Is blue light harmful to the eyes?

The eyes are a very fragile part of the human body, but they are one of the most important organs for people. The eyes are the location of vision among the five senses. Once there is a problem with the eyes, it will lead to impaired vision, which will greatly limit people's ability to see things in the outside world. Moreover, the eyes can also be harmed by harmful external light sources. For example, lasers, infrared rays, etc. can cause great harm to the eyes. Does blue light harm the eyes? Let’s take a look at the explanation below.

The harm of blue light to human eyes mainly manifests itself in the pathological harm of the eyes, which causes myopia, cataracts and macular degeneration, and the harm to human rhythm.

1. Blue light is harmful first:

Damage structure: Harmful blue light has extremely high energy and can penetrate the lens directly to the retina, causing atrophy or even death of retinal pigment epithelial cells.

The death of light-sensitive cells will lead to decreased vision or even complete loss of vision, and this damage is irreversible. Blue light can also cause macular degeneration.

The lens in the human eye absorbs some blue light and gradually becomes cloudy to form cataracts, while most of the blue light will penetrate the lens. Especially in children, the lens is clearer and cannot effectively resist blue light, which makes it more likely to cause macular degeneration and cataracts.

2. The second harm of blue light:

Visual fatigue: Due to the short wavelength of blue light, the focal point does not fall on the center of the retina, but a little closer to the retina.

In order to see clearly, the eyeballs will be in a tense state for a long time, causing visual fatigue. Long-term visual fatigue may cause people's myopia to worsen, double vision, serial reading, inability to concentrate and other symptoms, affecting their learning and work efficiency.

3. The third harm of blue light:

Poor sleep: Blue light will inhibit the secretion of melatonin, which is an important hormone that affects sleep. Its currently known functions are to promote sleep and adjust jet lag.

This also explains why playing with mobile phones or tablets before going to bed can cause poor sleep quality or even difficulty falling asleep.