Not too sure what the hell blue light even is? In a nutshell, it’s one of the colours that combine to form the white light all around us. It’s a high energy short wave - meaning that we’re quite susceptible to it. And in many ways, that’s great; blue light has been shown to have lots of benefits for us humans, keeping us alert and focused during the day, even improving our mood. So what’s the issue? Well, the screen you’re reading this (excellent) article on is one of the many devices that give off artificial blue light. Your smartphone, laptop, TV and tablet are other culprits. And if you tot up the time spent on them over the course of 24 hours (not forgetting the ‘quick’ scroll through Facebook in bed), you’ll start to understand how this might be a problem.

A group of Harvard Medical School researchers at Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center were curious about the relationship between blue light and headaches, so they conducted a study on 69 migraine sufferers. Exposing them to different colours of light, the subjects were asked if their pounding heads got any better or worse. (We hope they were paid handsomely for their time). Unsurprisingly, blue light exacerbated their pain, with researchers concluding that - along with red light - it generates large signals in both the retina and the cortex.

Another fairly nasty potential effect of blue light is what’s called macular degeneration. This is something that usually occurs in older people, as the photoreceptor cells in their retina start to naturally die off. But a study by the University of Toleda has suggested that blue light exposure could trigger the condition in much younger subjects. The research team found that blue light causes retinal in the eye to trigger reactions generating poisonous chemical molecules. In short, the eye begins to attack itself. “It’s no secret that blue light harms our vision by damaging the eye’s retina,” says Dr. Ajith Karunarathne, Assistant Professor in the University’s Department of Chemistry and Biochemistry. “Our experiments explain how this happens, and we hope this leads to therapies that slow macular degeneration.”

It’s certainly one way to tackle the issue. But if you’re concerned at the amount of artificial blue light you’re exposed to (and don’t want to give up the precious midnight scroll), blue light eliminating glasses are a great way to reduce the effects. Check out the great range of Ambr frames here, and see how cute you look in them with our virtual mirror.