Blue Blocker Glasses as a Countermeasure for Alerting Effects of Evening Light-Emitting Diode Screen Exposure in Male Teenagers

doi:10.1016/j.jadohealth.2014.08.002

Journal of Adolescent Health

Volume 56, Issue 1, January 2015, Pages 113-119

https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jadohealth.2014.08.002 Get rights and content

Abstract

Purpose

Adolescents prefer sleep and wake times that are considerably delayed compared with younger children or adults. Concomitantly, multimedia use in the evening is prevalent among teenagers and involves light exposure, particularly in the blue-wavelength range to which the biological clock and its associated arousal promotion system is the most sensitive. We investigated whether the use of blue light–blocking glasses (BB) during the evening, while sitting in front of a light-emitting diode (LED) computer screen, favors sleep initiating mechanisms at the subjective, cognitive, and physiological level.

Methods

The ambulatory part of the study comprised 2 weeks during which the sleep–wake cycle, evening light exposure, and multimedia screen use were monitored in thirteen 15- to 17-year-old healthy male volunteers. BB or clear lenses as control glasses were worn in a counterbalanced crossover design for 1 week each, during the evening hours while using LED screens. Afterward, participants entered the laboratory and underwent an evening blue light–enriched LED screen exposure during which they wore the same glasses as during the preceding week. Salivary melatonin, subjective sleepiness, and vigilant attention were regularly assayed, and subsequent sleep was recorded by polysomnography.

Results

Compared with clear lenses, BB significantly attenuated LED-induced melatonin suppression in the evening and decreased vigilant attention and subjective alertness before bedtime. Visually scored sleep stages and behavioral measures collected the morning after were not modified.

Conclusions

BB glasses may be useful in adolescents as a countermeasure for alerting effects induced by light exposure through LED screens and therefore potentially impede the negative effects modern lighting imposes on circadian physiology in the evening.

Section snippets

Study participants

Healthy, male, high-school students between 15 and 17 years old were recruited for the study in the Basel (Switzerland) area through oral presentations in schools, Web postings, and advertisements. Potential participants underwent a screening survey about their general health, sleep, and well-being (see Supplementary Data). Thirteen study volunteers (mean ± standard deviation, 16.46 ± .66 years old) were finally included in the study. Supplementary Table 1 summarizes their screening survey data.

Ambulatory actimetry

Twenty-four–hour activity profiles preceding the laboratory nights were not significantly different between the BB and CL conditions (n = 13; F(1,564) = .54; p = .463), but an expected significant difference for the factor “time of day” (F(23,564) = 34.23; p < .001) was found, and there was no significant interaction “glasses × time of day” (F(23,564) = .45; p = .988). Moreover, none of the actimetry-derived sleep parameters showed significant differences between the BB and CL conditions;

Discussion

Our data show that BB glasses can decrease LED screen–induced melatonin suppression and modulate subjective sleepiness and vigilance attention levels in the late evening hours in a sample of male adolescents. Compared with the control condition (CL glasses), our participants felt significantly more sleepy and less vigilant during the BB condition, although subsequent all-night sleep stage characteristics were not significantly altered. BB application can thus attenuate light-induced activating

Acknowledgments

The authors thank Claudia Renz and Bühlmann Laboratories, Allschwil, Switzerland, for the melatonin assays, the volunteers for participating, and Alessia Ruf for helping to conduct the study. Many thanks to Dr. Alexandre Sasseville, Chron-optic Quebec, Canada, for providing the clear lenses control glasses, Dr. Oliver Stefani, Fraunhofer IAO/University Stuttgart IAT, Stuttgart, Germany, for providing the in-laboratory light-emitting diode screens, and the Jacobs Foundation for financial support.

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: Conflicts of Interest: The authors declare no conflict of interest.

¹: These authors contributed equally to the work.

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Original articleBlue Blocker Glasses as a Countermeasure for Alerting Effects of Evening Light-Emitting Diode Screen Exposure in Male Teenagers

Abstract

Purpose

Methods

Results

Conclusions

Section snippets

Study participants

Ambulatory actimetry

Discussion

Acknowledgments

Pediatr Clin North Am

J Adolesc

Curr Biol

J Adolesc Health

Sleep Med

Sleep Med Rev

Appl Ergon

Trends Cogn Sci

Prevalence of delayed sleep phase syndrome among adolescents

Sleep Res

Homeostatic sleep regulation in adolescents

Sleep