Why did so many sleep worse and feel overwhelmed during the day? Doctors believe that this is due to prolonged exposure to the blue spectrum of radiation. It can lead to diseases that were previously diagnosed in patients in the 60+ category, and in recent years are being diagnosed at a younger age. It is impossible to refuse devices with screens, but one should strive for more correct visual work.
Elena Filippova
cosmetologist, dermatovenerologist, TORI clinic of aesthetic medicine
Blue light rays have the shortest wavelength and highest energy, which is why blue light is also called HEV light or high energy visible light. This high energy means that light can penetrate the skin even deeper than ultraviolet A and B rays (UVA and UVB rays). Although the sun is the biggest source of blue light, all our electronic gadgets - phones, tablets, computers - also emit it. The amount of time we spend looking at these screens is exactly what has brought the issue of blue light to the fore today. Blue light stimulates increased production of melatonin, which is bad for our emotional well-being. Watching TV, working at the computer, hanging on the phone before going to bed leads to disruption of biorhythms. A person falls asleep worse, sleeps badly and restlessly,wakes up hard and feels overwhelmed. And as a result, his mood worsens and his working capacity falls. The condition of the skin also suffers: due to the fact that the face is constantly tense, the muscles are in hypertonicity, therefore, age-related changes become more pronounced.
First of all, you should avoid using gadgets with luminous liquid crystal displays at night. If necessary, glasses with lenses that block blue light should be worn. I recommend excluding viewing electronic devices 2-3 hours before bedtime. Another important point: in the room where you sleep, you can not install fluorescent and LED lamps with excessive radiation.
A good prevention of skin aging protection from UV radiation will be the use of sunscreens with a factor of 30 or 50. Moreover, the composition of such products should include zinc oxide or titanium oxide - these two components provide one hundred percent protection against UVA and UVB rays. Also, the main care should be products with antioxidants, vitamins A, C, D, E, zinc and selenium (these two trace elements are involved in many enzymatic reactions in the body). Also look for lutein and zeaxanthin in cosmetics, which block melanin formation and increase the amount of antioxidants in the skin.
Cosmetics with the listed components protect the skin from free radicals and help resist oxidative processes. Their use accelerates the synthesis of collagen and elastin and prevents the appearance of pigmentation and wrinkles on the skin.
Andrey Lapochkin
ophthalmologist, GKB named after S. P. Botkin, ophthalmological clinic "Lege Artis", candidate of medical sciences
Blue light is harmful not only for our skin, but also for such a sensitive organ as the eye. It has a particularly negative effect on the retina, which perceives light and acts as a photographic film or sensor that converts optical radiation into an image. LED and fluorescent lamps are used to illuminate gadgets, and compared to incandescent lamps, which emit soft warm light, they give more blue light. According to European and American studies, prolonged exposure to the blue spectrum of light in the eye can lead to diseases such as macular degeneration. It must be understood that this is an extremely important central part of the retina - the concentration of highly active and highly sensitive cells. This tiny area provides us with about 90–95% of what we see, and above all the clear outlines of objects and colors. The rest of the vast retina accounts for 5% of visual information.
All eye diseases are much younger. This is especially true for dystrophy of the central retinal zone. If earlier we diagnosed it in 60+ patients, now we detect it at a younger age. Moreover, this is not associated with diseases such as diabetes, or with eye injuries. The reason is many hours of working with a computer and freezing in a smartphone. Dystrophy is also associated with the fact that the sensitivity to blue light in children and young people is higher than in people after 45 years, which is associated with a change in lens density. In youth, the lens is more transparent, with age it becomes more yellow and begins to actively absorb the blue spectrum. The danger is that light passes through a transparent (young) lens more easily, penetrates deeper and can trigger various photochemical reactions with a minus sign,which contribute to the appearance of free radicals in the retina. It is free radicals that are responsible for degenerative processes that affect human visual function.
Gadgets also provoke dry eye syndrome, a big problem for our society. If earlier this disease was observed in a minimum number of people and was associated with pathologies of other organs, now its direct connection with high visual load has been revealed. According to statistics, the time on monitors (smartphone, computer, tablet or TV) reaches several hours a day. At the same time, we drastically reduce the number of blinking eye movements, peering at the photo reports of friends, colleagues and celebrities and reading canvases of information about everything in the world. The less we blink and look more closely, the more we contribute to the deterioration of the trophism (nutrition) of the eye. Over time, light has a destructive effect on the tear film, leads to a change in its quality and a person begins to experience a feeling of sand or a foreign body,and persistent redness - these are the symptoms of dry eye.
Do not forget that long-term work with a computer, pastime with a smartphone cause constant eye strain. When a person looks into the distance, the eyes are in a more relaxed state. Therefore, now young people show a greater percentage of acquired myopia than it was before.
Another important point is the influence of blue light on biorhythms. Blue light suppresses the production of nighttime melatonin: the bright radiation "tricks" the body and disrupts the biological processes associated with the change of day and night. Such regular intervention can lead to cardiovascular disease and other problems.
Advice
- Take breaks every hour from work. Get up, stretch, turn your attention to something else, make a call, look out the window, turn your head to improve blood flow to the head and neck area, or do a simple self-massage of the neck area.
- Reduce your social media time. Very often we take a smartphone out of habit, out of boredom, or simply because there is nothing to do with our hands. Before going to bed, it is better to go for a walk, be with your loved one, do a hobby, ride a bike.
- If nothing bothers you, then it is enough to check your eyesight once or twice a year. If we are talking about macular degeneration, then one of its characteristic signs is image distortion or fog in the eyes. If they appear, you should urgently consult an ophthalmologist.