Blue-light and Gaming: The harmful effects of Gaming on your eyes

The harmful effects of Gaming on your eyes

With computer games more popular than ever and the meteoric rise of eSports, it’s fair to say our eyes spend more time staring at screens than ever before. This is especially true for gamers. We can now play anytime anywhere, on our phones,  online with friends & family across the globe and we can now even play competitively, in some cases with prize money reaching a whopping six figures.

Did you know?

• 18m people aged 6-64 are gamers in the UK – that’s 38% of the population in that age group!
  
• In the UK, we are also the 5^th largest consumers of the gaming market worldwide.
  
• 57% players in the UK are male and 43% female. The largest single age/gender demographic is 15-24 year-old males, making up 16% of all p layers. (2016 Q4)

https://ukie.org.uk/research

Either way, whether you’re playing a few hours on a Sunday (lying on the sofa, fighting a hangover, pizza on the way – you know the drill) or beating the best at the Evo tournament in Vegas, your eyes need proper care.

Have you noticed your eyes feeling tired, dry or strained? You blink 60-80% less while looking at a screen, stopping your tear film from renewing properly and causing eyes to feel dry. We recommend the 20/20/20 rule when spending a lot of time in front of a screen. Every twenty minutes take twenty seconds to look at least twenty feet away. Blink a few times fully before resuming your game. This will allow your eyes to relax fully and regenerate your tear film, reducing your chance of eye strain and dry eyes.

Computer and phone screens also give off short wavelength, high-energy blue light, which can cause digital eye strain and effect your circadian rhythm. During the day blue wavelengths boost our mood and attention, helping us to feel awake however too much of this at night before we go to bed can throw our biological clock out of sync causing sleep to suffer.

Needless to say, it’s strongly advised to stop gaming at least one hour before bed. The problem is, we all know that isn’t always the reality.  That’s where we come in. Our blue-light blocking glasses can help ease the strain and assist in keeping your circadian rhythm in sync, so that last half-hour of Fortnite doesn’t have to mess up your sleep.

A pair of Lumiblues anyone? 😉