Life Through Rose-Tinted Glasses (Literally)
My friends think I live in the dark. Candles, a Himalayan salt lamp glowing amber, and never the big light. I'm also the one in sunglasses when no one else is - and I've always preferred autumn and winter to blazing summer sunshine.
As someone with dyslexia, diagnosed just a few years ago when I began my Master's degree, it has meant that I occasionally have specialist optician's appointments. At my most recent, we tested lens colours one by one, and the one that made reading off white paper so much easier was… rose. So yes, I now see a portion of my life through rose-tinted glasses.
But this outcome made me reflect on my life and behaviours, and I suddenly realised my preference for low light was never fussiness. It was strain, and strain is a stressor.
So I went down a rabbit hole, wanting to understand light better, both for my professional work and my personal experience. What is our modern light environment doing to our eyes? Why are so many of us living with dry, tired eyes? And what might red and amber light offer our eyes, our body clocks, and potentially much more?
Our modern light diet
We talk a lot about what we eat, but rarely about what we see all day.
For most of human history, daylight was full-spectrum and evenings were lit by fire. Today, many of us move from phone screens to LED office lighting to laptops to TVs, often with the big light on or, at the very least, a few artificial white lights dotted around the room. Professor Glen Jeffery at UCL points out that sunlight balances red and blue light, while modern LEDs are heavily weighted toward blue with very little red - leaving our indoor lives, in his words, "red-starved".
Read - After the Clocks Go Back: Why You Feel Jet-Lagged Without Leaving Home
Why screens dry our eyes
Digital eye strain is estimated to affect 50% or more of computer users, bringing aching, tired eyes, headaches, and dry eyes.
When we concentrate on a screen, we blink far less, and many blinks are incomplete. Each blink spreads a fresh tear film, including an oily layer from the meibomian glands that stops tears from evaporating. Blink less for hours a day, and the tear film breaks up, and the glands can become sluggish. That's evaporative dry eye, and it’s now reported much more in young people.
A word on blue light
Blue light often gets a bad rep, but it isn't the enemy. Morning daylight is full of blue light; it helps to fire up alertness and mood, and the evidence that screen light damages the eyes in everyday use is still lacking. The real problem, as we understand it, and as we can appreciate given the way our modern lives are, is balance and timing. Too much bright, blue-rich light, too close, for too long, at the wrong time of day, with too little rest from it.
Dyslexia and visual stress
Dyslexia isn't an eye problem - it's a difference in how the brain processes language. Coloured glasses won't "fix" dyslexia, but many people with dyslexia also experience visual stress (sometimes called Meares-Irlen syndrome), which can occur on its own without a dyslexia diagnosis.
This can make text seem to shimmer or move, cause glare from white paper, and lead to headaches or eye strain when reading. It can suddenly take the joy out of reading a brilliant book.
Although the trial evidence on coloured lenses is a little mixed, individual experiences and symptom relief in people who respond to colour are positive. So why might colour help?
● Lines of text act like stripes. Rows of black text on white paper form a high-contrast striped pattern, and in some people this seems to over-stimulate the visual brain - creating that shimmer and discomfort.
● A tint changes the light reaching the eye. Filtering certain wavelengths softens glare and contrast, so for those who respond, the text settles and reading becomes more comfortable.
● The right colour is personal. There's no universal best tint, which is why a specialist assessment tests colours one by one rather than handing out a standard pair.
If reading makes your eyes ache, start with a thorough eye exam with an optometrist experienced in visual stress, as some focusing or eye-teaming problems can also be treated directly.
And when your visual system is constantly working harder against glare and brightness, that isn't just an eye issue. It's a load on the nervous system.
So, why red light?
Red and near-infrared light (roughly 650-900nm) is absorbed by mitochondria, the energy powerhouses in our cells, and appears to help them make more ATP. This is called photobiomodulation. The retina is one of the body's most energy-hungry tissues, and its mitochondria decline with age, as does our vision.
Three minutes in the morning
In a 2021 UCL study, 20 adults aged 34-70 looked at deep red (670nm) light for three minutes in the morning. Their colour contrast vision improved by an average of 17%, and the effect lasted at least a week. The same exposure in the afternoon made no difference, suggesting our mitochondria follow their own daily rhythm. It's a small study, but a compelling proof of principle with incredible insight into an organ running on its own “body clock”.
What about dry eye?
Some eye clinics use red light masks for meibomian gland dysfunction, the main driver of evaporative dry eye. Early studies are encouraging, but most are small and combine red light with intense pulsed light (IPL), so its individual effect is unclear. Promising and worth considering, but not fully proven.
But here's the catch…
Not all red light is equal, and with so many red light brands flooding the market, any investment you make deserves to be high quality.
