Blue-blocking glasses (and other Seth Roberts experiments)

[Shore Snorer]

Folks have previously talked about blue-blocking sunglasses in this forum:

• viewtopic/t52121/Explanation-for-insomnia.html
  viewtopic/t55310/low-blue-light-glasses.html

and SleepingUgly seems a big fan of them, but there hasn't been much discussion in a while.

Seth Roberts ("professor emeritus of psychology at the University of California at Berkeley") recently blogged about the wonders of blue-blocking glasses:
http://blog.sethroberts.net/2013/11/12/ ... ove-sleep/
These seem worth trying. (FWIW, I wasn't able to find anything like these at Lowes or Home Depot.)

Blue light tells the brain, "You should be awake! You shouldn't be synthesizing melatonin!" That's a problem, because fluorescent lights, modern television sets, and computers screens all generate light with a lot of blue, which the brain interprets as sunlight. For computers you can use software such as f.lux. Fixing televisions and fluorescent lights is harder.

Roberts also likes honey:

• http://blog.sethroberts.net/2013/11/05/ ... ves-sleep/
  http://blog.sethroberts.net/2013/11/16/ ... and-honey/

Roberts has a history of self-experimentation:

• http://escholarship.org/uc/item/2xc2h866.pdf (?)
  http://escholarship.org/uc/item/2xc2h866/ (!)

IMO, he's done creative and admirable work on idea-creation, but suffers too much from It Works For Me Therefore Everyone Should Do It Syndrome.

What works for all of you?

[echo]

Yup, I'm using blue blocking glasses every night to help reset my circadian rhythm. It really, really helps. See this link for the various blue-blocking glasses available, and some references:

http://www.circadiansleepdisorders.org/ ... #blueblock

[SethW]

Thanks for bringing the topic back up for discussion. I've never thought about wearing blue-blocking sunglasses at night, Corey Hart songs notwithstanding. I set up one of my monitors to display a dark red screen a while back to see if it would make me more tired at night. I can't say I noticed any effect, but I also expected any effect of the red monitor to be overwhelmed by the main monitor I was looking at, which mostly featured a lot of white.

[fmj13]

Yup, I'm using blue blocking glasses every night to help reset my circadian rhythm. It really, really helps. See this link for the various blue-blocking glasses available, and some references:

http://www.circadiansleepdisorders.org/ ... #blueblock

Any particular recommendations? These vary widely in price.

[49er]

Yup, I'm using blue blocking glasses every night to help reset my circadian rhythm. It really, really helps. See this link for the various blue-blocking glasses available, and some references:

http://www.circadiansleepdisorders.org/ ... #blueblock

Any particular recommendations? These vary widely in price.

This psychiatrist, http://www.psycheducation.org/depression/LightDark.htm, who was investigating circadian rhythm problems as it applies to bipolar disorder recommended these products:

1. If you don't wear glasses - http://www.amazon.com/Uvex-S1933X-Eyewe ... B000USRG90
2. If you wear glasses - http://www.amazon.com/Uvex-S0360X-Ultra ... 538&sr=1-1

I have not tried them and have no idea about this guy's recommendations. It was posted on another board. But obviously, with the price being $8.00 per product, not much risk in trying them out.

49er

[Julie]

Hi - there's a tiny program out there that I have on my iMac - not sure if it works on PC's, but what it does is set the light level (you choose the level) and type of lighting (tungsten, daylite, halogen, etc.) for nighttime viewing, and makes a big difference to how you see things here, especially if you e.g. are in an otherwise dark room except for the screen... it's called 'Flux', so you might want to check it out.

[chunkyfrog]

Sometimes these type of lenses make a certain type of headache disappear--instantly!
--at least for me

[kaiasgram]

Hi - there's a tiny program out there that I have on my iMac - not sure if it works on PC's, but what it does is set the light level (you choose the level) and type of lighting (tungsten, daylite, halogen, etc.) for nighttime viewing, and makes a big difference to how you see things here, especially if you e.g. are in an otherwise dark room except for the screen... it's called 'Flux', so you might want to check it out.

I have f.lux on my Mac too, works well and it's still free. According to their website there is a PC version: https://justgetflux.com/
You can also install it on your iPhone/iPad but you have to be willing to jailbreak your device.

[Jay Aitchsee]

In case you missed it, Seth Roberts passed away this past April 26th. http://blog.sethroberts.net/ Quite a shock to many.

[RogerSC]

Hi - there's a tiny program out there that I have on my iMac - not sure if it works on PC's, but what it does is set the light level (you choose the level) and type of lighting (tungsten, daylite, halogen, etc.) for nighttime viewing, and makes a big difference to how you see things here, especially if you e.g. are in an otherwise dark room except for the screen... it's called 'Flux', so you might want to check it out.

I have f.lux on my Mac too, works well and it's still free. According to their website there is a PC version: https://justgetflux.com/
You can also install it on your iPhone/iPad but you have to be willing to jailbreak your device.

Just installed it on my laptop, we'll see. Of course, I also got a pair of those spacy blue-blocking shades that go over glasses to give that a try as well. I'm usually using my computer just before I start getting ready to go to bed, so one or both of these might help. I'm not going to jailbreak my iPad, so I won't have it there, too bad *smile*.

Thanks for pointing this out, never heard of it.

[kaiasgram]

Thanks for pointing this out, never heard of it.

Wait till you're good and used to "Candle" for a while, then some night switch back to "Daylight" for just a sec -- you will be shocked

[lliann]

I'm in! D/l'd f.lux. Now to look at glasses

[RogerSC]

Wonder why they can't get f.lux into the iOS app store? Maybe it needs to touch controls in iOS that apps aren't allowed to touch? I just don't know about Apple, sometimes *smile*.

Guess I'll just have to remember not to pick up my iPad after midnight, or wear the blue-blocker glasses when using it.

Noticed that you mentioned "Candle". Is that what you have set for lighting at night? The default is "Halogen". Did you set Candle for a reason, or just playing around?

[library lady]

@Echo: you say these glasses are working for you? What kind of schedule do you use for wearing them?

[kaiasgram]

Wonder why they can't get f.lux into the iOS app store? Maybe it needs to touch controls in iOS that apps aren't allowed to touch? I just don't know about Apple, sometimes *smile*.

Guess I'll just have to remember not to pick up my iPad after midnight, or wear the blue-blocker glasses when using it.

Noticed that you mentioned "Candle". Is that what you have set for lighting at night? The default is "Halogen". Did you set Candle for a reason, or just playing around?

I'm at work so not at my computer but I think "candle" is the most blue-filtered you can get, isn't it? I didn't start with "candle" though, I filtered by degrees for several days to get there. I think "halogen" is less filtered.