Protecting Your Eyes and Health from Blue Light: Insights from Dr. Jack Kruse and Daniel Huber

In today's digital age, we are constantly exposed to artificial blue light from our devices and indoor lighting. This can have serious negative impacts on our health, sleep, and wellbeing. In this article, we'll explore insights from neurosurgeon Dr. Jack Kruse and blue light protection entrepreneur Daniel Huber on the science behind blue light toxicity and how to protect yourself.

The Science of Blue Light Exposure

Dr. Kruse explains that blue light, when isolated from other light wavelengths, can be quite harmful to our biology:

"Blue light by itself is present in the sun but it has six other colors with it and it turns out that blue light has to be have its antidote uh within the sun that's present red light is always present when blue light's present in nature turns out with our artificial devices specifically screens the fall factory settings are set for something called color temperature color temperature is 57.50 for most screens that's consistent and congruent with solar noon so that means every time your child or you look at a screen that is not protected your brain gets the message that it's solar noon and that screws up the circadian mechanisms mechanisms in your eye."

This constant exposure to isolated blue light disrupts our circadian rhythms and melatonin production. Dr. Kruse notes that this can lead to a host of health issues:

"When melatonin levels are lowered we also know that dopamine levels are lowered that leads to psychological problems it also leads to hormone problems because dopamine is one of the guardians of the pituitary gland melatonin happens to be a guardian for organelles in your cells that actually make all the energy in your body."

Some of the documented effects of chronic blue light exposure include:

• Changes in memory and learning ability
• Depression
• Obesity
• Increased cancer risk
• Eye problems like macular degeneration and cataracts
• Myopia (nearsightedness)

Dr. Kruse emphasizes that these effects are especially concerning for children and young adults whose brains are still developing:

"Blue light as as it stands by itself is much more dangerous to brains that are not fully myelinated and many people don't realize I'm a brain surgeon that's what I do in my day job kids brains don't fully myelinate until 25 to 28 years old so if you constantly irradiate their brain without protection you are going to cause some significant non-linear collateral effects down the road."

How Blue Light Disrupts Our Biology

One of the key ways blue light impacts our health is by disrupting our natural hormone cycles. Dr. Kruse explains:

"Cortisol is the hormone that wakes us up in the morning melatonin is the one that puts us to sleep and how the body usually responds is in the morning usually around 5 to 6 a.m cortisol starts to rise and that's actually physically what wakes us up that's actually when melatonin starts to go away what happens then over the day cortisol should slowly flatten and then when we get to nighttime melatonin begins to rise after about four hours of darkness."

However, constant exposure to blue light from screens and indoor lighting disrupts this natural cycle:

"After doing this for 10 15 20 years what what do we have we now have an epidemic of very young people having problems and diseases that their grandmothers and grandfathers used to get."

Dr. Kruse notes that blue light exposure raises blood glucose and insulin levels in a way similar to eating sugary foods:

"Blue light by itself raises blood glucose and insulin so that means what I'm saying clearly if you're blue light toxic it's equivalent to you eating five cheesecakes a day and that has profound effects on the immune systems."

This metabolic disruption can increase risk for diseases like diabetes, obesity, and even viral infections.

Protecting Yourself from Blue Light

So what can we do to protect ourselves from the harmful effects of artificial blue light? Dr. Kruse and Daniel Huber offer several key strategies:

1. Use Blue Light Blocking Glasses

Wearing blue light blocking glasses, especially in the evening hours, can help filter out harmful blue light wavelengths. Huber's company, Lucia Eyes, offers glasses that block up to 100% of blue light.

Huber explains their approach:

"We have two different styles there's the daylight lenses and the nighttime lenses and it's kind of the nighttime lenses have an orange amber tint to it and so I can see somebody trying to go to school with the red glasses on and and I know what dr cruz is saying he's recommending beyond the if you're on a screen be on the 100 percent blocking glasses but there's also social aspect to it with the kids not wanting to be harassed or teased or feel different that's why we have the daylight lenses that block 60 and they're just a little champagne colored tint to them."

2. Optimize Your Light Environment

Dr. Kruse recommends changing out artificial lighting to reduce blue light exposure:

"We started changing out light bulbs in the house and getting rid of the led lights and compact fluorescent bulbs and going back to incandescent bulbs that were tinted either yellow amber or red."

3. Get Natural Sunlight Exposure

Getting exposure to natural sunlight, especially in the morning, is crucial for regulating our circadian rhythms. Dr. Kruse explains:

"AM light actually is what stimulates melatonin production it's just not released until the dark goes out so that it becomes active so if you never sense that am light in the morning you're going to have a massive problem."

He recommends trying to see the sunrise every day to reset your circadian clock.

4. Take Regular Breaks from Screens

Dr. Kruse advises taking frequent breaks from screen time to get natural light exposure:

"Every five minutes or I should say five minutes very hour you need to get out in the sun you need to let your brain know really what time of day it is and to let it sense the sun."

5. Use Red Light Therapy

Red light can help counteract some of the negative effects of blue light exposure. Dr. Kruse notes that some professional sports teams are now using red light therapy to offset blue light toxicity.

The Benefits of Blue Light Protection

Huber shares some of the benefits his family has experienced since implementing these blue light protection strategies:

• Improved sleep: "By 8:30 9 o'clock they're all ready to go to bed and when we say it's time to go to bed they go and they all wake up without any unless we've had like a birthday party or something but by and large they get up on their own between 6:30 and 7:30 every day without alarm clocks."

• Better behavior: "The behavior modifications that happen you know there's I'd say five percent of the tantrums and blow ups the kids moods are better they're happier they're more compliant easier to get along with."

• Weight loss: "Within a year I was down 45 pounds I was back to working out the memory came back."

• Faster healing: Huber notes that after recent shoulder surgery, he felt his recovery was about two weeks ahead of a previous surgery, which he attributes to following Dr. Kruse's light-based protocols.

Conclusion

The science is clear that artificial blue light exposure can have serious negative impacts on our health and wellbeing. By taking steps to protect ourselves and our families - through blue light blocking glasses, optimizing our light environments, and prioritizing natural light exposure - we can mitigate these effects and improve our overall health. As our world becomes increasingly digital, being mindful of our light exposure is more important than ever.

To learn more about blue light protection and explore blue light blocking glasses options, visit Lucia Eyes. For more in-depth information on the science of light and health, check out Dr. Jack Kruse's website.

Article created from: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9zJynVS_rYc