Journal
JOURNAL OF PSYCHIATRIC RESEARCH
Volume 96, Issue -, Pages 196-202Publisher
PERGAMON-ELSEVIER SCIENCE LTD
DOI: 10.1016/j.jpsychires.2017.10.015
Keywords
Sleep; Insomnia; Blue blocker; Behavioral intervention; Actigraphy; Randomized controlled trial
Categories
Funding
- Focused-Project Award from the American Sleep Medicine Foundation, a foundation of the American Academy of Sleep Medicine [144-FP-16]
- National Center for Advancing Translational Sciences, National Institutes of Health [UL1TR001873]
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The use of light-emitting electronic devices before bedtime may contribute to or exacerbate sleep problems. Exposure to blue-wavelength light in particular from these devices may affect sleep by suppressing melatonin and causing neurophysiologic arousal. We aimed to determine if wearing amber-tinted blue light-blocking lenses before bedtime improves sleep in individuals with insomnia. Fourteen individuals (n = 8 females; age +/- SD 46.6 +/- 11.5 y) with insomnia symptoms wore blue light-blocking amber lenses or clear placebo lenses in lightweight wraparound frames for 2 h immediately preceding bedtime for 7 consecutive nights in a randomized crossover trial (4-wk washout). Ambulatory sleep measures included the Pittsburgh Insomnia Rating Scale (PIRS) completed at the end of each intervention period, and daily post-sleep questionnaire and wrist-actigraphy. PIRS total scores, and Quality of Life, Distress, and Sleep Parameter subscales, were improved in amber vs. clear lenses condition (p-values < 0.05). Reported wake-time was significantly delayed, and mean subjective total sleep time (TST), overall quality, and soundness of sleep were significantly higher (p-values < 0.05) in amber vs. clear lenses condition over the 7-d intervention period. Actigraphic measures of TST only were significantly higher in amber vs. clear lenses condition (p = 0.035). Wearing amber vs. clear lenses for 2-h preceding bedtime for 1 week improved sleep in individuals with insomnia symptoms. These findings have health relevance given the broad use of light-emitting devices before bedtime and prevalence of insomnia. Amber lenses represent a safe, affordable, and easily implemented therapeutic intervention for insomnia symptoms.
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