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Circadian Rhythm Problems

Hip

Senior Member
Messages
17,824
I just received my NoIR clip on lenses (filter #505 orange), but when I look at my computer monitor through these lenses, they do not seem to reduce the amount of blue I see by any significant amount.

I was expecting the blues on my monitor to look almost black when viewed through my lenses, but in fact the blues look only slightly darker, but nowhere near black.

What do other people with blue blocker lenses experience? Do the blues turn almost black when viewed through your blue blocker lenses?
 

perchance dreamer

Senior Member
Messages
1,691
I have the amber glasses from lowbluelights.com. When I look through them at the blues on my monitor, they also just look slightly darker, but nowhere near black.

I think the amber glasses block the blue part of the light spectrum, not the color blue.
 

Hip

Senior Member
Messages
17,824
I think the amber glasses block the blue part of the light spectrum, not the color blue.

That is the same thing, PD: objects that look blue do so because they emit light in the blue part of the light spectrum, so if you are blocking all blue light, then those same objects will appear black.

In fact, I just worked out that my lenses are in fact correctly filtering out blues. I made a mistake earlier, because I was not looking at pure blue. But when I look at pure blue colors through my blue blocker lenses, they do indeed turn black.

If you put on your blue blockers lenses and look at the following colors below, you should see that the PURE BLUE color below turns black when viewed through blue blocker lenses.

However, the BLUE WITH SOME RED color below does not turn black through blue blocker lenses, because that color contains some red as well as blue, and since only the blue is filtered out, it then turns red through blue blocker lenses. Similarly, the BLUE WITH SOME GREEN color should turn green through blue blocker lenses.

Blue Blocker Lens Testing

☰☰BLACK☰☰

☰☰PURE BLUE☰☰

☰☰BLUE WITH SOME RED☰☰

☰☰BLUE WITH SOME GREEN☰☰
 

Hip

Senior Member
Messages
17,824
What color do your lens appear to be? Mine are amber/orange.

Mine are amber/orange in color too. (And I have to say that the world looks lovely through them!)

What brand did you buy, Sushi? Were the ones you bought classed as blue blockers?
 

Sushi

Moderation Resource Albuquerque
Messages
19,935
Location
Albuquerque
Hip

Mine weren't sold as blue-blockers--they are Tifosi sports glasses. Good quality but obviously not blue-blockers.

Sushi
 

Little Bluestem

All Good Things Must Come to an End
Messages
4,930
My Solar Shields have dark amber-brown lenses. I think they were sold as blue-blockers. They do not change the blue print to black.

I have felt that I got sleepier when I wore them. I do not think that I am a 'placebo inclined' person. A lot of things don't seem to make much difference for me. I think they must block enough of the blue life to increase melatonin production.

They are meant for general use, not sleep induction. If they blocked all blue light, it would make the world look weird and might even be dangerous.
 

Hip

Senior Member
Messages
17,824
If they blocked all blue light, it would make the world look weird and might even be dangerous.

The world looks very nice through my blue blockers, everything is given a warm, uplifting orangey hue. It does not really look weird, just orangey.
 

Hip

Senior Member
Messages
17,824
Photosensitive Ganglion Cells — the cells in your eye that set the circadian rhythm.

Interestingly, the light sensitive cells in your eyes that set your circadian rhythm (and that also suppress melatonin release) are not the rod and cone light sensitive cells of normal human vision, but a completely different type of light sensitive cell, called photosensitive ganglion cells.

Both the rod and cone cells in your eye and the photosensitive ganglion cells are located in the retina, but the latter do not contribute to human vision at all. Photosensitive ganglion cells are blind to shape or form, but they do sense the level of ambient light.

These photosensitive ganglion cells, which were only relatively recently discovered (in 1991), are also the ones involved in seasonal affective disorder (winter depression).

