Blue Light Reduction - Does it Really Make Us Sleep Better?

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Not sure where this should go, so if I posted in the wrong forum, please move it. Perhaps there may be a need for a new forum for Tech and Health.

Many of you have probably heard of f.lux, the program that changes the color temperature of your screen based on the time of day, to prevent your brain from being tricked into thinking it's daytime and thus suppressing melatonin (the sleep hormone, has a bigger role than this, but I digress) as screens are balanced for daylight, which contains a lot of blue light. My biggest gripe with f.lux is that it hijacks my gamma settings (known and not being fixed anytime soon) aside from wanting to play some games in true color at night (and I do pause it for certain games).

I was looking into the blue-light effect, when I discovered "blue-blocking" glasses. If they work, these would be good for when I'm setting up backups, as I prefer to start them before bed (and there's no f.lux to protect me). They could also protect from the cool white CFLs we have around the house. Not all blue-blockers are created equal though, and they're not all rated to block UV. If you wear glasses already, you're screwed. It may be more difficult verifying if OTG (Over The Glasses) designs are blocking effectively until someone tests them.

My personal experience with f.lux points indicates it works, but it could be just the placebo effect. Turning it off is almost as effective as a cup of coffee though. There's been quite a bit of research done on blue light affecting sleep.

Any of you guys use f.lux or these blue-blocking glasses? What do you think, do they work, or is it bogus?

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I am using Gunnar Sheadog Crystalline

It claims to lower the UV and whatnot...
I cannot say i regret my purchase... But i do. I use them, but it's more like a habit now. I may try to to not use them for a while and see if there is any difference, but so far, i can't say i am happy with my purchase.
And to fit the topic - no, there is almost no difference to my f-ed up sleeping schedule...

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How about sunglases?
Maybe start by turning down the brightness of your screen and use warm white lighting in your room.
The main problem is getting you to kick yourself into bed. Inhale 1, exhale 0, repeat the numbers in your head.

Top tip: Get a book, read three pages before sleeping. That works for me apart from the three pages rule. Books are places to get lost .

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nah i still sleep like shit but i don't get headaches anymore. +1 for gunnar glasses, they really do the job.

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I like it alot helps alot with my headaches. Which leads me to stay up later due to feeling well.... so i think i end up getting even less sleep. So i cant say if it helps me sleep better or not.

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You can honestly just pause f.lux before you play which works really well for me

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f.lux has been a godsend for me. Mainly just for the reminder to get ready to sleep rather than the blue reduction. Although that makes getting to bed after having to be up and working much quicker.

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I just use sunglasses every time. Reduces eye strain, yes, but my sleeping schedule is still f'd. I get into bed and roll over the entire bed and it still takes me somewhere around an hour before I actually sleep. Might try f.lux.

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I get less eye strain with f.lux at night when my monitor is the only light source. Having said that, it might just be that I'm getting old.....

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I'm definitely getting old to the point I was struggling with tired eyes and being lethargic in the afternoons at work in an IT environment..

I use a combo of f.lux and blue light reducing NoScope glasses. I actually miss the glasses if I take them home and forget to bring them back in to work.

There may also be another side affect I seen mentioned that wearing glasses can reduce the tendency of the eyes drying up from staring for prolonged periods and not blinking enough.

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I don't have a sleeping problem. But then again I eat healthy, I don't drink or smoke, I exercise and I make myself go to bed at midnight. I also calibrated the shit out of my monitor for maximum comfort and all of my games also look pretty incredible with these settings. Great colors, good deep blacks and all those goodies. Everything that should be visible is and that shouldn't be isn't.

I'm using a Dell P2414h. If anyone's interested I'll post my settings:
Brightness: 45
Contrast: 100
Sharpness: 0 (I was surprised how big of an effect sharpness had on eye strain in my case. And as an added bonus it makes games look better IMO)
Preset Mode: Custom (R:90 | G:90 | B: 90)

AMD driver settings:
Gamma: 0.80
Saturation: 145
Color Temperature 6500k

I also use DPI scaling at 125% in Windows. Default 100% at 1080p is not an option for me. No matter what else I do I would get eye strain and a headache in 10 minutes.

With these settings I can spend an entire day in the dark looking at anything on this screen and experience no eye strain and no sleep disorder.

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hmmm. have not noticed this for me. maybe im just special =P. the blue color does not have that effect on me. the worst thing is the screen brightness that will get to me when i sleep.

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works for me, you really notice a diff when you'be been on the reduced blue light for awhile and just temporarily turn it off it kinda hurts your eyes.

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F.lux is a pretty neat program, I just leave it on 24/7. If I disable the program I wince at my screen. Pretty much installed on every machine I own.

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i tried the one for mobile phones, kinda sucks, better to just reduce brightness in dark settings.

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I noticed they have it for Android now when I made the OP. I was thrilled. It needs more work though, but basic functionality is there.

Your lenses don't appear to be tinted. I know they have a model with yellowish lenses that is supposed to cut down the blue light, but according to the Consumer Reports article, they only cut about half of it.

My brightness is set to 0, but there was something I read about the melatonin suppression being related to light intensity. I don't have many physical books, but I have been considering this. However, my reading position is different from my sleeping position, so I wind up waking up later. It would encourage me to read more though...but then I'll never get any computer time.

What are you using, glasses or f.lux? If glasses, you probably don't have prescription glasses, because they can have an anti-glare coating applied to them, which helps with computer work. I know people that wear glasses that don't get eye fatigue after being in front of the screen a prolonged period of time. They told me it's that coating.

I guess I wasn't specific enough in my OP. I do pause f.lux for certain games. The problem is, it wakes me up when I do. I know it does, because I typically game late into the night on weekends, and I wind up going to bed much later than on a worknight.

This probably has to do with anti-glare coatings, which reduce eye strain.

Did you use a hardware calibrator for this or Lagom.nl? I see that is an IPS monitor, definitely much better image quality than a TN. My next monitor will definitely be an IPS.

Meaning you leave your monitor on all the time? You don't even turn it off when you go to bed?

I definitely noticed that. It only hurts at first though.

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For those interested.

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f.lux in pc and Twilight in android have really helped me to relax at nights. Only if could get something similar to my chromecast.

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or eat some of these

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