Why I no longer wear sunglasses

I have been told to cover up, wear sunscreen and wear sunglasses my whole life. Not just by my mother, but the media and health journals as well. How could that be? How could something humans have always coexisted with be our enemy? Well, rumors turned out to be false. Plenty of studies show that appropriate sun exposure is essentially a powerful multivitamin. I won’t get into the entire litany of the sun’s benefits in this post. I’ll simply stick to how sunlight exposure to our eyes contributes to our health.

Getting a little sun in your eyes is associated with lower risk of nearsightedness. That’s right, kids that spend more time outside are less likely to need glasses. 

Sunlight exposure combines with melanin in the skin which gives you a nice tan, but did you know you had melanin in your eyes? It’s referred to as ocular melanin. It’s the natural way your body protects itself from harmful light radiation. It also stimulates the production of melanin, which is important for a healthy metabolism.

Sunshine also helps you regulate your circadian rhythm. A helpful tip for people who have a difficult time falling asleep is to expose your eyes to indirect morning sunlight for around 10 minutes. It can increase your natural levels of melatonin, the neurotransmitter that helps you sleep.

So while I no longer wear sunglasses to protect myself from the sun (side note: I would still where them while riding my vespa, snowboarding, being on a boat in the water all day and things like that), I do wear protective glasses while on the computer or when I’ll be exposed to an excess of light pollution, like while being in a airport. I’m currently wearing blue light filtering glasses as I’m typing this. While optic melanin protects you from damaging UV radiation, it doesn’t filter out the distributive high energy light from your screens. 

So you can think of healthy light exposure like you think of healthy food. If it’s made naturally, it’s more likely good for you, while if it’s artificial, it’s more likely harmful.