This new technology has substituted incandescent lighting for LED, mainly because LED lighting is more efficient and lasts longer. To achieve the white light necessary to view the various screens, blue, green and red wavelength LEDs are joined to produce the neutral color of the viewing screen.
However, while this light has commercial benefits, it may not be good for eye health. Its Blue Light Hazard output is 200 percent higher than traditional incandescent lighting.
The human eye is designed to view a relatively small portion of the electromagnetic spectrum. When exposed to higher energy levels of that spectrum, the retina’s focusing properties can be damaged. This happens because the LED light is focused into a small optical image, which creates what researchers term the “Blue Light Effect.”
The Blue Light Effect of short visible light causes damage to the retina structures. Worse, the damage is cumulative and thus compounds any damage over the lifetime. The blue light is believed to change the photochemical structures of the retina. Research on both animals and humans has shown that ultraviolet radiation at its highest levels causes cortical cataracts. While cataracts are also caused by a number of factors - diabetes, smoking and corticosteroid use - there is also a strong correlation to the amount of ambient ultraviolet light that the eye receives.
THE HOUSE OF BLUE LIGHT
Visible light covers a range from 380 nm to 780 nm. Ultraviolet (UV) light is just slightly higher than the shorter end of the visible spectrum, so it is is invisible to human eyes. Such invisible light is divided into three zones: UVA, UVB and UVC.
UVA is the least damaging of the UV light, ranging between 315 and 380 nm. This light is used for tanning and is screened by a good pair of sunglasses. UVB is between 280 nm and 315 nm. That 280 nm and 315 nm range can be damaging to the eye if exposed to it on a daily basis, as it causes sunburn and destroys your Vitamin A reserves. If a person spends a lot of time exposed to UVB light, the end result is thickening skin and wrinkles that resemble leather. It can potentially damage the DNA and lead to skin cancer and other diseases. Damage is cumulative, as seen in lifetime beachgoers and others who spend a lot of time outdoors and start to resemble a catcher’s mitt in their skin conditions.
The final category, UVC light, is in the range of 100 nm to 280 NM. Even brief exposure to this spectrum can permanently damage human tissue. But unless someone spends a lot of time above the earth’s ozone layer, which absorbs most of this radiation in the upper atmosphere, there are no worries.
Not all blue light is bad. It actually helps to regulate pupil size when it is around 480 nm wavelength. That so-called blue-turquoise light range, generally around 465 nm to 495 nm, also plays a role in regulating the Circadian sleeping/waking cycle, which is essential to the body's health. If a person doesn't receive enough blue-turquoise light, the sleep cycle can be thrown off, with severe consequences to the attention span and general functioning.
But because the effects of blue light are cumulative, if you spend time outdoors and use a lot of electronic devices, there are concerns.
OTHER FACTOR TO CONSIDER
The great outdoors poses as many issues as electronic devices. UV light is not delivered consistently during the day or the year. A person's location on the planet, time of day, lifestyle and season can determine how much UV radiation he or she is receiving. For example, in the summer, the highest rate of UV exposure is between 10 a.m. and 2 p.m. However, in the winter, that time shifts to between 8 a.m. and 10 a.m. and between 2 p.m. and 4 p.m. Thus, if someone spends a lot of time outdoors and isn't wearing sunglasses, he or she is absorbing a lot of that UV light.
Beyond digital devices, modern lighting, including compact fluorescent lamps, emit a high level of harmful blue light. The trend toward cooler fluorescent lights is particularly troubling. By 2020, 90 percent of indoor lighting sources are going to be LED lighting. That means the exposure levels to blue light will be increasing, raising the risk of eye problems.
For the aging population of the United States, that’s bad news. There are already 24 million cases of cataracts in people over age 40 in the United States as of 2012. That’s a 19 percent increase since the year 2000 for the group. As for macular degeneration, two million people over age 50 had late stage cases of the eye disease in 2012, a 25 percent increase from 2000.
Using that growth as a trend, experts predict that the number of adults with cataract problems in the U.S. will reach 50 million by 2050, with macular degeneration hitting a whopping 5 million.
While it seems like escaping harmful blue light is becoming increasingly impossible, what with its proliferation in the home and office environments and the necessity of using computers, mobile phones, tablets and other devices for work and pleasure, there is some good news. Companies are aware of the risks of blue light pollution and are working on ways to block the unhealthy levels of harmful blue light while allowing some healthy levels to remain. But until they do, it’s advisable to try and limit exposure as much as possible.