Life sans phone is hard to imagine. Most of the important tasks are done through phones. Though they make your life easier, they bring in some drawbacks as well.

You must have heard that blue light exposure could be detrimental to your health. But a recent study has revealed that it may speed up the ageing process. Increasing the speed at which you age is not just meant to cause wrinkles but to cause a bad impact on your overall health, including your memory.

A study conducted by using fruit to test the effect of blue light revealed that it could impact basic cellular function. It does not just get emitted from smartphones but from other devices, too, including TV, laptops, and desktops. Blue light can affect a wide range of cells, from skin cells to sensory neurons.

How the study reached the conclusion

When fruit flies were exposed to blue light, it was found that specific metabolites, chemicals essential for cells to function properly, got altered. The study suggests that restricting yourself from exposure to blue light could be the best anti-ageing medication.

In the experiment, fruit flies were classified into two groups, one kept in constant darkness and the other exposed to blue light. The latter were found to have activated their stress-protective genes, while the former were found to live longer.

Researchers compared the levels of metabolites in flies exposed to blue light to those kept in complete darkness to understand how it was responsible for accelerating the speed of ageing. Metabolites are chemicals released when your body metabolises things you supply to it, including drugs, food, etc.

• Impact on the level of metabolites

The study discovered that blue light exposure disturbed the levels of metabolites in the cells of fly heads. Metabolite succinate increased in particular.

However, glutamate lowered known as a neurotransmitter that transfers messages between nerve cells.

Glutamate ensures the ability of quick learning and allows chemical messages to be sent without a pause between nerve cells.

High levels of succinate are also alarming because they are found in highly inflammatory conditions in the body.

The results from the study revealed that cells do not function properly after exposure to blue light and die prematurely. This could lead to accelerated ageing, especially if you are exposed to the screen for a long time.

• More study is to be done

The study has clearly indicated that blue light can affect the life of cells and cause early ageing. But researchers believe that this may not serve as the perfect base for concluding its same effect on human cells.

Further research is to be done. Another reason for not treating it like a perfect comparison is that fairly strong blue light was used in the experiment. However, human beings are exposed to less intense light, so less dramatic damage could be seen.

How can you reduce the exposure to blue light?

Reducing exposure to blue light does not mean that you will throw your cell phone away. Of course, you would not like to throw it away because it has some benefits too. Researchers do not expect you to throw away your cell phone to cut off the exposure to the blue light. Here is how you can do it:

• Cut back on your screen time

Cutting back on screen time completely is not feasible, so no researchers would suggest doing so. However, you can try to reduce the total time spent on screen. For instance, you can try immediately checking your messages on phone when you get up.

What is priority in the morning is getting ready for the office. Make sure you tend to focus on getting ready, which is more important that checking your messages that you can do while travelling or having breakfast.

Most of the people are addicted to using mobile phones during the bedtime, one of the prominent reasons for having insomnia. If you are also suffering from the same problem, you should try to have at least a night free of mobile phones.

Try to stay away from using mobile phones on weekends. Instead of indulging yourself in the screen, you should sit together with your children and play board games or go out with them. If you have a hobby like cooking, you can pursue your interests to keep yourself busy, away from the screen.

• Take advantage of the settings

Nowadays, smartphones come with an option to block some of the blue light emitted by your screen. You can change the settings under the Brightness section regardless of the type of phone you are using. In other words, it is called night mode.

However, you still need to be cautious of the blue light you are exposed to. It is suggested that you use eyeglasses with amber lenses as they help block some blue light from hitting your eyes. They are not expensive. You can easily get them online. However, if you are confused while picking the right one, you should consider buying the one from the store. If you do not have enough money to pay for a pair of glasses, you can take out an installment loan for bad credit from direct lender.

As you will be paying off the debt in fixed instalments, you can easily manage to repay the debt. Further, your credit score will likely improve if you pay down all instalments on time.

• Eliminate blue light in your bedroom

If you read on your phone before going to sleep, you should get rid of this habit. It is not unusual to see people using their tabs and phones for reading. This is not just good for your eyes and brain, but it will also cause poor sleeping problems.

If you are fond of reading, replace phones with books. In fact, it will cause your brain to boost mood and serotonin hormone to help nod you off. Staying away from blue light during bedtime will improve your overall health conditions. If you use a lamp or bulb in your room that emits blue light, you should replace it with white or yellow light. This is the best way to stay away from the blue light as much as possible.

The final word

Blue light undoubtedly has a detrimental effect on your overall health. Many people assume that it speeds up the ageing process, which means it will make you look aged more quickly, but the fact is that it affects your overall health, including your memory.

Researchers have proved that blue light can increase the metabolism succinate levels and decline the level of glutamate. Since the study has been done on food flies, the impact of blue light on human cells has not yet been cleared. More research will be done to prove its impact on humans.