Blue Light May Cause Memory Weakness in Children

Noting that blue light, whose effects on sleep are debated, is necessary for health, but the body clock is disrupted when exposed to blue light at night, Yeditepe UniversityKosuyolu Hospital Neurology specialist said that especially children of developmental age should not be exposed to blue light at night.

Blue light, which has been talked about a lot lately, is perceived as a harmful light. The most important point is the exposure time and time. The part of blue light that comes from the sun and we see during the day is very necessary for us to live healthily and sleep healthily. Our neurologist also added: “The problem is not that blue light is blue, but that we are exposed to blue light at night. We should not be exposed to light at night, normally, or the light we are exposed to should be in softer, yellow tones, but still, the duration of this should not be too long. When we are exposed to blue light at night, our body clock is also known as circadian rhythm, and sleep balance is disrupted. Melatonin hormone confusions start to occur, not being synthesized. This affects both the quality, duration, and depth of our sleep.”

Poor Quality and Inadequate Sleep Affects All Body Systems

Noting that sleep disorders can also cause many health problems, our expert continued: “All of our body's systems are regulated in sleep. Therefore, when you do not sleep enough, there is a discrepancy between the body systems. This situation can trigger many problems ranging from hormonal problems, blood pressure, sugar, gastrointestinal diseases, and joint, muscle, and vascular disorders. Therefore, quality and adequate sleep are very important.”

It Can Cause Permanent Memory Impairment in Children

Pointing out the importance of memory strengthening and memory building for education, especially in children of developmental age, Assoc. Prof. Dr. Örmeci explained that children exposed to blue light at night may also have sleep problems and accompanying memory problems.

“One fact we know very clearly is that memory enhancement and memory take place in sleep. In other words, the information that the child learns all day is permanently synthesized and placed in the brain during sleep. When exposed to blue light at night, children, like adults, will lose sleep. No child who cannot sleep well will be able to permanently implant the information s/e receives in his brain during the day, no matter how hard s/he works. In the long run, the biggest difference between a child who grows up exposed to blue light and a child who grows up without being exposed to blue light occurs in memory. Children exposed to blue light have poor memory.”

Underlining that the memory disorders brought by sleep disorders are permanent, our expert continued as follows: “It is aimed that the knowledge learned especially in primary and secondary education is permanent. Each year begins with a repeat of the previous year. The basic information we acquire needs to be permanently embedded in our brains. However, when sleep is not regular and sufficient, this permanence is not possible. Hence it becomes difficult for these children to learn anything, get a profession, and cope with stress. Because if you do not have the infrastructure, you do not have confidence, if you do not have confidence, you will have difficulty and anxiety in the face of any stress.”

Exposure Time is Significant

Stating that short-term exposure to blue light will not immediately disrupt sleep, our expert also added: “The brain has a feature we call plasticity, it adapts itself to a certain extent, but there is a limit to this, the limit of adaptation. Although there are no exact results, we can say 20-25 minutes for direct and uninterrupted exposure. At the end of this period, it should be rested both physically and in terms of eyes. To get out of the effect of blue light, it may be enough to look at softer yellow lights, away from blue light for at least 2-3 minutes, or to temporarily close and rest the eye. This cycle should be repeated no more than three times. After that, we need to give it at least an hour or even leave it if possible. Because the bluer light you get at night, the more your sleep will be disturbed, and that is not something that can be corrected with sleeping pills or anything else.”

What Should Be Done For Prevention?

Our neurologist stated that among the general problems of mobile phone and tablet use, it causes immobility as well as posture disorders such as neck and waist flattening and prevents children from socializing. On top of all this, when it disrupts sleep due to blue light, it is already completely harmful. However, due to our age, we have to accept some things, we do not have a chance to ban them, and the life of the next generation will go this way. But at least we can optimize, edit, limit times, and filter out blue light. We need to go in harmony by taking as many precautions as we can, or it is not possible to remove the tablets from our lives anymore.”