Do Blue Light Glasses Actually Ease Headaches? An Investigation

I’ve never been someone who gets headaches. I’ve never had a migraine and I don’t really ever suffer from tension headaches or even bad hormonal headaches.

So, recently, when I realised that I was constantly reaching for paracetamol to relieve an almost daily headache, I started to worry.

The headaches felt like something similar to when you’ve been at a music festival all day, you definitely haven’t consumed enough water to alcohol, and you can feel a dehydration/premature hangover headache coming on.

It’s barely there, but you can’t ignore it.

I knew they were nothing serious but they were frustrating as hell, because they’d make me feel tired and sluggish in a WFH environment that is already a little lacking in motivation.

So, I did a little research (yes, I know it’s bad to self-diagnose through Google, but I do it all the time so shh) and came to the conclusion that my headaches were due to the increased amount of time I was spending looking at blue light (laptop and phone) screens. This also explained why I hadn’t been sleeping very well, when I’m usually an excellent sleeper.

I started my first full-time job this year, which sees me on a computer for at least eight hours a day, five days a week — which is definitely more than ever before.

“Over long periods of time in front of the computer screen, blue light and reflections cause macular degeneration and eye fatigue,” Micah Leroy, Director of Black Clear, a leading blue light glasses brand, told POPSUGAR AU.

“This means that if you use a blue light filter lens, which is basically a shield that protects your eye from the blue light, you should feel less tired, experience fewer headaches and your eyes will feel less fatigued after long periods in front of a screen.”

You mean, a pair of cute glasses could fix my headaches? This was sounding pretty magic to me. Plus, I’ve always wanted to wear glasses — and release my inner sexy librarian — so I can’t pretend that I wasn’t a little bit excited at the prospect of a new look.

I’d heard a little about blue light glasses in the past few months. With the rise of WFH and remote working online, not to mention so much time spent on Zoom meetings, they’d been floating around in the back of my conscience for a while.

So, as per Micah’s advice, I decided to check them out for myself.

I ordered myself three pairs of cute blue light glasses from Caddis (scroll down for pics), and have been using them now for a couple of weeks.

I’m obsessed. I haven’t had a single headache since I started using them. Plus, I’ve been feeling much more sleepy as bedtime approaches, and haven’t once struggled to go to sleep.

They work so well — it’s almost too good to be true.

“The blue light filter is designed to give you better sleep patterns too,” Micah says.

“Say, if you are doing work on you computer, or looking at your tablet close to when you want to sleep, you may find that you have a restless sleep, or have trouble getting to sleep.

“Blue light tricks your brain into thinking it’s daylight and not time to sleep.”

I feel like we’ve always known this, but now that I can feel the difference, it seems insane that it’s taken me this long to do something about it and that I was just living with these debilitating headaches?!

It goes without saying, that if you struggle to get to sleep, work all day on a computer or even just suffer from tired-feeling eyes, I would highly recommend giving some blue light glasses a go.

“All Caddis lenses, feature our very own proprietary “frequency”  lens creation, that infuses the lens with the highest blue light blocking material available,” Micah explains, in telling us how Caddis differs from other brands.

“Our blue light filter is not a coating or film like most others in the market. Our filter is poured into the lens, which means you can’t scratch or rub away the filter.”

Caddis has worked for me — plus I love its range of bold, vintage and European-style frames — but there are other brands on the market that offer a cheaper product, which would be perfect if you just want to give blue light glasses a one-time go.

There are also other products you can add into the mix to enhance your blue light protection, and help balance the stress and anxiety that comes with working on a screen for many hours per day. Australian eyewear brand, Baxter Blue, has come out with three new products that compliment your healthy screen lifestyle: a blue light defence hydration mist, a digital de-stress roll on and a deep sleep pillow mist. All of these products, can take your use of blue light protection to the next level, not only protecting your eyes, but also your mental health and strength.

I’ve put together a round up of some of the best (and cutest) blue light glasses on the market right now, as well as these three new products from Baxter Blue, below.