It is hard to believe that Light can be harmful, in fact dangerous. Keeping aside the mythological magic of light and its power of positivity, today in this article we are going to talk about the difference between blue light and UV light.
Not all lights are positive and energy-driven. Blue Light and UV light are not good for the health of your eyes and skin. It may give you trouble like disturbs sleep cycle, eye-straining, eye pain, etc. It may also cause death-causing diseases like cancer. Before we know the difference between blue light and UV light, it is significant to understand what blue lights and UV lights are.
UV Light
UV stands for Ultraviolet rays. You must have read this in high school Science. Right? So let us give you some more details regarding your eyes and their health.
UV lights are more energetic than other light because they are made up of short wavelengths of light. This type of light is not visible to us. One can obtain it mainly from the Sun. However nowadays manmade tanning beds are also found to get artificial sunlight’s tanning ability. This light is not good at all. It may give you sunburn, damage DNA, and give birth to many skin-related concerns.
Are UV Rays always Bad?
No! If absorbed in a moderate amount, it is good for generating Vitamin D in our body. However, if excessive consumption of UV rays happens, it leads to a certain amount of radicals in our body that our body can’t fight with. Experts say that the eyes are the most affected part of harmful UV rays.
How to Protect our Eyes from UV Rays?
The outer cornea and crystalline lenses protect our eyes naturally. These parts of our eyes eliminate the maximum amount of UV rays. So, yes! We got natural eye protection later in our eyes itself from the Almighty but that doesn’t mean that we don’t look for further protection because the natural system works in certain situations and conditions. Human disturbance to mother nature has created imbalance and so the hole in the ozone layer emits more UV rays. Hence we need extra protection for our eyes. To escape from excessive exposure to UV rays, wear UV protection sunglasses, apply sunscreen on your body, and avoid unnecessarily outdoor sun exposure.
BLUE Light
A very few of us are aware of this type of light and the damage caused because of this. We all come into its exposure daily, knowingly or unknowingly. Blue light is emitted from the Sun as well as its other sources are CFL, LED, Computers, tablets, and other digital screen devices. Just like UV Light, Blue light is also harmful to our eyes and may cause digital eye strain.
Ways to protect the eye from blue light:
Thankfully, Perfect eyewear is the best solution to prevent eye damage from the potential side effects. There are several ways to protect yourself from the Blue Light.
- Wear blue light blocking glasses with a specific blue light filter coating when using your cell phone, tablet, computer, or other digital devices.
- Follow the 20-20-20 rule: the simple rule will give your eyes a break and reduce eye strain to the maximum.
Difference Between Blue Light and UV Light
The wavelength of Blue light is the shortest, hence it penetrates high energy. This eventually affects our eyes directly in a negative way. Damage caused to our eyes from UV light and Blue light is not more or less. However, according to the experts, Blue light seems to be more dangerous because these days we are entangled with digital screens, especially in the past two years. Moreover, our eyes are used to UV light but Blue light is newer due to the increasing sources of artificial lights like CFL and LED. UV rays and blue light, undoubtedly, have a bad impact on eye health but it happens gradually with cumulative exposure. On the other hand, due to shorter and more energetic wavelengths, Blue light hits the cornea plus lenses and causes eye strain, headaches, reduced visual contrast, eye fatigue, etc.
