Harm from blue light exposure increases with age, research suggests

Medical Xpress / Oregon State University / ^ | July 27, 2022 | Steve Lundeberg / Song, Y. et al

[ConservativeMind]

The damaging effects of daily, lifelong exposure to the blue light emanating from phones, computers and household fixtures worsen as a person ages, new research suggests.

Jaga Giebultowicz examined the survival rate of flies kept in darkness and then moved at progressively older ages to an environment of constant blue light from light-emitting diodes, or LEDs.

The darkness-to-light transitions study involved blue light's effect on mitochondria.

Mitochondria act as a cell's power plant.

In earlier research, Giebultowicz showed that prolonged exposure to blue light affected flies' longevity, regardless of whether it shined in their eyes.

"The novel aspect of this new study is showing that chronic exposure to blue light can impair energy-producing pathways even in cells that are not specialized in sensing light," Giebultowicz said. "We determined that specific reactions in mitochondria were dramatically reduced by blue light, while other reactions were decreased by age independent of blue light. You can think of it as blue light exposure adding insult to injury in aging flies."

There is evidence suggesting that increased exposure to artificial light is a risk factor for sleep and circadian disorders, Giebultowicz said.

"Our previous work demonstrated that daily lifelong exposure to blue light, but not other visible wavelengths, has damaging effects on the brain, motor abilities and lifespan of the model organism," Giebultowicz said. "Now we're reporting that the damaging effects of blue light on the flies are strongly age dependent—the same length of exposure to the same intensity of light decreases lifespan and increases neurodegeneration more significantly in old flies than in young ones."

The flies exposed to blue light showed damage to their retinal cells and brain neurons and had impaired locomotion—the flies' ability to climb the walls of their enclosures, a common behavior, was diminished.

[buridan]

Warm white LEDs, with a color temperature of 2700K or lower, emit less blue light and are more like incandescents in their color spectrum.

[bunkerhill7]

I eat currants every day.
My eyes are blue so it dont really matter nohow.

[steve86]

“lutein and zeaxanthin and N-acetyl-cysteine”

I happen to take all three but am skeptical of any substantial effect of blue light on human non-flies.

[antidemoncrat]

Obviously a $tudy. And the result of most $tudie$. More $tudie$ needed.

[Born to Conserve]

An egg and a handful of dirt a day, you’ll live to be a hundred.

[higgmeister]

The damaging effects of daily, lifelong exposure to the blue light emanating from phones, computers and household fixtures worsen as a person ages, new research suggests.

Idiots can suggest anything they want I suppose.

[minnesota_bound]

Our sky is blue so no getting away from blue light : )