Blue Light Blocking Glasses

Evening lighting protocols to maintain low cortisol

Detailed protocols for managing light exposure in the evening to prevent cortisol spikes, including dimming lights, using red/amber light sources, and avoiding short wavelength light from screens.

"And as you'll soon learn, not only does it open, but it's extra sensitive. Put differently, in the evening past sundown, so this will be different different times of year, different locations on Earth, but about two hours after sundown or so, any bright light from an artificial source, especially short wavelength light of the type that comes from LEDs and computer screens and phones, that sort of thing, can cause big increases in cortisol. And that, of course, provides a perfect segment."

Flicker-free, low-EMF bulbs with 3 circadian modes for home lighting

Block Blue Light bulbs offer three modes (day, evening, night) switched by flipping the switch, with zero flicker and ultra-low EMF.

"I am asked quite a bit what I light my home with. I use flicker-free low-EMF light. You can get these lights from a company called Block Blue Light. So they are 100% flicker-free. So there's no back."

Red lens glasses for sleep protection

Andrew explains wearing red lens glasses while recording late at night to filter out blue and green light wavelengths that suppress melatonin and disrupt sleep.

"And bright light, in particular, short wavelength bright light in the blue and green part of the spectrum, quashes melatonin and it makes it hard to sleep. And I want to sleep tonight. These red lens glasses filter out the green and blue short wavelengths that would otherwise disrupt my sleep."

Blue light blocking glasses for sleep

Brief discussion of blue light blocking glasses as part of a nighttime routine, noting they do not block all blue light but have some small beneficial effects on sleep preparation.

"So I'm always supplementing with EPA, DHA. I do two milligrams in the morning, two milligrams at night. There's so many benefits. You're not just feeding your brain, but you're also lowering inflammation. We know that inflammation, So, one of the utmost biggest protocols that we do with our athletes is you've got to be having EPA DHA. I would urge everybody out there to be looking at the scientific literature on that. Do you have any brands that you suggest particularly? Because I'm going to guess that there's some changes in the quality. Oh, yeah, I speak about that as well. Manufacturing right now is that it's a scary thing out there. You don't know sometimes what you're buying. You know, some of the some of the drugs that they're selling just at the supermarket, you know, you don't know what they're laced with. So, manufacturers matter. Now, the brand that I use is Thorn, T-H-O-R-N-E."

Origin story: how a teenager's blue-blocking glasses became a business

Luke recalls meeting Matt Maruca at 18, who pitched himself as a guest by explaining circadian biology clearly. Matt custom-tinted Luke's first pair of blue-blocking glasses, which launched what became his eyewear company Gilded.

"Oh man, these would be sick if they were blue blockers. And those ones that you made for me, I wore for years."

Good blue vs. bad blue: the 450nm cutoff that changes everything

Blue light below 450nm damages retinas and skin with no biological upside. Blue above 450nm regulates circadian rhythm but only benefits you during daytime. Indoor LED lighting blasts both, spiking cortisol when you're sedentary and lacking the protective near-infrared that sunlight provides.

"Well, it looks more and more like it's not sitting that's so bad, but it's sitting under artificial lights, which jack up our cortisol levels, make us more stressed when we're not actually using all that sugar. So just being under blue light, and Dr. Jack Cruz and others have spoken about this, increases blood sugar because it's increasing cortisol. That's good if you're out doing stuff. You need that if you're moving. But if you're sitting around, it's like pushing against a closed system."

5 problems with modern LEDs: no near-infrared, bad blue, flicker, poor spectrum

Modern indoor LEDs fail in 5 ways -- zero near-infrared (40% of sunlight), excess damaging short-wavelength blue, overstimulating hormonal blue, poor color rendering (CRI 80 vs 100 for sunlight), and constant flicker. Their new incandescent-replica LED bulb addresses all five issues.

"They're sort of the reference. Modern LEDs have accepted a CRI of 80 as good enough, as good enough. And that's why most people have a really serious issue with self-confidence because they see themselves constantly under these terrible LED lights, which make you look pale, sick. They're overhead, so the shadows on your face look terrible. If anybody's ever gone into a bathroom where they actually have a You see yourself as healthier and more alive."

Why all-red lighting isn't the answer: dim deep blue is actually calming

The biohacker instinct to go all-red at night is wrong -- monochrome red has no color rendering and can be stimulating at high intensity. Their LED bulb follows a blackbody curve with adjustable color temp from 2700K down to 1200K. Paradoxically, deep saturated blue at low intensity is calming because it mimics dusk.

"So, the only, this is just my theory. I don't know if you've ever thought of this yourself, but the only time in nature through our evolution, we ever would have been, had a light flicker on and off is if we were chasing game through a forest or running away from something trying to kill us. Think about like if you run on a trail, it's like it flickers. I mean, not like a shitty light bulb."

Red light filters and blue light avoidance at night

Paul Saladino describes his nighttime routine of using red light bulbs and filters on devices after dark, avoiding all blue light in the house, and using a grounding mat connected to an actual ground stake.

"I have red light filters on the devices. I use red lights in my house. So I have incandescent red bulbs or zero flicker red bulbs."

UVB light to skin boosts testosterone and estrogen via a pathway parallel to melatonin

Beyond the melatonin suppression pathway, a second parallel pathway uses UVB light on skin to directly increase gonadal hormone output, boosting.

"Okay, so if melatonin is suppressive to the so-called gonadal axis and reduces overall levels of testosterone and estrogen in males and females, and light inhibits melatonin, then when there's more light, then there's less melatonin and more hormone output from the gonads. And indeed, that's how the system works."

UVB light via eyes and skin both reduce pain through parallel biological pathways

Recent research shows light arriving at the eyes, specifically UVB, triggers pain-relieving pathways alongside the known skin-mediated pathway.

"This very recent study indicates that it's also light arriving at the eyes. And in this case, again, UVB light, ultraviolet blue light of the sort that comes from sunlight that is triggering these anti-pain or pain relieving pathways."

Circadian-friendly bulbs with 3 modes: day, twilight, and sleep

Block Blue Light bio bulbs switch between day, evening, and night modes by toggling the switch, supporting natural circadian rhythms.

"So I've got circadian-friendly lighting throughout my entire house, and I don't have to change out the bulbs for different areas of the house because their bio light actually has three different modes, day, evening, and light."