If You Care About Your Eyes At All, Read This.

The other day my husband came home with the worst headache. Being the wonderful never-nagging wife that I am, I asked him, “Did you drink enough water today? Did you get a good breakfast?” He answered yes to both and then said in passing, “I think it’s just a screen headache from staring at my computer all day.”

I didn’t think anything of it at the time, but then this happened five or six more times in a matter of weeks. Work had picked up and screen time was at an all-time high for my husband whose job is spent primarily (if not completely these days) in front of a screen.

So why the headaches? Well, all the devices we have, we love, and we probably use far too often give off a certain short wavelength blue light that can not only cause headaches but can also be damaging to our eyes. We stare at our phones and other screens all day long, sometimes for short blips and sometimes for long stretches as we go down an Instagram rabbit hole (don’t pretend you haven’t been there) or get that soul-crushing new assignment that has to be completed ASAP. Looking at your phone or other screens too late at night or too close to bedtime can also have a negative impact on our sleep cycles, as the blue light causes us to “wake up” and doesn’t let our mind settle for sleep.