Blue Light From Your Phone, Laptop Screen Is Making You Old Faster Even If You Don't See it
The research was conducted at Oregon State University (published in Ageing and Mechanisms of Disease). For this study, they used the common fruit fly as it shares similar cellular and developmental mechanisms as humans and other animals.
The researchers examined how these flies respond to daily 12-hour exposures to blue LED light (which is similar to what our phone screens emit) and discovered that the light was ageing the flies faster than the usual.
The flies were subjected to 12 hours in blue light and 12 hours in complete darkness. They discovered that these flies have shorter lifespan compared to flies kept in just total darkness or in light with the blue light filtered out.
The flies which were affected with the blue light revealed considerable damage to their retinal cells. Moreover their brain neurons had impaired locomotion, basically, the flies' ability to climb walls was also reduced.
However, what's worse is the fact that some of the flies in these experiments were mutants without any eyes or vision. Even they faced similar results, hinting at the fact that one doesn't not see the blue light to get harmed by it.
According to Giebultowicz, a professor of integrative biology, natural light is crucial for body's circadian rhythm, (which is basically our body's natural schedule pertaining to cell regeneration, hormone production) that is usually impacted with eating and sleeping patterns.