How Blue Light is Harming Your Health (and What to Do About It)

Have you heard of blue light? Many people haven’t, but if you’re reading this blog, you’re probably getting a full dose of it right now, from an electronic device that emits blue light. If you spend more than 5 hours a day in front of a computer screen or monitor, this blue light could be damaging to your health, your cells, and even your DNA.  

Blue light is a high-energy, short wavelength of visible light. The shorter a wavelength, the more energy it transmits, and the more damage it can do to your health, skin, and eyes. UV rays from the sun are short wave rays, while blue light is slightly longer than UV rays, is visible, and is just as, if not, more damaging, penetrating all the way to your mitochondria and cellular levels. 

Blue light is everywhere, and the blue light spectrum and electromagnetic fields (EMFs) bombards your cells with different forms of radiation. Sunlight emits blue light, but so do light bulbs, computer screens, smartphones, LED TVs and other electronic screen-based devices. With the increase in screen time, remote working conditions, and apps, blue light exposure is increasing, and can have long-term effects to our health. Considering how much time we spend on our devices, this exposure can add up.

Extended exposure to blue light can negatively affect your health in numerous ways. 

• Advanced Aging and Skin Damage:  Extended blue light exposure can destroy healthy collagen in your skin and increase the appearance of wrinkles, sagging skin and premature aging.^1-3 

• Neurological Effects:  Blue light exposure over time is shown to increase your hyper-sensitivity to stress, cause brain fog and fatigue, disrupt sleep, and other impacts.⁵ 

• Cellular Abnormalities: Blue light, fuels oxidative stress and can cause DNA damage that can lead to cellular abnormalities and cause inflammation, with risks to long-term health.⁴  

• Vision loss: High frequency blue light over time can trigger vision loss and long-term eye problems.⁵  

• Sleep Problems: Blue light can contribute to poor sleep, sleep disruption and sleep disorders, by blocking your body’s natural melatonin production.⁶ 

• Low Energy: Blue light raises levels of cortisol and adrenalin and can contribute to energy crashes. 

Blue light is all around us, and powers our modern technologies. But there are ways to protect your health from the effects of blue light radiation and support your long-term health. 

With natural ingredients and antioxidants, you can neutralize the damage done by blue light, and keep cells, tissues and even your DNA healthy.   

Inner nourishment of the skin helps it repair from radiation and blue light damage. Natural, powerful antioxidants, and supplements are shown to help defend against radiation and blue light, and increase recovery time if you do get exposure to cell threats. Studies show that nutritional antioxidants and ingredients like green tea extract, alpha lipoic acid, and functional mushrooms can provide the essential support you need to keep skin and cells healthy and safe from blue light damage. 

 Sources: 

1. Arjmandi N, Mortazavi G, Zarei S, et al. Can Light Emitted from Smartphone Screens and Taking Selfies Cause Premature Aging and Wrinkles? J Biomed Phys Eng. 2018;8(4):447-452. Published 2018 Dec 1. 
2. Coats JG, Maktabi B, Abou-Dahech MS, Baki G. Blue Light Protection, Part I-Effects of blue light on the skin. J Cosmet Dermatol. 2021 Mar;20(3):714-717. doi: 10.1111/jocd.13837. Epub 2020 Nov 28. PMID: 33247615. 
3. Nakashima Y, Ohta S, Wolf AM. Blue light-induced oxidative stress in live skin. Free Radic Biol Med. 2017 Jul;108:300-310. doi: 10.1016/j.freeradbiomed.2017.03.010. Epub 2017 Mar 15. PMID: 28315451. 
4. Godley BF, Shamsi FA, Liang FQ, et al. Blue light induces mitochondrial DNA damage and free radical production in epithelial cells. J Biol Chem. 2005 Jun 3;280(22):21061-6. doi: 10.1074/jbc.M502194200. Epub 2005 Mar 29. PMID: 15797866.
5. Tosini G, Ferguson I, Tsubota K. Effects of blue light on the circadian system and eye physiology. Mol Vis. 2016 Jan 24;22:61-72. PMID: 26900325; PMCID: PMC4734149. 
6. Mortazavi SAR, Parhoodeh S, Hosseini MA, et al. Blocking Short-Wavelength Component of the Visible Light Emitted by Smartphones' Screens Improves Human Sleep Quality. J Biomed Phys Eng. 2018 Dec 1;8(4):375-380. PMID: 30568927; PMCID: PMC6280115.