Nowadays, imagining ourselves without looking at the mobile or laptop seems impossible, but scientists have discovered that being in front of the screens for a long time affects our aging process. And considerably.
Continuous and prolonged exposure to blue light, emanating from these devicesit can affect longevity or speed up the aging process.The study, developed by experts from Oregon State University (USA) and published in the journalAging and Mechanisms of Disease, suggests that the blue wavelengths produced by light-emitting diodes damage brain cells and the retina.
The researchers, led by biological clock expert Jaga Giebultowicz, conducted an experiment with an organism widely used in science,Drosophila melanogaster,the fruit fly,an important model organism due to the cellular and developmental mechanisms it shares with other animals and humans.The experiment examined how fruit flies responded to 12-hour daily exposures of blue LED light, similar to the blue wavelength of phones and tablets, and found that the light accelerated aging.
Flies subjected to daily cycles of 12 hours in the light and 12 hours in the dark had shorter livescompared to flies kept in total darkness or those in light with filtered blue wavelengths.Flies exposed to blue light showed damage to cells in the retina and brain neurons and had impaired locomotion.
No need to look directly at the screen
They also repeated the experiment with eyeless flies, and even these showed brain damage and locomotion problems, suggesting that you didn’t need to see light for damage to occur.
“The fact that light accelerated aging in flies surprised us at first,” said Giebultowicz. “We had measured the expression of some genes in old flies, and we found that protective stress response genes were expressed if the flies were kept in the light. We presumed that the light regulated those genes. Then we started to wonder what was in the light. it was harmful to them, and we looked at the spectrum of light. It was very clear that although light without blue slightly shortened their lifespan, only blue light only shortened their lifespan very dramatically. “
Natural light, according to the authors, is crucial for the body’s circadian rhythm : for brain wave activity, hormone production or cell regeneration that are crucial factors in eating and sleeping patterns.
“But there is evidence to suggest that increased exposure to artificial light is a risk factor for sleep and circadian disorders. And with the frequent use of LED lighting and device displays, humans are subjected to increasing amounts of light in the blue spectrum as commonly used LEDs emit a high fraction of blue light. But this technology, LED lighting, even in most developed countries, has not been used enough to know its effects throughout human life, “says Giebultowic.
To protect ourselves from this light, the researchers suggest wearing glasses with amber lenses and configuring cell phones, laptops, computers and other devices to block blue emissions.
“In the future, there may be phones that automatically adjust the screen based on the duration of use perceived by the phone,” clarified Trevor Nash, co-author of the work. “That kind of phone could be difficult to make, but it would probably have a huge impact on health.”
If you have no choice but to spend many hours in front of the computer or a screen in general, it is advisable to use artificial tears daily.
Referencia: Trevor R. Nash, Eileen S. Chow, Alexander D. Law, Samuel D. Fu, Elzbieta Fuszara, Aleksandra Bilska, Piotr Bebas, Doris Kretzschmar & Jadwiga M. Giebultowicz. Daily blue-light exposure shortens lifespan and causes brain neurodegeneration in Drosophila. npj Aging and Mechanisms of Disease, 2019 DOI: 10.1038/s41514-019-0038-6
