Why can blue light from screens cause premature aging?

The reason blue light can cause premature aging

For those who care about beauty, especially skin, they all value avoiding the harmful effects of the sun. However, many people do not know that the blue light emitted from the screens of electronic devices such as phones and computers can also damage your skin.

Blue light from screens greatly affects the overall health of people, especially the skin. They break down collagen in the skin, causing you to lose sleep or insulin resistance. The following article will help you better understand the harmful effects of blue light.

What is blue light and how does it affect health?

 These types of artificial blue light are directly affecting our health.

Blue light is a bright range of images with colors from blue to purple, simply understood, it is the color of the sky. Before the advent of electronic devices, we could only see blue light during the day when the sun was present.

However, with the development of technology and electronic devices, most of us experience blue light exposure even at night. Artificial blue light emitted by TVs, smartphones and other types of digital screens is becoming more common in our homes.

Unfortunately, these types of artificial blue light are directly affecting our health. Recent studies have shown that blue light is the cause of accelerated aging.

Most of us only use sunscreen to protect our skin from ultraviolet rays from sunlight, not knowing that blue light from screens can also be harmful to our skin.

Why is blue light bad for the skin?

Limit phone use if you don't want to age prematurely.

Normally, blue light emits 90% of high-energy radiation (HEV), a type of high-energy light that can penetrate between 380 and 500 nanometers.

Compared to ultraviolet light, which has a range of 100 to 400 nanometers, HEV can actually penetrate deeper and reach the dermis layer of the skin. Therefore, blue light can break down collagen and elastin in the skin, which are the ingredients that give skin elasticity.

According to a 2017 study from Nippon Medical School, blue light can cause oxidation in the skin. Research results show that exposure to blue light causes skin aging similar to UVA rays.

In 2020, the journal Cosmetic Dermatology published a study showing that short-term blue light exposure can help prevent some skin diseases, but too much blue light exposure can be harmful. is another story. Research shows that prolonged exposure to blue light increases the amount of damaged DNA, leading to the gradual death of skin tissues and cells, damage to the skin barrier and damage to the eyes.

Vision loss, lack of sleep and insulin resistance will make us age faster

Blue light causes insomnia, vision loss.

Unfortunately, blue light is not only harmful to our skin, but it also accelerates the aging process through impaired vision, lack of sleep and the body's insulin resistance.

Poor eyesight creates wrinkles

High-energy visible (HEV) blue light leads to macular degeneration and cancer, it penetrates your eyes, can cause chromosomes to break. In addition to vision deterioration as you age, the damage caused by these rays can lead to wrinkles and crow's feet on your face.

Lack of sleep leads to inflammation

Blue light reduces our melatonin production at night, causing us to lose sleep. Lack of sleep is bad for our skin because it causes symptoms of inflammation, makes our eyes swell and makes us look older.

In addition, inflammation also slows down collagen production in the dermis, causing facial skin to appear more wrinkles.

Increased blood sugar damages collagen

A 2016 study from Northwestern University Feinberg School of Medicine found that exposure to blue light during meals increases insulin resistance. This is also a cause of high blood sugar, insulin resistance damages collagen in the dermis, accelerating the appearance of wrinkles.

What must we do to prevent the bad effects of blue light on the skin?

Use a blue light filter on your phone to reduce harmful effects.

Unfortunately, blue light is everywhere and can't always be eliminated. However, we can make some small changes to reduce the effects of blue light on our lives in general and our skin in particular.

Reduce overall blue light exposure

One of the simplest things we can do to reduce the effects of blue light on our skin is to reduce our overall exposure. Prevention is always better than cure, and although most of us cannot avoid screen time during the day, there are ways to limit it such as:

1. Take a break between hours when exposed to a lot of screens
2. Avoid using devices that emit blue light before going to bed
3. Do the same for unnecessary tasks on the computer

Install a blue light blocking mechanism on your device

The next step to reducing blue light exposure is to take advantage of features on your device including:

1. Use the night mode features on your device.
2. Install apps designed to reduce blue light emitted by devices.
3. Maintain dark mode if you feel comfortable with your eyes,
4. Invest in filters that block blue light.

Add blue light protection to your skincare routine

Unfortunately, most sunscreens currently on the market are only able to protect the skin from ultraviolet rays, typically SPF (sunlight protection index). SPF only protects against UVB rays, while broad-spectrum sunscreens only limit the impact of UVA and UVB rays on your skin.

Some sunscreens with ingredients like titanium dioxide and zinc oxide can block some types of HEV light. However, it can only cover regions near the UV spectrum, but not all.

You should also invest in additional antioxidants to combat the effects of blue light on your skin and repair it against the effects of blue light. Some common antioxidants that you can use are vitamin C and green tea.

Unfortunately, blue light is hard to completely eliminate from our lives as many of us increasingly use electronic devices to work, play, and stay connected with our loved ones. me.

However, creating good habits in living and working will help us partly reduce the bad effects of blue light on health.