Sliced Bread - Series 3: Blue Light Filtering Glasses

According to some businesses, the laptop, phone and TV screens we use every day are causing us big problems. They claim these devices emit concentrations of "harmful blue light" which leaves us with tired eyes and poor sleep. One firm goes even further by suggesting this may contribute to a worrying long term condition, macular degeneration which leaves you with a permanent black hole in the centre of your vision. Their solution? A pair of trendy looking spectacles which claim to filter out this blue light. Listener, Sophie spends roughly 12 hours a day at a screen of some sort. She bought a pair but isn't sure if they work. So she's asked Greg to look into them and find out. We get answers from two leading lights in the science of our eyes. Professor John O'Hagan has been a public health scientist for 46 years and is Visiting Professor in Laser and Optical Radiation Safety at Loughborough University. Greg also meets sleep expert Russell Foster, professor of Circadian Neuroscience at the University of Oxford who's been researching body clocks for 38 years. We put the evidence directly to Dhruvin Patel. He's the boss of one of the largest blue light filtering brands, Ocushield which turned over £2m last year. How does he respond? And will Sophie keep using her trendy specs? This series, we’re testing your suggested wonder-products. Seen an ad, trend or fad and wonder if there's any evidence to back up the claim? Tell us! Drop us an line to [email protected] . Presenter: Greg Foot Producer: Julian Paszkiewicz