Resetting your circadian rhythm each morning with the sunrise is one half of the equation, the other is to protect it at night-time. What are you protecting it from? Our modern lifestyle that exposes us to artificial lights when it’s dark. Our bodies weren’t designed to be bombarded with light day and night, and especially not the artificial kind with its unbalanced spikes of blue and green light. This blue light exposure is tricking our brains to think it’s still daytime, keeping us alert and awake. It’s suppressing the release of our key sleep hormone, melatonin, which we need to fall asleep and stay there throughout the night.
By staying awake with artificial light, we're draining our battery, and pushing back our sleep phase, which ultimately prevents us from rising naturally for the sunrise to reset our body’s natural processes the next day. So you can see how both resetting and protecting is necessary to do daily, to maintain a healthy circadian rhythm.
But we all like to see at night, and it’s hard to turn off those screens and TV’s when we want to relax after a full day…so what can we do about it?
The best thing you can do for your sleep and health, is to go to bed when it gets dark. But that’s hard, especially in winter when it’s dark around 5pm or earlier in some places. This is why I created Ra Optics blue light blocking glasses and made them as effective as possible. The Night range, with their signature red lenses, block 100% blue and green light that is harming your health, keeping you from getting restful sleep. I wear my blue light blockers from the moment the sun goes down until I go to sleep. This protects my circadian rhythm at night-time, allowing the natural release of melatonin I need for the best sleep.
- Matt Maruca
After years of research and working closely with experts in the fields of photobiology, neuroscience, and optics we developed a collection of glasses that are the most effective on the market at blocking the full range of harmful blue light.
How can you be sure the glasses are working?
The technical way to test the effectiveness of the glasses is with a piece of equipment called a spectrometer. It's not something most people have on hand and even some of the so-called blue light glass companies don't seem to either or they would provide you with the data to support their claims.
We use it on every pair of glasses before they reach you, as our guarantee that they will help you like they should. The data provided is a spectral graph, which charts the full spectrum of light.
The first diagram shows the full spectrum of natural sunlight, at midday. Notice the colors are relatively balanced. Now look at the image below it. This is the unbalanced light that is emitted by phones and electronic devices. Notice the very high spike of blue light.
The next two diagrams show the light, once you are wearing a pair of our Day or Night lenses. Our Day's block 95% of the harmful blue light (you need some to stay alert and awake during the daytime) and the Nights block 100% (you need to block all the blue light in order for your melatonin to be released sufficiently).
Now you can see why it's important to wear glasses that know they are effective at blocking blue light.
We have a range of styles in our
Night Lens collection and same styles in our
Day Lens collection.
If you would like help finding the perfect fit, check out our
frame size chart first.
And we know kids are over-exposed to blue light these days, so we have a
full range to protect them as well. Who doesn't want their kids to get to bed and have restful sleep every night...not just for them but for our own sanity too!
Like to listen and learn?
The interview with the Wellness Mama,
Katie Wells, has a wealth of information on the benefits of sunlight as well as tips on optimizing your circadian rhythm.
Prefer visuals for learning?
We created these infographics to help with the learning process. We explain what is blue light and its impact on your health; the different types of light; tips for better sleep; and kids and blue light exposure. All on our LEARN pages
here.
