Blue light filters: do they really work?

Around one-third of all the light you see is blue light, with sunlight being the main source. Blue light is also known as high-energy visible (HEV) light.

Unlike other types of light, your eyes cannot filter it on their own. This means blue light can reach your retina without restriction.

A blue light filter is designed to protect your eyes from any harmful effects of blue lights.

People spend around seven hours a day looking at digital screens. As this has raised safety concerns, blue light filters are now commonplace across a range of products to increase safety for long-term use – they can be used on everything from phones to blue light blocking sunglasses.

Potential damage to the retina

Studies show that high levels of blue light, over prolonged periods, have the potential to damage the retina – and that blue light blocking glasses could help prevent up to 80% of this damage.¹ An injured retina can lead to vision loss and distortion.

But when it comes to a smaller amount of blue light, it’s less about eye damage and more about how it affects your body.

Eye strain

One of the most common issues people have with looking at screens a lot is digital eye strain. This happens because you blink less when looking at screens, which reduces the amount of moisture in your eyes.

Symptoms of digital eye strain include dry eyes, headaches, nausea, neck pain, and more. This is often mistaken for the effects of blue light. At present, there’s no evidence that blue light filters can help prevent or ease digital eye strain.²

Blue light can cause retinal damage, but the evidence for this involves extreme exposure over consistent and long periods.³

In truth, the effects of day-to-day blue light exposure are not yet fully understood – and we don’t yet know how beneficial blue light filters are.

Bhavin Shah is a behavioural optometrist at Central Vision Opticians, London. He says that the evidence for blue light filters is inconclusive, and instead opts for a spectral filter on his personal sunglasses.

“This filters out more than blue in the spectrum of light and makes my eyes more comfortable when I’m driving in overcast weather,” he explains.

Improved sleep

Blue light exposure affects your circadian rhythm – your body’s internal clock.³ Light is critical for how it behaves and adjusts to environmental factors – for example, day and night. This is why too much exposure to artificial light before bedtime, such as blue light from a screen, can make it hard to fall asleep.

Blue light stimulates your eyes and brain, sending signals to your body’s internal clock. This in turn affects how your body produces melatonin – the sleep-inducing hormone. So, if you find yourself scrolling through your phone or watch TV before bed to wind down at bedtime, you’re actually making your body more alert.

Reducing or cutting out screen time before bed is beneficial for improved sleep and a healthy sleep pattern. For screen-time you do have, blue light filters can help limit blue light exposure.