We strain our eyes staring at screens for most of the day. Screens predominantly use blue hues and many studies suggest that they ruin our sleeping patterns. If you spend late nights staring at a screen, you are likely to be getting inadequate sleep. Most modern smartphones and televisions feature eye care modes to reduce the effects of blue light. However, we rarely see such features on laptops and PCs.
Ever wanted to know the science behind blue light and its effects? How can you reduce the effects of blue light on your PC? Let’s uncover it together.
What is blue light and how does it affect us?
Sunlight is a combination of red, orange, yellow, green, blue, indigo and violet colours. Each of these colours have different levels of energy and wavelengths, to which our body reacts differently. Blue light has a shorter wavelength, more energy, and it is responsible for boosting attention, reaction times, and moods during the day. It keeps us awake, and it also helps to set the sleep-wake cycle known as circadian rhythms. However, the same blue light from sources such as CFL bulbs, televisions, computer and smartphone screens can be disruptive, once the sun sets.
When we use dimmer and warmer lights, our brain produces melatonin causing us to fall asleep. However, melatonin production is suppressed when our eyes are exposed to bright, sun-like screens during the darker hours. Most of us reduce the screen brightness to view it comfortably in darker rooms. Modern smartphones, laptops and even televisions have ambient sensors to automatically adapt the screen brightness to the surroundings. However, studies suggest, dimming or lowering screen brightness doesn’t help, not nearly as much as changing the colour tone does.
What is f.lux? How does it help?
f.lux is the easiest way to reduce the effects of blue light. It adjusts the colour tone of your computer’s display depending on the time of the day. For example, the screen is set to bright during daylight hours, but the software uses warmer tones through the evening to match the indoor lighting. Developers at f.lux claim the warmer colour tones significantly reduce eye strain since you are not looking at a bright screen anymore. They even claim, warmer colour settings used on a screen at night can cause your brain to secrete more melatonin and help you sleep better.
How to get started with f.lux?
f.lux is a free tool available for Windows and Mac OS. You can download it by clicking here. Run and install the program to get started.
Setting up f.lux
Once you download f.lux, it automatically detects your location, so you don’t have to fiddle around. The software runs the Auto Mode to adjust the display colour tones to the time of the day. f.lux offers three transition speeds — Slow, Medium and Fast. The Slow transition speed gradually changes the colour over 60 minutes while the Medium setting takes 30 minutes. The Fast setting quickly changes the screen colour in 20 seconds.
The software comes with a bunch of screen modes. We tried the Reduce Eyestrain mode that brings down the screen colour tone to 5900K. It adds a yellowish, warm tone to the screen that makes it comfortable to view. This setting works great when you are using regular desktop software such as Microsoft Word which has a bright and white layout. You can also apply this setting while reading online articles. f.lux also lets you manually adjust your screen’s colour tone to your liking.
f.lux adds a warm tone to the screen, and this might affect colour accuracy while are using editing software such as Adobe Photoshop and Premiere Pro. It makes movies and videos appear slightly warm, and we recommend disabling f.lux for a natural picture colour. You can easily disable f.lux for an hour by pressing Alt + End. You can also disable f.lux for a day by clicking on Settings > Disable > Disable f.lux for a day.
Blue light exposure from a screen is significantly lesser than the exposure of the sun. However, studies suggest it has long-term effects on our body because of the proximity of the screens and the long hours we spend looking at them. f.lux helps reduce the effects of blue light in minutes. It is an easy-to-use software, and once you set it up, you barely need to think about it.
