Night Owls Should Avoid Blue Light in Evenings; Larks Should Use Blue Light in Evenings

From March 7-13, we are celebrating National Sleep Awareness Week! There will be a new announcement every day, full of tips about sleep and fun SleepPhones Specials. Currently, we are offering free shipping!

Tip: In the Evening, Night Owls Should Avoid Blue Light Whereas Morning Larks Should Use Blue Light.

People who tend to stay up late and wake up late should try to avoid blue light in the evenings. The brain is very sensitive to blue light shining in through the eyes. It is one of the ways our bodies recognize whether it's daytime or not. Blue light is significant because it's the color of the sky. If the eyes are exposed to too much bright blue light in the evenings, then the brain thinks it's still day time. That makes it harder to fall asleep. This applies most to teenagers who tend to be night owls. They should avoid using computers as it gets later. Or perhaps turn the brightness of the computer screen down a bit.

People who tend to get up too early and have trouble staying awake through the evening should use as many bright lights as possible in the evening. Those lights can be from energy-saving compact fluorescent bulbs, bright computer screens, or full-spectrum bulbs. The traditional incandescent light bulbs that get really hot don't have much blue light, so they won't work. The other important point is that the light needs to be close to the eyes. So having this type of light at the desk or near the couch for reading or knitting is good. The problem of waking up too early tends to occur in the elderly because their internal clocks are shorter. They also happen to be the ones living in older homes with older incandescent light bulbs. A great present for your older relative next time might be to change all of their lights over to compact fluorescent bulbs. It lowers their electricity bill, helps them from waking up too early, and doesn't create more clutter.