To be honest I was a bit sceptical when I first heard the idea about using blue light blocking glasses to improve sleep. I was reading the latest book by the BulletProof guru, Dave Asprey and his explanation for why this is a critical biohack that he uses in his life.
Then last year, during the Toronto Biohacker Summit that I hosted with the Biohacker Summit folks from Europe I met a bunch of other educated people who were sporting these yellow/orange tinged glasses in the evening!?!?? Sunglasses at night? I wondered if it was the “cool” factor.
So the premise of the health benefits of blue light blocking glasses is that blue light sends a signal to your brain through receptors in your retina. That blue light tells your brain that it is daylight so exposing your eyes to blue light in the evening will suppress melatonin secretion by your pineal gland.
Melatonin is the hormone that is released by the pineal gland in the brain in the evening to prepare your brain for sleep.
So do these glasses work?
In my experience and those who have tried them – all of them have noticed that they find it easier to fall asleep. Whether this translates into a deeper and longer sleep – that’s an interesting question that I am testing with the use of an Oura Ring that I just ordered.
I’ll keep you updated on my “experiments with truth” on this topic. If you want to experiment with me on how these glasses improve your sleep – send me a quick note to bepeak@peakhuman.ca and I’ll arrange to get a pair out to you.