducing features which turn the screen orangish to reduce the blue light.
Great post, although coming a question to my mind that why retinal form toxins by combining with only Blue light, why it doesn't happen with any other light??? But there in Blue light making it toxic for our eyes??
I am not sure about that actually. Maybe they have covered it in the original study.
Thank you for sharing this relevant information!
Thanks for reading :)
Yes, you are 100% right. Personally, ialso experienced that blue light cause burn and irritation to eyes. But after using warm light or yellow light filter everything comes to normal. The number of my eye lens start dropping due to the use of yellow light flter. now yellow light filter is availbale in my every gadget and i always use it at night. Today i learned that why blue light is harmul. this post gives me full knowledge about it.
There's a fantastic app called f.lux, that reduces the blue light output from monitors. I've been using it nearly non-stop and it's a must if you stay on the pc regurarly at nights.