Photosensitive ganglion cells employ a pigment called melanopsin to detect light. The turquoise curve in the graph below shows the sensitivity of melanopsin, and thus the photosensitive ganglion cells, to various color wavelengths. You can see from this graph that the photosensitive ganglion cells are most sensitive to blue light (the peak sensitivity occurs at the blue wavelength of 464 nm), but also have some sensitivity to green and violet light.

Photosensitive ganglion cells sensitivity (in blue).jpg

The turquoise blue curve in the graph shows the sensitivity of the photosensitive ganglion cells to various colors. These cells are most sensitive to blue light (of wavelength 464 nm), but as the graph indicates, they are also sensitive to green and violet. Source: here.


So it is likely that blue blocker lenses will not do a complete job of blocking out the light colors that affect the circadian rhythm, since these lenses do not block the green light that can also activate the photosensitive ganglion cells that control circadian rhythm. Though these blue blocker lenses will block the bulk of the colors that affect the circadian rhythm.

This means that even if you are using blue blocker lenses, it may still be a good idea to use computer software such as Nocturne (for Mac), which you can set to block all blue and green colors on your computer monitor. And it may also be a good idea to dim the room lights, or use an orange or red light bulb.
 

Ocean

Senior Member
Messages
1,178
Location
U.S.
The world looks very nice through my blue blockers, everything is given a warm, uplifting orangey hue. It does not really look weird, just orangey.

For me too. I actually kind of like it.

An update from me: We ended up having some glasses around the house and they are more comfortable for me than the ones I got from Amazon. I'm wearing them in the evening and they may be helping. They are still uncomfortable for me to keep on nonstop by overall okay. I used Flux on my computer to dim things at night but will check out Nocturne too. Going to keep trying things and hope to get this sorted out once and for all hopefully. Thanks everyone for the suggestions and tips.
 

Little Bluestem

All Good Things Must Come to an End
Messages
4,930
The world looks very nice through my blue blockers, everything is given a warm, uplifting orangey hue. It does not really look weird, just orangey.
You said that your glasses made the blues look only slightly darker, but nowhere near black, so I assume they are not blocking all blue light.

I don’t really know how the world looks through my glasses because I only wear them in my apartment at night with only the computer and dim lights on.
 

Hip

Senior Member
Messages
17,824
You said that your glasses made the blues look only slightly darker, but nowhere near black, so I assume they are not blocking all blue light.

No, my lenses do block all blue light. It's just that most blue colors you see around you are not pure blue, but also contain other colors, and it is these other colors present in blue that ensure that the blues do not turn black when viewed through the lenses, but only become a little darker.
 

Ocean

Senior Member
Messages
1,178
Location
U.S.
If you click on "Why does f.lux work?" you see a page with a ton of links to sleep research.
That's great. I've been using Flux the past few days and also dimming the lights around the time when the screen light changes and wearing the glasses at that time also.
 

Little Bluestem

All Good Things Must Come to an End
Messages
4,930
I am also going to continue using my (sort of) blue blocking glasses and dim lights along with Flux.
 

Ocean

Senior Member
Messages
1,178
Location
U.S.
I am also going to continue using my (sort of) blue blocking glasses and dim lights along with Flux.
I wish there was flux for tv too. I tried adjusting ours but it's too much to adjust at night and readjust in the day each day. I'm on the computer a lot more than I watch tv anyway, but still would be great if there was a way for the tv lights to adjust at night too like the computer does with flux. I'm going to keep trying my glasses each night and see what happens, it's been about 3 night so far.
 

Ocean

Senior Member
Messages
1,178
Location
U.S.
For the bright light therapy in the mornings, does the light need to hit the eyes, the skin, both, or what? Would wearing sunglasses negate the effects. I'm using natural sunlight outdoors.
 

Hip

Senior Member
Messages
17,824
For the bright light therapy in the mornings, does the light need to hit the eyes, the skin, both, or what? Would wearing sunglasses negate the effects. I'm using natural sunlight outdoors.

The light just needs to fall on the eyes. Don't wear blue light blocker sunglasses when you get up, because it is the blue light that is desirable when get up (but undesirable before you go to bed). Best not to wear sunglasses at all when you get up.