Blue blocking glasses don’t have to be ugly anymore, we tried the Block Blue Light Nightfalls lenses

blue light glasses review — Block Blue Light Glasses Review

Screentime is a huge problem for not falling asleep fast, not getting enough sleep, not sleeping well and contributes to waking up feeling tired.

Light produces strong signals that our bodies respond to in order to align with the normal cycles of the day. In a normal situation, we would respond to the sun rising and emitting its beautiful light along with other things like cortisol, the stress hormone, that urge us to awake and begin the day of activity.

As the day wanes, the light fades and we begin to produce melatonin, a powerful sleep signaller that triggers transition to sleep mode. The blue light emitted from all of the many devices we use, however, stunts this melatonin production especially when used in the twilight hours closer to a normal bedtime. We can all admit that screens have become a fact of life for most, so to combat the harmful effects of bluelight on our sleep patterns and our health you need to invest in a pair of blue light blocking glasses.

Block Blue Light, a brand based out of Australia and New Zealand, has one of the biggest range of blue light blocking lenses we have come across and we tried their Taylor Nightfall Blue Light Blocking Glasses for 3 months to improve our sleep while still using screens at night watching Netflix, scrolling Tiktok and working on our website.

Block Blue Light - Blue Light Blocking Nightfall Lenses Review

When Block Blue Light reached out to test out their night-time blue light blockers, we had already experienced the benefits of wearing blue blockers at night to minimise blue light and keep the natural rhythms of the body in play, so we were obviously keen to see how BBL compared to other blue light glasses we had tried.

Block Blue Light have a whole range of blue light blocking glasses that can suit any style, night or day. They even have blue light blockers for kids, because what is more important than proper sleep in the crucial stages of growth and development for kids?

For this blue light blockers review, we wore the glasses for over a period of 3 months transitioning between wearing the glasses from 5-6pm onwards before bed for 2 weeks then not wearing them at all for 1 week in between. Not surprisingly, we tracked sleep at an unmistakable higher quality over the period of wearing blue blockers than not. In fact, over the combined total of 8 weeks of wearing blue light blockers, we tracked an average increase of 35 minutes total sleep, 8 minutes faster sleep latency (time taken to fall asleep), 5 sleep quality points and far less movement or sleep disturbance periods every night.

Now that we know blue light blockers actually work, let’s see how the Block Blue Light Night-time Blue Blockers rate. Note: for this review we were using the Nightfall Taylor Blue Blockers in Crystal design with a red lense.

Design

If you are looking for a more stylish and subtle design blue light glasses, the Taylor and a few of the other night and day shades are shaped similar to a popular Rayban look. Gone are the days that blue light glasses only come in the medical grade, commercial style of lense. These glasses are lightweight, super flexible and come in a solid glasses case with lense cleaner. Having sat on the glasses in bed and on the lounge a few times with no breakage, we are fairly satisfied they are well constructed glasses.

The Nightfall blue blockers come in three different styles and colours, each with its own unique lense shape. The style of these blue blocking glasses is suited to a broad range of looks and means you don’t have to get any more weird looks when you wear your blue blockers around the house or late at the office.

The dimensions of the Taylor Nightfalls are as follows:

Lens Width - 51mm
Lens Height - 41mm
Arms - 145mm
Bridge - 19mm
Frame Width - 140mm

Warranty

All of the Block Blue Light glasses come with a 12 month warranty and a 30 day trial period. Full priced items purchased from BlockBlueLight can be returned for an exchange, store credit, or refund within 30 days of your order delivery. If you buy a pair of blue blocking glasses and they don’t quite suit your or you want to try a different pair, Block Blue Light will let you send back your glasses and swap them out for free which is pretty flexible.

Technology

A common question is: how do blue light blockers work? We wrote about the benefits of blue light blocking glasses and why you should wear them every night in one of our other articles. Block Blue Light offers a number of different lense options for different functions and different time of the day. We know that some blue light blockers are simply a lense with a coloured tint, this is not effective. Block Blue Light have developed superior lens technology by infusing their lenses with proprietary light filtering pigments that are produced in an optical lab to ensure superior clarity and blue blocking properties.

Below is a brief explanation of the various Block Blue Light lense types and what they best for to get an idea of which type of blue light blockers you should buy to suit you.

Night Lenses

Block Blue Light night time lenses — Block Blue Light Nightfall Lenses protect from 100% of blue light

Shop Nightfall

NightFall Red Lenses - These block all light wavelengths of blue and green light up to 550nm. These are the exact wavelengths shown to most affect our internal clock, lower melatonin levels alter our sleep/wake cycle. The NightFall Red Lenses not only block 100% of blue light but also all green light up to 550nm.

Even just a small amount of blue after dark will signal to the brain that it’s still daytime which in turn will suppress our sleep hormone melatonin from being released. This is why it’s extremely important to use a set of blue light glasses that have been verified to remove 100% of all the blue wavelengths or they will not be very effective at all.

Green light blocking

Why block green light as well? Research and academic studies clearly show the green light emitted by modern electronic devices and light bulbs is also contributing to suppressing melatonin levels at night. Blocking out green light is just as important as blocking blue light at night to engage the powerful sleep hormones to have the best possible sleep for recovery.

