When Olivia Burns (9) first bought her blue light glasses, she didn’t know what they were. Now, she relies on them for their many benefits- including improved sleep and less headaches. Blue light can be beneficial during the day because it can boost attention and mood, but exposure to it at night can mess with your body and make it more difficult for you to fall asleep. A Harvard study showed that blue light can even contribute to the causation of cancer, diabetes, and several other diseases. 

Exposure to blue light at night can decrease the amount of melatonin that your body produces, which makes it harder to fall asleep. Many people have also found that blue light causes them to have more frequent headaches, which is why a lot of people are turning to blue light glasses. These glasses have lenses that reduce the amount of blue light waves that reach your eyes, which helps reduce headaches and improve sleep. 

 She is one of the many students who bought blue light glasses last year, when school shifted to online, and is now enjoying the advantages.  

Burns spends about 10 hours on a screen on any given day. Whether it’s for schoolwork, social media, or Facetime calls, she depends on being on technology that exposes her eyes to blue light. 

As grateful as she is for them now, Burns was not originally aware of the benefits the glasses provided. 

“Well, I didn’t even know what they were at first,” Burns said. “But I saw them in the store and thought they were cute. Then I started to see they were actually helping me, so I kept wearing them.”

Nadine Shetiah (11) experienced similar benefits after trying blue light lenses. Shetiah has worn prescription glasses for a long time, and around October of 2019 decided to try out blue light lenses. She found they, like with Burns, helped her with headaches while also resulting in less eye strain.  

“At the time, I thought they were kind of pointless, but now everything is digital, so I’m glad I got them,” Shetiah said. Thinking similarly, Sara Louden (12) bought her blue light glasses in early January, amidst virtual learning in the hope that they’d be good for her eyes.

“Whenever I’m on my phone or computer for a long time at night my eyes tend to get tired and hurt,” Louden said. “But using the glasses, I think it takes longer for that to happen.”