If you work at a desk, you’ve likely heard of blue light blocking glasses. Said to help mitigate the risks and side effects of over exposure to this type of light, the glasses now sit at people’s desks all over the world. However, many report headaches after wearing them.
Working at a desk may cause headaches itself, especially after you’ve been staring at a screen for hours on end. In addition to headaches, blue light may spur migraines, blurry vision and skin damage, Healthline reports. When blue light blocking glasses came to the market, their benefits were widely touted as a saving grace for people working at desks. Unfortunately, studies have proven the glasses’ ability to block blue light, but not their ability to halt the headaches that come as a side effect. The evidence also isn’t conclusive enough to determine whether or not the glasses reduce eye strain either.
So, if you’ve noticed that you still have a headache after wearing your blue light blocking glasses or they seem to bring about these aches, you’re not alone. Even though they have yet to determine why some people report experiencing headaches upon wearing these types of glasses, the outlet notes that wearing glasses for the first time may take some getting used to. Plus, if you’ve recently changed your prescription, this could be the reason for the tension.
Eye strain can come from a variety of places
If you went out and bought a pair of blue light blocking glasses, only to notice little to no difference, you’re not the only one. The Atlantic published an article detailing the futility of these glasses. Indeed, doctors have found little relationship between blue light and eye strain; rather, eye strain can come from many sources, especially when you’re looking at the same thing all day long. “Eye strain is about the disparity between the things you want to look at and the natural focusing of your eyes, and how long you do it,” Adam Gordon, a clinical associate professor at the University of Alabama at Birmingham School of Optometry, explains.
Essentially, you can experience this type of strain after looking at anything from an extended period of time. So, wearing glasses to protect from this type of light may just be adding a layer of plastic between you and the screen after all. And, that layer may make your headache from eye strain feel worse.
Plus, your eyes also absorb tons of blue light from being outside. “There are studies that have shown that sunlight, just standing outdoors in the daytime, is like 200 times more intense an exposure to blue light than any screen for eight or 10 hours a day,” Gordon explains. Blue light may not be the headache culprit after all.
Instead, perform the 20/20/20 rule a few times a day. Healthline explains that this involves taking a break every 20 minutes to look at something 20 feet away for 20 seconds. This helps reset your eyes and prevent eye strain — whether you’ve been focused on a computer screen or something else!
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