Even though researchers have established that exposure to the blue light given off by electronic devices at night can be harmful to your health and make it more difficult to get a quality night’s rest, some of us just can’t seem to fall asleep without watching television.
With that in mind, the folks at Saffron have come up with a new device that connects to a TV set and slowly adjusts the color of the display to remove as much as 50 percent of blue light over the span of an hour. The transition, the company claims, is “seamless and virtually unnoticeable.”
The device is known as the Drift TV box, and as Gizmodo explains, it connects between the TV and either an HDMI switch or an AV receiver. Users schedule their desired bedtimes, and up to 60 minutes before hand, the box begins removing blue spectrum light from the screen. Wake-up times can also be specified, at which time the entire color spectrum will be reinstated.
Saffron, who hopes to have the Drift TV box available in time for Christmas, said that the device supports TVs up to 4k in resolution, can remove up to 100 percent of blue light emissions (in 10 percent intervals), and works with universal remotes. The initial production run will be limited to just 150 devices, each of which will cost $99, according to Gizmodo.
So why would I even need something like this?
A Harvard Health Publication updated earlier this fall reported that exposure to light during the nighttime throws off the body’s circadian rhythm, and that this disruption to our internal clocks could not only impact sleep quality, but cause cancer, diabetes, and heart disease as well.
In particular, the researchers found that blue wavelengths were the most disruptive to a person’s system after sundown, and while they admitted that they were not certain exactly why late night exposure to blue light was so bad for us, they said that it is known to suppress production of the hormone melatonin. Harvard research also found that changes to circadian rhythms resulted in an increase in blood sugar levels and a decrease in leptin levels in study participants.
A UK study published in the journal Frontiers in Public Health also found a link between light-emitting device exposure prior to bed and reduced melatonin production. In that paper, the study authors recommended that all electronic gadgets should come with a special, built-in mode that removes blue light during late-night hours—a recommendation echoed by experts at the National Sleep Foundation.
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Feature Image: Drift
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