How to filter out blue light for a good night’s sleep?
Blue light
The bright display of your computer or mobile device emits a lot of light which may have an adverse effect on your body clock. Under the effect of this “blue light” our body creates less melatonin, the hormone which helps us to fall asleep. This means that if you’re sitting in front of your computer display for too long in the evenings you may start suffering from a sleeping disorder.
Red light
The solution is to have the colour of your display become more red automatically so that the blue light is filtered out.
In Windows 10
If you’ve updated Windows 10 to the Creators Update you will find the System ; Display ; Night Light option in the Settings (Windows button + i). You can activate this option here and indicate in Night Light Settings that the “warmer” colours should remain active from Sunset to Sunrise (in which case you will have to enable the location services), or between specific hours (Set Hours - by default between 9.00pm and 7.00am).
The f.lux tool
The free f.lux program ( https://justgetflux.com ) does the same thing. Firstly you will need to indicate your location. F.lux will now automatically adjust the colours of your computer display depending on the time of the day.
However, f.lux can do much more than that. For instance, you can activate a Backwards Alarm Clock in the Options (opened by right-clicking). After you’ve set your Earliest Wake Time (the time when you normally wake), you will be reminded of how many hours of sleep you have left.
F.lux is not only designed to protect your sleep, it also aims to reduce eye fatigue during the day. In the Settings (right-click), you can select the Reduce Eyestrain lighting scheme instead of the Working Late scheme which you normally use in the evening. F.lux will now adjust the brightness of the display to the time of the day when you’re at work.
On your mobile device
The possibility to filter blue light automatically is available on your mobile device too. Since iOS 9.3, you can use the night mode (Night Shift) on the iPhone and iPad (via Settings , Display & Brightness , Night Shift ). You can choose to have this option activated automatically from sunset to sunrise, or you can schedule this period manually. Note that this feature doesn’t work on all iOS devices yet: if the option isn’t visible on your device, bad luck...
Android has had a similar night mode since Android 7.0 (or higher). Samsung calls this the Blue Light Filter , Huawei Eye Comfort . This option is available in the Settings , typically in the Display section, where you can either activate it from sunset to sunrise or schedule it manually. You can typically activate this function via the Quick Settings drop-down menu.
Tip. If you’re running an older version you can install the separate Twilight app, which is comparable to f.lux.
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