Researchers Say Blue Light is Making Us Blind
Heather Callaghan, Natural Blaze
Waking Times
Our addiction to screens isn’t just hurting our social lives or nature – it’s making us physically blind.
Molecules that we need to be able to see, called retinal, turn into cell killers when they interact with blue light, researchers have just discovered.
University of Toledo researchers made a shocking discovery that the “blue light” emanating from our smartphones and other screens is literally doing permanent damage to our vision.
A dark room at the University of Toledo is where researchers have found blue light, specifically, leads to macular degeneration.
“Macular Degeneration is one of the leading causes of blindness in the United States and all around the world,” said assistant professor in the UT Department of Chemistry and Biochemistry, Ajith Karunarathne.
That’s right.
According to this new research, blue light can makes us blind.
The researchers said molecules that we need to be able to see, called retinal, turn into cell killers when they interact with blue light.
“We don’t really at this point know what is the major cause. We know how it happened because there are multiple paths that lead to the cell death,” said Karunarathne.
The researchers want to get to the bottom of that and develop some sort of eye drop to reduce damage. In the meantime, they suggest avoiding looking at your phone in the dark.
Scientists knew that blue light could damage retinas – they just didn’t know how or why.
They suggest not using smartphones and other screens in the dark.
Did you know there’s an inexpensive herb that can save your eyesight?
It’s called Saffron!
Italian researchers gave human macular degeneration participants 20mg of saffron extract per day, and after three months there was an increase in vision up to 97%!
Other Eye Saving Techniques
- I use the Screen Shader app on my laptop and it has made all the difference! No more piercing eye strain while I read and work all day and into the evening. This Chrome extension shades away the blue light in order to match natural daylight. You can customize it, too.
- You could limit screen use to daytime only.
- There are also yellow glasses that people wear in the evenings to counteract the effects of blue light.
- Eat wild blueberries – people report better vision and they regrow neurons!
- Don’t forget to take many breaks throughout your workday – your boss will thank you.
About the Author
Heather Callaghan is a Health Mentor, writer, speaker and energy medicine practitioner. She is the Editor and co-founder of NaturalBlaze as well as a certified Self-Referencing IITM Practitioner.
This article (Researchers Say Blue Light is Making Us Blind) was originally published at Natural Blaze and is reposted here with permission.
Disclaimer: This article is not intended to provide medical advice, diagnosis or treatment. Views expressed here do not necessarily reflect those of WakingTimes or its staff.