What are the best computer glasses? Is it worth buying blue light glasses to protect us from digital screens and LED lights?
In addition, you may experience these symptoms if you spend long hours in front of a computer, tablet and/or smartphone screen:
- Eyestrain.
- Itchy eyes and/or eye irritation.
- Eye discomfort and dryness.
- Blurred vision.
- Headache.
Well, first thing JLR Eye Hospital What I want to tell you is that if you pay attention to some of them, it is almost certain that you are suffering from the increasingly well-known digital eye fatigue.
Today, we are going to tell you about which computer glasses are the best because it is important for you to know the different types of blue light filters in glasses out there so you can see if they are suitable for your case or not.
Why use computer glasses and how do they work?
Once it became clear that we should protect our eyes and our health from overexposure to blue light, the first step was to reduce the peaks of blue light emitted by digital screens.
Using computer glasses with a blue light filter you can reduce this peak of blue light between 20 and 30%. And with glasses the yellow/orange blue light can be reduced by up to 90%.
The biggest drawback is that blue light glasses have inflexible, non-adjustable filters, so no matter where you are and what time of day they will filter them exactly the same when you really only need them for a specific activity.
That’s why wearing blue light glasses is not an ideal choice if you wear them all day at the computer, walking on the street, driving at night, etc.
The difference between anti-reflective treatment and blue light filters
It is important for you to know that blue light filters and anti-reflective treatments have almost nothing to do with each other as they both seek opposite effects. Of course, the two options could be combined and in fact, that would be ideal.
Anti-reflective treatment seeks to achieve maximum transparency to avoid reflections. Anti-blue light treatment or blue block attempts to reflect blue light.
Due to this, external computer eyewear maintenance results in a bluish or purple reflection which is sometimes unattractive and can be a bit annoying.
Types of computer glasses
There are 4 main types of computer glasses:
- Computer glasses with a blue light filter on them.
- Blue light glasses with filters in mass but no color.
- Computer glasses with a colorless filter on the mass and a blue filter on the surface.
- Blue light glasses with a yellow/orange tint.
Blue light glasses with a filter on the surface
The visual sensation can be very different between choosing computer glasses with low-quality filters and those with high-quality ones because one can cause more reflections than the other when you’re not using the screen.
Generally, cheap anti blue light glasses usually have low quality filters.
Notes: This type of computer glasses only filters 20% of blue light. This meant inadequate protection at night or at dusk.
Anti-blue light goggles with a filter in the mass
Large laboratories have developed materials that absorb some of the blue light without causing reflections and hardly change hue, because it appears completely transparent, although when placed in front of a white background a very faint yellow hue can be seen.
The biggest advantage of this type of computer glasses is that there is no bluish reflection, which makes it more aesthetic and more comfortable to see.
Notes: This type of computer glasses only filters 20% of blue light. This presupposes very low protection with the screen at dusk and at night, like the first option.
Computer glasses with an anti-blue light filter on the mass and surface
This type of anti-blue light glass is the result of combining the two previous filter modalities. They added a bulk filter and an external filter, increasing the protection without compromising it.
Notes: Computer glasses of this type filter about 30% of blue light. They offer acceptable but not complete protection if you use the screen in the afternoon or at night.
On the other hand, when you are not using your screen, this filter is unnecessary or even counterproductive for driving at night as you will see more reflections and it can also make you fall asleep more easily.
Yellow or orange computer glasses
There are yellow or orange blue light glasses that filter out more blue light than the previous options. They are gamer-type ungraded orange/yellow tint filter glasses which can also incorporate a yellow or orange filter with extra anti-blue light treatment.
This type of glasses can filter between 60 and 100% of blue light. They are an excellent choice for use in front of screens or LED lighting at dusk because in addition to protecting us from that blue light, being an almost total filter will help us stimulate melatonin production.
However, I do not recommend it for use during the day, as the filter is very strong and can lead to going to sleep at inappropriate hours or, as a lesser evil, later causing problems at bedtime due to contradictory signals reaching the brain at different times throughout the day. .
I recommend wearing these types of blue, yellow, or orange light glasses only in the evening and/or at night to promote an easy restful sleep. In fact, I have a few that I wear over my grads and they work really well for me.
There are different types of non-prescription yellow/orange goggles:
- Normal glasses (sun or prescription glasses without filters).
- Supplements or clips to wear over prescription glasses
- Glasses specially designed to be worn over other glasses
Notes: This type of computer glass filters 60-90% of blue light which is perfect at night when you are at home but not recommended during the day or while driving.
The importance of anti-reflective treatment
The idea is whenever you can, choose a model of computer glasses that incorporates an anti-reflective treatment.
However, I wear anti-blue light glasses at night over my regular prescription glasses to help me sleep better. I have the model in the photo, which I think is a very powerful solution because, in addition to the orange filter, it incorporates an anti-reflective treatment and another anti-blue light treatment.
These are some of the most recommended models (accidentally on the first one it shows they’re polarized, but they’re not and it doesn’t matter if they are (that’s a mistranslation).
Conclusion about computer glasses
I don’t recommend using computer glasses as a first choice, as I think it’s always a better solution to filter out blue light at the source (both on screens and in LED lights).
However, computer glasses or blue light glasses seem like a good alternative for use at night or if you can’t adjust the blue light on your electronic device screen.
