My shooting coach will often ask me before a lesson or after a competition if I had gotten “excellent sleep” prior to the event. I must profess I am a bit of a “sleep nerd” – to the point where I wear my fitbit fitness tracker to capture all of the details about my sleep each night (note that there is some debate about the accuracy of wearable sleep trackers – but it is what is available at the moment!). There is no denying that there is a direct correlation with sleep quality and performance, whether it be in athletic fields, work, or even relationships. How about you? Are you getting enough quality sleep each night?
Sleep “hygiene” is a popular topic. There is no dearth of available articles, books, studies on the topic. You are probably aware of the typical recommendations for good sleep hygiene:
- Keep a consistent bedtime schedule (even on weekends or “off days”)
- Sleep in a cool, dark room
- Avoid alcohol
- Limit caffeine especially in the afternoon / evening
- Use a consistent bedtime routine (light reading, warm bath, etc.)
- Avoid screen time prior to going to bed
That last suggestion is one most people shake their head up and down to recognizing it as a good idea, but don’t really make an honest attempt to do it! our current lifestyle seems to revolve around phones, ipads, PC, and TV’s!
So, what is about screens that are so bad for our sleep? I used to think that it was the mental engagement when I stared into my PC catching up on work before bed that caused me to have difficulty to fall asleep some nights. While that could certainly play a part, it turns out there is another culprit at play… and that is “blue light”.
Recently, I happened upon this book:
In super human, the author explains many factors that result in aging (and how to stop or reverse them). The author’s intent is to live to the ripe old age of 180 while preserving his body and mind! One of the topics he discussed was exposure to blue light. We are naturally surrounded by blue light during daylight hours – in fact, it is what helps us to wake up in the morning! But with the advent of LED / CFL lighting and the plethora of screens we are exposed to, we are now surrounded by more blue light than our eyes have evolved to deal with! Asprey goes on to explain that this is a problem on several levels – one of which is the impact on sleep!
He explains that blue light confuses the pineal gland, a pea-sized gland in the brain that controls circadian rhythm. The net result is that melatonin, the hormone that drives us humans to feel sleepy, is suppressed by evening exposure to blue light leading to difficulty falling asleep.
Further, too much blue light can over-tax the mitochondria, the fuel for the cells in the body including the eyes which can result in metabolic and inflammation issues throughout the body – and even damage to the eyes (macular degeneration).
So, what is the solution? First, he recommends changing out your lighting! If you use LED bulbs, they produce 5x the amount of blue light than incandescent or halogen bulbs. If you can’t eliminate the offending lighting, then at least try to dim them.
If you must use screens at night, he suggests using night shift mode to tone down the amount of blue light.
The other suggestion that caught my eye (no pun intended), was to use blue-light-blocking glasses. These are available from your local optician or optometrist as well as thru some of the popular mail order optical sources such as Zenni Optical or Warby Parker.
I am always willing to “take one for the team” here at the blog, so a few months ago, I ordered a pair of my very own blue light blocking glasses. I was first introduced to Zenni Optical by my first shooting coach Chuck Foster. They have become my go-to for single vision shooting glasses, as well as prescription sunglasses and back-ups for my daily wear glasses. I spec’d a pair of their premium (low distortion) progressive (no line multi-focal) lenses with the blue blocking package in the same frame type I previously purchased for my prescription sunglasses. Including shipping the total cost was $123.80. Not bad for progressive lens glasses!
For the last few months, I have developed a habit now where I change to my “blue-blockers” when the sun goes down, and resume wearing my “normal” glasses when the sun rises in the morning. In this way, I block the offending blue light in the evening time when it is not desirable, but allow blue light in during the day-time the way our brains have evolved to expect it. Has it been life changing? I wouldn’t go that far, but I have noticed a difference in how long it takes me to go to sleep – especially on those nights when I must stare into my PC screen to get some late-night work done before retiring. And, if there is some long-term payback in avoiding any eye damage due to excessive blue light exposure, that is certainly a bonus!
A couple of weeks ago, I had my annual eye checkup with my optometrist who happens to be a long- time family friend going all the way back to my early childhood! I asked him his opinion of the blue blocking lenses. He said that if you need to wear glasses anyway, you may as well use the blue blocking lenses at night just as I was doing. It is good to get confirmation from a trusted source!
I am looking forward to seeing more research being published in the future on the use of blue-light blocking lenses – until then, I will continue my practice of swapping out my glasses. Seems there is little downside!
Here are the links to Dave Asprey’s book as well as to Zenni Optical and Warby Parker for those who might be interested:
If you want to further discuss this topic, or any of my other posts, please feel free to drop me a note at mrouleau@nc.rr.com