I learned many things during my summer internship, but one of my greatest takeaways was how much strain I was putting on my eyes. I have 20/20 vision, but after hours scrolling through Excel spreadsheets and conference PDFs, I found my eyes were fatigued, dry, and my peripheral vision was failing me by the end of each day. I also noticed that I would get long-lasting headaches every few days. Since I plan on working in an industry where I will be using technology all day long, I figured I better find a solution before I start the 35+ years of my career ahead of me.
I came across blue light filter glasses online and read about the optical health benefits they can provide. Blue light is everywhere, mainly coming from sunlight. It is also found in fluorescent and LED lighting, televisions, computer screens, smartphones, and other electronic devices. Blue light is good for you, but not in the significant quantities we are exposed to, through using screens all day. Too much exposure creates the short term eye strain (including dryness, fatigue, and migraines) as well as increasing your chances of macular degeneration (which is a concern to those who, like me, carry this genetic trait).
Many eyewear companies now sell blue light reduction glasses, available at a variety of price ranges. I’ve been wearing Felix Gray’s “Nash” Blue Light Filtering Glasses for the past month and I am thoroughly impressed. Since I’m not a regular glasses wearer, adjusting to wearing glasses for long periods of time was a bit uncomfortable (especially the bridge of my nose and my ears). Once I got used to the feel of the glasses, I couldn’t be happier with the result. I’ve even noticed on days where I develop a headache while not wearing them, putting the glasses on relieves the pain within 15 minutes or so.
Even though ⅓ of Americans spend more than 8 hours in front of a screen, less than 1/10 have actually tried computer glasses. As we become more and more reliant on technology each day, this problem can only be expected to widen over time.
The cost of these glasses is worth relieving the strain. Here are a three notable brands:
Felix Gray: $98 https://shopfelixgray.com
Pixel: $70 http://www.pixeleyewear.com/shop/
Jins: $80-150 https://www.jins.com/us/jins-screen
Take the plunge and save your eyes!