WOW, the volume of misleading articles on the internet on this subject is mindblowing.
With our love for facts and teaching you about skin and skincare, we have done executive research to bring you the FACTS. want to point out a few things you should know. First of all, what the talks about blue light missing out on is to remind us of that blue light is mainly a part of our sunlight, therefore it should be a part of our sunscreen, especially for our face and exposed areas.
In this post you will learn what we know about the ageing effects of blue light. We’re going to bust a few myths and explain why there is such confusion about whether the blue light is bad or good. We will keep it easy to digest too. We felt responsible for putting together a piece of content that isn’t filled with ‘hyped up’ words, and catchy slogans but rather something of value.
Are you ready?
The blue light – good vs bad
Blue light can be used for our benefit and treat many skin issues and disease, including cancer. It’s painless and effective. It has proven results and has been used to treat those conditions for a long time. The bottom line, you can achieve a lot of good with LED blue light therapy. If you want to read more about how it’s used to treat acne or cancer you can find a little more in this article here.
The blue light therapy to treat acne
We would suggest consulting a doctor before you use blue light therapy or ensuring you read up about it so that you are making a fully informed decision to decide if light therapy is the right choice for you if you suffer from acne. One of our team members has used it in the past blue light to treat minor breakouts and skin inflammation and found it to be very effective in comparison to other treatments.
So if blue light therapy can be so beneficial, why is there also so much fear-mongering around the damaging blue light. Why are we told to switch our devices to ‘night mode’ to protect ourselves? To use blue light blocking glasses etc?
Well, technology has advanced and we now spend many hours a day in front of devices emitting blue light. We came across some articles saying there isn’t any research proving that it is bad for us but that’s not entirely true. There are in fact recent studies that show that it still can have a damaging effect on the cells, which will result in premature ageing. If you don’t want to take our word for it, feel free to geek out and read a full description of one of the most recent studies in this Science Daily article.
The main takeaway from this article is that “Prolonged exposure to blue light, such as that which emanates from your phone, computer and household fixtures, could be affecting your longevity, even if it’s not shining in your eyes. New research suggests that the blue wavelengths produced by light-emitting diodes damage cells in the brain as well as retinas.” We also haven’t been studying the effects of exposure to blue light long enough to have sufficient evidence to understand fully how damaging it can be. But we also know that small amounts of blue light can have incredible healing effects. The bottom line is there are many factors that have to be considered when making claims and one study is just a drop in the ocean.
Protect your skin
Now, if you don’t need light therapy because you are blessed with perfect skin and wish to keep it that way, we have some good news. A recent study shows there is a new natural ingredient that helps to protect cells from the damage the blue light is causing to our skin. So look for skincare products that include in their creams such ingredients like Micah, which is classed as a skin protectant with anti-radical properties. Beauty brands are now aware they need to provide some additional protection to stay competitive and that products protecting from UVA and UVB are not enough.
Bursting some other myths about the blue light
Initially, we intend to speak about skincare only, but after fear-mongering articles saying that the blue light causes an eye strain (WHICH IS NOT TRUE) and that is stopping us from getting a good night sleep, ( ALSO HIGHLY QUESTIONABLE ). I’d like to give you top-level information about those subjects too.
Blue light and eye strain. Well, in a nutshell, the strain isn’t from the light itself, so removing it e.g. by applying a blue light filter to the screen or glasses, is not going to reduce eye strain. The reason your eyes feel tired when you look at the screen is that we tend to blink less and that’s what is causing the stain. You can read more about it here, but please remember that this article refers to the damage the blue light can or can not cause to the eyes only not the skin.
Blue light might not be the only reason you can’t sleep
As we already established, we are no scientist but even from introspection. There is more than just my screen time that will affect the quality of sleep you get. A very recent study questioned the status quo about the effects of blue light on sleep. It turns out that if you choose to read on an iPad before bed, it might slow you down only by 10 minutes, so not such a significant impact as one would think. The article in TIME beautifully and in a very accessible way describes the recent study, plus points you directly to the research papers too.
Use the sunscreen
We hope we managed to shine the light on this confusing subject. And on that note, we want to remind you that UVA and UVB is the biggest factor that contributes to your skins ageing process right after your gens. So use sunscreen.
Love your skin.
EVY Team
