How I Block Blue Light At Night & Why I Do It

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Blocking blue light is one of the most important things you can do for your sleep, energy levels, hormones, overall health and your longevity. It has been by far the most important change I’ve made to my health routine.

Want to sleep better?

Block blue light.

Want to have more energy (by sleeping better)

Block blue light.

Want to prevent cancer?

Block blue light.

Want to prevent your vision from declining with age?

Block blue light

Want to regulate your hormones?

Block blue light.

Want to prevent diabetes?

Block blue light.

I’ve been talking about the idea of blocking blue light for over a decade now. I just looked at my Amazon purchase history and I bought my first pair of blue blockers in 2012.

I even devoted an entire radio show to light which you can listen to below.

The idea of blocking blue light is gaining more and more attention in the natural health space. Sometimes though it gets lip service and it’s not really explained in a way that’s powerful enough to elicit emotion or change.

Why Light Matters

Humans are light beings. Everything about our biology and physiology is run by light. The primary driver of our circadian rhythm is light. Yes other things affect our circadian rhythm (and they also should not be ignored) like food, body temperature and hydration but light is the primary driver.

“We know today that man, essentially, is a being of light. And the modern science of photobiology … is presently proving this. In terms of healing, the implications are immense. We now know, for example, that quanta of light can initiate, or arrest, cascade-like reactions in the cells, and that genetic cellular damage can be virtually repaired, within hours, by faint beams of light. We are still on the threshold of fully understanding the complex relationship between light and life, but we can now say emphatically, that the function of our entire metabolism in dependent on light.” – Fritz Albert Popp

For example when light enters the pupil in eye, those photons travel through your central retinal pathway making it to your suprachiasmatic nucleus (your master circadian clock).

The pathway is as follows…

Photon → Pupil → Lens → Retina → Retinal Ganglion Cells (particularly the photosensitive ganglion cells containing melanopsin) → Optic Nerve → Optic Chiasm → Retinohypothalamic Tract → Suprachiasmatic Nucleus (SCN)

Every cell in your body has it’s own internal timing mechanisms. After a certain amount of time and at a particular time of day, they carry out specific biological processes. This could be the lysosome emptying itself via enzyme regulation to let go of cellular debris or any number of tasks that cells do.

But how to cells tell time?

They communicate via biphotonic emissions of light to the SCN to keep constant regulation of biological timing.

If the body is not able to communicate internally through light emissions or if the communication is interrupted then cells do not get the correct input to tell time.

And if the SCN isn’t getting the correct light input, then it’s going to send the wrong timing signals to your cells.

How does the SCN get the correct light input?

Primarily sunshine.

It’s important that those photons from sun are coming into your eyes and skin, unfiltered. This means glass (unless quartz), contact lenses, sunglasses and reading glasses are all filters that alter UV, IR, Red light and the visible frequencies of light.

What are the takeaways?

Open windows if you’re able.

This can be measured with a spectroscope.

Filters like this take what God’s giving us and turn them into man made creations.

Think about that for a moment.

Here God creates the very thing (that sustains life in all of it’s forms) that we need and we take it, alter it in some way (through filters) and then think we’ve “improved upon it”.

Talk about the height of hubris.

Light bulbs are the same thing. Modern lights are alien suns that cause disease. They’re not natural and the alter our circadian rhythms because there’s no way we can create a light bulb that does what the sun can do.

Man cannot create God.

Is this why God is referred to as the Son?

What are we doing when we’re creating mini suns? Are we trying to be God by making our own environment instead of the one He has given us?

He gives us daylight and we put on sunscreen and wear sunglasses.

He gives us night and we turn on the LEDs and fluorescent lights.

Then we get sick and pray He’ll heal us.

If He doesn’t we blame Him, instead of reconnecting to Nature as he intended.

We never realized it was the man made environment that we created that made us sick.

Insane.

Anyway I digress….

Indoor Lighting Options

If you really want to adopt natural laws you would have no light after sunset. This is how man lived on earth for thousands or millions of years. The only light we might have had for a brief couple hours was firelight and then we’d go to sleep.

The worst kind of light you could have in your home is LED lights or fluorescent lights. Not only do they have high flicker rates (which are extremely taxing on your nervous system) but they also emit a wavelength of light that has too much of the blue hue and not enough yellow, orange and red.

Light from the sun is like a perfect blend of every ingredient (color) we need in that exact moment of the day.

If you were to juice 35 carrots and drink that juice, your body is not able to deal with that amount of hyper concentrated information coming in. Living under blue light is like that. It’s flooding your body with all the wrong information.

It would be similar to eating one food for the rest of your life (and that food is toxic).

Sunlight has the perfect mix of colors and the perfect lux that our body needs at any moment.

Now that we know what the worst lights are for inside, here are some of the better lighting options.

Aside from total darkness and candlelight, the next best option is a red light. Red light at night (albeit still not 100% natural) doesn’t suppress melatonin the way blue or green does. The next best color is orange and then yellow.

Even with red light, I still make sure I don’t have too many of them on where it’s too bright. The irradiance or lux of the light matters! We’re not supposed to be exposed to bright lights after sunset (no matter what the color).

There are two main companies I recommend for indoor lighting. I really like the red bulbs from BonCharge as well as The Healthy Home Shop. These two companies are far and away superior in terms of the technology and science they use in their light bulbs.

I put on only the amount of light that I need to see in order to do things, like take a shower or do the dishes after the kids go to sleep.

This makes doing things at night a little frustrating I admit.

