The more time we spend staring at screens, whether at the office or at home, the more vulnerable we are to eye strain. You’ve probably already heard how blue light can hurt your eyes and affect your sleep, but you might not know all the ways to help reduce its impact on your health.
Below, we list a few blue-light-blocking glasses and software solutions that might alleviate eye strain, as well as explain some habits that can help. We also tell you which brands you should avoid.
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Gunnar is known best for its blue-light-blocking computer glasses that target gamers. If you go to major video game events like PAX, you’ve probably seen a pair.
Gunnar offers a variety of frames and tint types, including the slight Clear lens that blocks 35% of blue light and doesn’t tint other colors too much; the more intense Amber lens that blocks 65% of blue light; and even transition lenses that stay tinted indoors and get darker like sunglasses when you’re outside. These glasses are available with or without a prescription. If you’re farsighted, though, know that standard Gunnar glasses have a slight magnifying factor that can be a bit disorienting.
We’ve reviewed a few Gunnar glasses, and each pair we’ve tested has been well made, sturdy, and comfortable. They can be a bit pricey, especially if you get prescription lenses, but they’re quality glasses.
Jins is a Japanese glasses company that makes a variety of blue-light-blocking lenses. There are two Jins Screen lens treatments: Jins Screen Daily Use and Jins Screen Heavy Use.
The regular Jins Screen Daily Use models feature a subtle tint, while Jins Screen Heavy Use glasses opt for a slightly stronger, greenish tint that blocks more blue light and is intended for heavy screen use. You can add either to most frames.
Warby Parker is one of the more popular fashion-focused glasses retailers because of its Home Try-On policy. You pick five frames online to try on at home, the company ships them to you, and you choose which ones to keep. The frames are made well and reasonably priced, plus support blue-light-filtering lenses. The coating is an extra $50, which puts most glasses at around $145 (or less if you have an eligible insurance plan). You can also get anti-fatigue lenses for $100 more, which add a slight magnification effect to the lower part of the lens. We can’t speak to their effectiveness, however.
Zenni is a glasses brand that lets you order inexpensive frames and lenses online. If you have your prescription, you can simply enter the numbers into a form, and your glasses will arrive a few weeks later. With prices starting at $7, I’ve sworn by Zenni for stocking up on backup glasses, though its pricier frames and lenses are generally pretty well-made, too.
Zenni offers Blokz, its own blue-light-blocking lens technology. Blokz lenses start at $17, so you can get prescription blue-light-blocking glasses for as little as $25.
You can get inexpensive blue-light-blocking glasses at Amazon and other retailers, though you won’t have the benefit of prescription lenses. We also haven’t reviewed any of these glasses, so we can’t attest to their lens or frame quality. We have, however, noticed an interesting pattern: Lots of them are the same.
The glasses above appear to be identical to several of the glasses a few entries below them when you search for blue-light-blocking models on Amazon. We suspect most of these glasses come from the same factory and that the different brand names don’t mean much. If you don’t recognize the brand and the company doesn’t appear to have a dedicated website, expect a generic experience.
You don’t need glasses to reduce blue light on your screen. iPhones, Macs, PCs, and most Android phones have night modes that significantly warm up the white balance of the screen to reduce eye strain. On Windows 10 and 11, it’s called Night Light, and on iOS, iPadOS, and macOS it’s called Night Shift. You can set these modes to work on a schedule or based on sunrise and sunset times.
You can also use f.lux, free software for Android, iOS, macOS, and Windows, which does the same job.
Ironically, the popular-in-drug-stores brand BluBlocker is not advisable for reducing blue light when staring at a screen.
BluBlockers are sunglasses, and their tints are too strong for comfortably looking at your monitor. If you use too strong a tint, you can strain your eyes in the other direction, forcing them to deal with too little light instead of too much.
What Is Blue Light?
On the most basic level, blue light is exactly what it sounds like: light that’s blue. That’s not the full picture, though, and this is where light and color theory comes into play, along with concepts like color temperature, Planck’s Constant, and the black body radiation curve. Without going too far into the weeds, you simply need to understand one fact about light: The color white isn’t universal.
There is no singular white, but rather a whole range of visible light that counts as white. Depending on the lighting conditions and what is radiating and reflecting light, white light can appear yellow (warm) or blue (cool) in color. For instance, the light that comes from an incandescent LED light bulb is warmer than the light that comes from a computer monitor. This effect is called color temperature and is measured in kelvin (K).
What we perceive as white light shifts along a range of about 2,700K to 7,000K. Confusingly, warmer light has a lower color temperature than cooler light, with the almost fiery glow of tungsten hitting around 2,800K and overcast sunlight hitting about 6,000K. Computer monitors typically set white at a cooler temperature to emulate natural sunlight, close to 6,500K. That means the light coming from your screen is quite blue; you can notice this difference if you compare a web page with a white background to a warm light bulb.
Blue light is often cited as the culprit for eye strain and even eye damage, so, naturally, the solution should be to warm up that light before it hits your eyes.
Is Blue Light That Bad?
Here’s where it gets tricky: Claims from the manufacturers of blue-light-blocking glasses don’t necessarily hold up to medical scrutiny. Essentially, blue light can’t directly damage your eyesight. The American Academy of Opthalmology(Opens in a new window) (AAO) notes that ultraviolet radiation can damage eyes but that computer monitors and other screens don’t emit that kind of radiation. The whites are cool, but they aren’t harmful. In fact, the AAO doesn’t recommend any special eyewear(Opens in a new window) for computer use.
This doesn’t mean you should ignore the effects of staring at a screen all day. While the radiation might not hurt your eyes, fixating on a powerful light source a few inches or a few feet from your eyes for long periods of time can cause eye strain(Opens in a new window). Your eyes can become dry, irritated, or blurry, and you can even get headaches after you’ve looked at screens for hours. Blue-light-blocking technology can help reduce that strain by making the light appear more soothing and less bright.
The AAO recommends the 20-20-20 rule: every 20 minutes, you should look at something 20 feet away for 20 seconds to give your eyes a break. It’s a good habit to get into, but it isn’t always realistic, and it isn’t the only thing you can do to help your eyes.
I sometimes get light-sensitive headaches, and I’ve found that tinted lenses can help reduce their frequency. For that, blue-light-blocking glasses are useful. They warm up the light by blocking out some wavelengths to give your eyes a rest. Their real value is relieving eye strain, not the promise of simply blocking blue light.
How to Buy Glasses Online
Shopping for glasses can be stressful. Luckily, we have a guide to sites that let you shop for frames and lenses at home. We note which services offer blue-light-filtering lenses, too.
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