Show #323 – How The Light Spectrum Affects Us For Better Or Worse, With Daniel Ebbett

LISTEN TO THIS WEEK’S SHOW ON iTUNES, STITCHER OR SPOTIFY OR LISTEN RIGHT HERE:

New music for the show, by LIOR.

We have a new tune for our show to welcome the new year! An old friend of mine from uni happens to be one of Australia’s finest artists, Lior, and as I love supporting local artists and it’s been brilliant having Melanie Horsnell’s music on the show the past couple of years, for 2023/24 it will be Lior. You will hear excerpts from his track “Caught Up”  – go check it out on iTunes or Spotify if you want to hear the whole song or album, Scattered Reflections. Co-written with Cameron Deyell, it’s a great song and I love the reflective energy of it – perfect for the show, right? Enjoy. Lior is always touring, so do check out his website. It is wonderful to hear him sing live, trust me.

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And on this week’s show!

We often hear sound bites about blue light exposure as being ‘bad’ or see influencers wearing orange glasses on Instagram lives, but if you really, really wanted to understand the light spectrum, what’s useful, harmful and helpful then you want to meet Daniel Ebbett.  We talk: 

  • The light spectrum and its impact on our health – for better or worse.
  • What common health conditions might have a light-related root cause.
  • What neurotransmitters are affected by light – one of them being implicated in depression?
  • How Daniel managed to convince his old boss to replace their office lighting for employee wellbeing and what the results were. 
  • Technology and the stress placed on our system
  • Whether the apps we can use to dim blue light actually work
  • Why dimmable lights are bad news
  • How to hack your blue light in the evenings to ensure you reduce it dramatically and protect your natural circadian rhythms
  • What our biggest light source is in the evenings – and it isn’t your devices! 
  • What the most impactful changes we can make to our homes and devices are?
  • How the rest of the natural world is impacted by excess blue light.
  • How travelling can be hacked to ensure you’re not messing up all your good work at home. 
  • How Daniel, as someone who knows everything there is to know about light, sets up his home – living/bedroom/outside and devices (and he’s measured the set-up with a $4000 spectrometer to ensure it’s optimised – so that we don’t have to)

Questions I asked Daniel

  • What got you curious about the challenge blue light was posing in our modern world? 
  • What helped you convince your workplace that changing the lighting would help the tea feel good and be productive? 
  • What is happening at the physiological level when we’re exposed to blue light in excess/at times that don’t work with the body’s natural rhythms? (hormones, sleep, etc)
  • With melatonin – we know it ‘affects production’ but do we know by how much and depending on what amount of exposure or is it bioindividual? 
  • Let’s take a look at all the ways we’re exposed in any given day, say especially living in a city environment.
  • Before we go down a black-and-white thinking path of “blue light bad/blocking all blue light good” – there are obviously huge benefits to blue light for us as well – what are they and at what point does blue light become a negative?  (difference between good and toxic blue light)
  • Can we talk about the light spectrum from blue to red and the various shades between? 
  • When thinking about our screens and lighting we think they’re just ‘on and constant’ but they’re not. Can you talk us through what we’re not conscious of? (Invisible Flicker — Flickering on our screens and lighting and how it affects us)
  • And so those apps and phone covers that supposedly block the blue light – yay or nay? 
  • Have you ever done any experiments to test your blue light-blocking health improvements? How quickly did you notice things in your life change health/habit/rhythm-wise? 
  • Can you take us through your light habits/blue blocking at home?

About Daniel Ebbett

Daniel is the founder and CEO of premier global brand for blue and artificial light-blocking products. He promotes and educates the science behind modern phenomena such as digital eye strain and poor sleep, and the connection these have with screen overuse. Through his innovative product range, he champions eye health, sleep quality, and well-being.

He originally created his business, BlockBlueLight, as a result of a need to fix his own health issues, suffering from chronic insomnia, as well as eye strain and migraines, Daniel’s overall health and well-being were declining. He had no idea why. There were many frustrating and failed attempts to try and fix his health issues.

Deciding to do his own research, he stumbled across how light (specifically, blue light) impacts circadian rhythms by suppressing melatonin secretion, which in turn can cause sleep issues. He also discovered how chronic exposure to artificial light during the day could also cause eye strain, migraines, and even lead to permanent eye damage.

Daniel’s company has now become recognized as one of the most trusted international brands and leaders in blocking blue light technology. BlockBlueLight is passionate about what they do and delight in helping people live healthier lives. Their aim is to make mitigating blue light a mainstream concern and give people tools and knowledge to be able to be their best selves in today’s digital age.

Websites: http://bit.ly/block_blue_light 

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/BlockBlueLightOfficial 

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/blockbluelight_official/

Helpful articles mentioned in the show are here and here


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Enjoy the show,

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