But isn’t that kind of the point?

The point is to create an environment that’s a little bit hostile.

Why?

Because it forces us to go to bed at night like God designed us to.

There are lots of things I choose not to do after sunset because I can’t see colors correctly.

This forces me to plan my days and nights a little better (which is what humans used to do) which feels much more natural to me.

I can’t just mess around during the day because I know I can do those same things at night. I have to be better focused with my time.

I like that.

It feels natural.

Devices

This is a big one. Before I go into how to mitigate the nnEMF from devices, I do my best to only use them for one purpose (creating my content) then getting of. I look at them as weapons against our health and our privacy.

But make no mistake, these tech devices ARE weapons.

So long as we understand that these devices are not meant to help us in anyway, we’ll be able to use them more safely.

Computers

How do I block blue light from my computer? I started years ago with a program called Flux. Then I upgraded to Iris Tech which I like a lot better. During the day I have my Iris Tech settings on 1800 kelvin during the day. The color looks a bit gold with a slight touch of orange. The brightness is fine to work on even with my windows open and a lot of ambient sunshine coming into my studio.

To take things even further there have been some advances in technology from a company called Daylight Computers. As of this writing, I don’t think they have a computer or lap top version but they do have tablet versions which has zero blue light coming from their screens.

If you don’t have the money to buy a new computer right now and don’t want to install software on your device like Iris Tech, there are physical filters you can put over your monitors or computer screens. There’s one you can check out called Ocushield that blocks blue light very effectively.

One thing is for certain, you absolutely cannot work on a laptop, tablet or phone without protecting yourself from these devices.

At the very least, if you’re using a computer during the day, wear yellow blue blocking glasses and if it’s after sunset, wear orange blue blocking glasses.

Cell Phones

I have a video I posted on my Instagram about how to block blue light on your cell phone. As with computers there are physical plastic filters that you can put over your phone screen to block blue light.

I like to turn technology against the people who created it. A good example of this is using a nebulizer to deliver natural medicine into the human body vs drugs. My friend Sarah Kleiner created an app called MyCircadian App which helps you use your cell phone to determine the Lux of the light environment you’re living in.  Click here to check it out.

We did an entire radio show about light with her below.

I don’t really like them personally because there are times where I need the blue lit screen and I don’t want to block blue light. If I’m working out for example outside in really bright sunlight, I have a hard time seeing the orange screen. If there’s a physical filter over the top, it’s one more thing I have to do, in order to see my screen.

So I go into the iPhone General Settings and go through and block the blue hue of light in the steps I show here.

Then if I’m outside during the day, I’ll have it on blue. If I’m inside during the day I can get away with seeing the screen if it’s orange. When the sun sets, I always have my phone on orange AND I’m wearing my blue blocking glasses.

In fact after the sun sets, I don’t let one photon of unfiltered blue light come into my eyes until the next day. All the lights in my home are red, I’m wearing my orange blue blocking glasses and I wear my red ones 2 hours before bed.

I don’t take them off until I’m laying in bed and I put my sleep mask on in my blacked out bedroom.

I also use the BonCharge cell phone protector case to block the other nnEMF frequencies coming from the phone.

Other Blue Light Sources

The only other sources of light that are not blue that are inside our home are LED indicator lights.

These can easily be blocked with Junk Light Dots. I even put them in our refrigerator. I wasn’t able to change the bulbs inside the refrigerator so I simply put tape over them to block blue light coming from inside the refrigerator. I have the style of refrigerator where there are 2 shelves below that are for our freezer. I had to block the blue light from them as well which was a bit tricky but I did it.

3 Main Reasons I Block Blue Light

Sleep

Blue light disrupts circadian rhythms and lowers melatonin levels. Melatonin is your #1 antioxidant you make internally. As an electron donor melatonin is more powerful than any other antioxidant that’s known. It’s more powerful than molecular hydrogen, dragon’s blood and even c-60.

Blue light depletes the number one hormone you make that keeps your circadian rhythm aligned so you can sleep.

Disease Prevention

Because melatonin is your number one antioxidant, it has the power to donate electrons multiple times in its redox capabilities. Because of this, it prevents cancer, prevent cardiovascular diseases, prevent oxidative damage in the eyes caused by blue light and helps you to stay healthy and strong. The benefits of melatonin (beyond sleep and as an antioxidant) are so vast that it requires a lifetime of study.

I would recommend reading the works of Dr. Doris Loh and Dr. Russell Reiter for in depth information on this powerful hormone.

Energy

Blue light (from man made devices, not the sun) causes oxidative stress all throughout your body. Electrons are being lost as a result of the inflammation and oxidation caused by the blue wavelength of light. As such it depletes the body of energy because ever ATP molecule that could have been used to restore energy, is being used to donate electrons and utlize magnesium in the process of inflammation.

The more blue light you live under, the less ATP you’re going to have and the sicker you’re going to become as a result.

Conclusion

I recommend getting your light situation in order before working on your diet or nutrition. If you can do both at the same time, great. If not, focus on light first. It’s that important. Blocking blue light while getting outside for sunshine multiple times per day (especially during sunrise) has had the biggest impact on my health since I first started practicing it in 2012.

This article on blocking blue light is very surface level. I go into much more detail 

Questions:

1. Do you block blue light?
2. If not, why not?
3. If so, what impact has it had on your health?

Comment below and let me know.

 

The post How I Block Blue Light At Night & Why I Do It appeared first on Extreme Health Radio.