Options range from panels (desktop to full-body, usually combining red 630-670nm and near-infrared 810-850nm light) to face masks and handheld devices, mostly marketed for skin. And in the evenings, red and amber bulbs, lamps, and glasses aren't therapy devices, but they're the simplest way to make your home more circadian-friendly.
Whatever you choose, look for clearly stated wavelengths, independent third-party testing of wavelength and light intensity (a big LED count means little without it), and flicker-free, low-EMF design. Be wary of vague claims, because even though it sounds good, "medical grade" isn't a regulated term at all.
Solis, Bon Charge, PlatinumLED, and Joovv are the ones we’ve tried and tested so are well worth trying and considering.
Amber evenings and your body clock
Specialised cells in the retina tell the brain's master clock whether it's day or night. They're most sensitive to blue light, around 480nm, the wavelength that dominates daylight, screens, and LEDs.
In the morning, that's exactly what we want - bright daylight anchors the clock and boosts alertness. In the evening, the same light tells the brain it's still daytime and suppresses melatonin, the hormone that ushers in sleep. Red and amber light barely register with these cells, so melatonin can rise as nature intended.
One nuance: brightness still matters. Even red or amber light can suppress melatonin if it's bright enough. Dim, warm, and mirroring nature is the goal.
For almost all of human history, evenings were lit by fire - around 1,800-1,900 Kelvin, deep amber and low. Compare that with the cool white LEDs (often 4,000-6,500K) many of us switch on at 9pm. Candlelight and salt lamps, it turns out, are much closer to the light signals we evolved with.
Don't skip the morning light
Dimming the evening works best when you brighten the morning. Get outside early in the day, even on a grey UK morning; the light exists (or it would still be dark), and it is one of the most powerful things you can do for your body clock. Daylight isn't the problem; the wrong light at the wrong time is. No wonder Eleanor has been talking about Green Time Before Screen Time for years.
Did you know? Red light and cardio-metabolic health
As a cardio-metabolic health nutritionist, I’m curious about how light can support our wider health. The research is early, but it's building (and I’m excited!):
● Red light lowered blood sugar after a glucose drink. In a 2024 study of 30 healthy adults, 15 minutes of 670nm red light before a glucose tolerance test reduced the rise in blood sugar over two hours by 27.7%, and the peak by 7.5%.
● Light at night is linked to type 2 diabetes risk. In UK Biobank data from around 85,000 people wearing light sensors, brighter light between 12:30am and 6am was linked to higher diabetes risk over nine years, independent of sleep duration - up to 67% higher in the brightest group.
● One lit night can nudge insulin resistance. A study found that one night with moderate room light raised heart rate and next-morning insulin resistance.
● Red light may calm inflammation. Photobiomodulation research shows reduced oxidative stress and inflammatory markers, largely in lab and animal studies.
Note: Photobiomodulation was previously known as low-level laser therapy, where red and near-infrared light (600–1100 nm) are used to stimulate cellular healing without heating or destroying tissue.
We can appreciate that these are small or observational studies in mostly healthy people, and red light isn't an approved “treatment” for diabetes or heart disease, but it could support personal improvement and be considered part of the holistic approach to healthcare.
Light is fast becoming a lifestyle lever worth watching - and about time, too. The idea that light has no impact on us disconnects us from nature, but we are nature. Not to ignore the health benefits that food, movement, sleep, and stress reduction provide as foundations, but I feel light is pretty foundational too.
So, what can you actually do?
During the day
● Follow the 20-20-20 rule: every 20 minutes, look 20 feet away for 20 seconds.
● Blink on purpose, and match screen brightness to your room.
● Get your eyes checked if you have eye strain, headaches, or discomfort when reading.
In the evening
● Ditch the big light after sunset. Use lamps with warm bulbs (2,700K or lower), candles, or salt lamps.
● Switch devices to warm or night mode - and tuck them away earlier.
● Sleep in proper darkness (silk eye masks are my best friend).
In the morning
● Get outside early for 10-30 minutes of daylight - not on your phone, just engaging with what is around you.
If you're trying red light devices
● Choose reputable devices with clear wavelength information (typically 630-670nm).
● Follow eye-protection guidance, and never use them on children's eyes outside clinical supervision.
● Check with your optometrist or GP if you have an eye condition or take light-sensitising medication.
My final thoughts
We've built a world that is brighter, bluer, and closer to our faces than ever - and then we wonder why our eyes are dry, our sleep is light, and our nervous systems never switch off.
Red and amber light aren't a magic fix, and the science is still unfolding. But the direction of travel is clear: our eyes, body clocks, and potentially our metabolism all respond to the quality and timing of the light we live in.
So, if you take one thing from this: dim the evenings, brighten the mornings, and listen when your eyes say "enough".
Words by Natalie Burrows for The Well Edit.
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