SunDown Amber Lens - The SunDown Amber lenses are an ideal option for people who are wanting a high quality premium blue blocking lens verified to block 100% of blue light, but prefer a lighter amber tint over the nightfall red lens.

The lighter amber tint allows for greater colour perception in the evening hours for a more pleasant viewing experience. These are a great option to use in the early evening while cooking dinner, watching TV, or out socialising.

Day lenses

For the record, clear or yellow lenses are not sufficient for night use and will not block blue light sufficiently for getting the benefits of improving sleep cycles. These types of lenses simply do not block enough of the blue light wavelengths to have positive impact on sleep and circadian rhythms.

The daytime lenses by Block Blue Light are designed for people spending a lot of time in front of a computer screen working in an office or at home. Although blue light during the day is somewhat natural, artificial blue light has all sorts of issues that come along with it like eye strain, headaches, migraines and an overload of blue light after significant periods of screen time.

The day lenses feature ClearBlue Lenses, designed to filter out harmful, artificial blue light emitted by digital devices and all other artificial light sources. These blue light glasses for day-use filter 50% of blue light across the entire blue light spectrum (400nm-500nm) to alleviate digital eye strain, sore and tired eyes, headaches/migraines, and blurred vision from both screen time and bright LED or fluorescent lighting in the workplace.

Other ways we cut back blue light exposure

Despite blue light itself being a completely natural form of light and completely healthy to be exposed to during the day if it comes in unison with the full light spectrum that is provided by the sun, the aim is to minimise artificial blue light to the eyes.

There are a few other simple ways you can take charge of the blue light exposure to improve sleep hygiene. We tried a few other measures including making use of nightshift mode on Iphone between 6pm and 6am, swapping out a few bulbs at home with Blue Blocking bulbs, using a screen filter, sleeping with an eye mask to block out light pollution from street or city lighting and testing out a few phone apps.

Blue Blocking Light Bulbs

Blue light blocking bulbs — *Screw and bayonet style*
*Downlight style*
*Reading lights*
*Night lights*

Shop Bulbs

Block Blue Light has a selection of Blue Blocking Bulbs that can simply replace your current light bulb that emits large amounts of harmful blue light into your eyes at night as you move around the home at night before bed.

The blue blocking bulbs come in small and large screw or bayonet fitting types, downlights, reading lights and night lights to cover all bases for blocking the maximum amount of blue light you can.

The blue blocking bulbs come in either Sweet Dreams amber light or the Twilight red light. The Sweet Dreams lights offer protection from 100% of blue light and produce a soft yellow light. The Twilight is free of both blue and green light and produces a more redish coloured light which we love for the bedroom when we read at night before bed. Both of these coloured light bulbs offer a verified and tested solution to blocking blue light that stunts the production of melatonin that is essential for proper sleep. These bulbs produce zero flicker and have a low EMF, making them great lights for sleep.

F.lux or Iris App

There are a couple of different apps for blocking blue light on your phone and computer. We have tried two in particular and they work surprisingly well. We use the F.lux App on our phone and have used the Iris App on our computer.

Both of these apps allow you to manually adjust the colour settings on your device to produce a colour that minimises the level of blue light emitted from the device when you are using it at night or through the day. With both apps you can set to automatically adjust the screen to suit the time of day you are using it.

At night, our phone and computer screens appear in a beautiful soft red light colour and even without wearing blue blocking glasses you can see how much softer and less strained your eyes are looking at the screen.

Phone Screen Filters

A blue light blocking screen filter is a cheap and minimally intrusive way to block out even just a little bit of blue light from using your phone at night. The Block Blue Light Screentime Blue Blocking Filter uses anti-blue technology that filters 50% of blue light from your phone and also doubles as a super tough screen protector with anti-scratch and anti-shatter design. The Screentime Filter can be purchased to suit your Iphone size.

Sleep Mask

A good sleep mask is one of the easiest ways to ensure that once you finally lay your head down, whether you have done any of the other blue light blocking practices already mentioned or not, you are blocking as much light pollution from street lighting, ambient household light and city lighting as possible.

Light is the most powerful signalling mechanism for sleep which is why you generally might notice if someone turns the light on in the bedroom during the night you immediately wake up. We pack a good quality sleep mask like the Block Blue Light Deluxe Delta Sleep Mask wherever we go and even wear them in the completely dark room at home as they offer a nice amount of cupping pressure over the eyes.

Conclusion

Blue blocking glasses are one of many ways to minimise the amount of blue light you take in during the day and night in an effort to have a better sleep and improve your quality of life. This stuff is a big deal and is worth paying attention to! The Block Blue Light Blue Blocking Glasses are an affordable and well designed solution to blocking blue light. By blocking as much blue light as possible in the later hours of the day by combining all of the methods of blocking blue light we have mentioned in this article you are on your way to hacking your circadian rhythms for the optimal sleep while still enjoying the use of your devices at night or working on your computer late. Blocking blue light is a sure way to improve sleep and recover well.

Block Blue Light Glasses Review - We Tried Blue Blockers At Night For 3 Months

Blue blocking glasses don’t have to be ugly anymore, we tried the Block Blue Light Nightfalls lenses