BLUE LIGHT AN INVESTIGATION
With screen use at an all-time high, should we be worried about the effects of blue light exposure on our health?
Words Hattie Parish. Photograph Getty Images/Oscar Wong, Michael Lee
During the first lockdown, many Brits spent as much as 40 per cent of their day watching TV and online streaming services. And for many of us, our work and social lives were also played out exclusively on devices – that’s a lot of screen time. No wonder, then, that our interest in blue light (also known as highenergy visible or HEV light) has soared in the past year, with online searches up 58 per cent. The data shows we’re unsure of the negative effects on our health and the steps we can take to protect ourselves. In short, we don’t understand it.
WHAT IS BLUE LIGHT?
Most of us know sunlight contains visible light rays as well as invisible ultraviolet (UV) ones. But visible light comprises a range of different coloured rays, which each carry different amounts of energy. ‘Blue light is one of the visible parts of the electromagnetic spectrum so it’s one of the colours we can see,’ says consultant eye surgeon Romesh Angunawela. ‘It has shorter wavelengths than any other visible colour. It’s close to UV, which is even shorter, but not visible to us.’