Viewing your phone late at night with a normal screen may not be that bad for you.
Blue light is bad for you, blue light is fine, the sky is falling, the earth is flat- what can we tell you. Scientists seem to always be changing their minds. When it comes to some issues, it can be hard to decide what action to take to best protect your health.
Not that long ago, we posted an article about the benefits of blocking blue light from your phone and computer. Not only was the light found to mess with your circadian rhythms and keep you up at night, some researchers also said it can potentially damage the neurons in your brain. Ouch.
But get this. Now they say it’s all about time of day, and, well, other things.
“Contrary to common belief, blue light may not be as disruptive to our sleep patterns as originally thought…According to the team, using dim, cooler, lights in the evening and bright warmer lights in the day may be more beneficial to our health,” said researchers from the University of Manchester.
Related: Are You Always a Bit Tired? You Could Be Setting Yourself Up for Dementia
Scientists conducting this recent study noted that twilight is dimmer and bluer than daylight. Your body’s internal clock uses both the brightness of light and its color to figure out the best time for you to fall asleep and wake up, and the notion that you should limit your exposure to blue-ish light emanating from a screen as the day closes is incorrect, they say.
“We show the common view that blue light has the strongest effect on the clock is misguided; in fact, the blue colours that are associated with twilight have a weaker effect than white or yellow light of equivalent brightness,” said Dr. Tim Brown, one of the study’s authors.
What about blue light killing you slowly? We don’t know about that one yet. For the moment, maybe don’t worry too much.
Researchers say they’re hoping these findings can aid in the design of visual displays, so that users can rest assured they’ll sleep well.
