St. Louis, MO -- (SBWire) -- 02/06/2017 --Blue light, defined as high energy visible light, is emitted from the sun and many common, contemporary electronic devices. While moderate exposure to natural blue light can impact health positively, overexposure to artificial blue light may threaten bodily health – and eye health in particular. To reduce the harmful risks of blue light, the expert eye doctors at Overland Optical Family Eye Care recommend wearing advanced computer glasses. With over 35 years of serving St. Charles and Overland with advanced eye care, this popular optometry practice now features an extensive selection of specialized, protective eyewear for computer use.

Healthy amounts of blue amount from the sun help regulate circadian rhythm, boost emotions and ramp up the body's energy level. In contrast, artificial blue light from computers, cell phones, flat-screen TVs, tablets and LED backlights, has been proven to disrupt the body's sleep cycles by suppressing melatonin production. As society spends an increasing amount of time gazing at digital screens, many medical experts question the long-term health safety.

With regard to eyes and vision, recent scientific studies demonstrated a connection between overexposure to blue light and a higher incidence of macular degeneration, cataracts. Headaches, eye strain, dry eye syndrome and difficulty focusing have also been associated with the hazards of blue light.

"Living in our advanced society, each of us, on average, spends about 25 hours a week staring at an electronic screen. To put this in perspective, that means we spend more than one whole day, without sleeping, in front of a device that emits blue light. As blue light is proven to seriously damage our visual system, we strongly encourage patients to protect their eyes with computer glasses," says Dr. Sara Schmitz, eye doctor at Overland Optical Family Eye Care.

"Kids nowadays may be at a greater risk from blue light than adults, as they're often looking at a hand-held gadget or watching a screen. Also, with shorter arms than adults, children hold devices closer to their eyes, which intensifies their exposure to blue light," adds Dr. Schmitz.

Eyes have a built-in filter to protect against many types of ultraviolet light and damaging sun rays. However, these innate filters cannot block the enormous quantities of blue light that digital technology radiates. Computer glasses offer an efficient solution to this modern problem. Overland Optical offers eyewear specially crafted with BluTech lenses that filter out blue light – reducing health risks and upgrading visual comfort. A state-of-the-art customized filtering pigment is infused into the optical lenses, which prevents up to 70% of negative blue light from reaching the eyes. Hi-tech engineering enables BluTech lenses to filter out the perfect amount of blue light so that optimal visual contrast is maintained.

Recharge is an additional, progressive lens technology that helps to diminish the harmful effects of blue light. Produced by HOYA, the Recharge lens coating reflects up to 30% of blue light. For ultimate protection against both blue light and ultraviolet rays, Conant Lens Inc. recently released a revolutionary lens material called UV++®. Protective eyewear with Recharge and UV++® is available locally in St. Charles and Overland, MO, in the offices of Overland Optical.

Computer glasses with BluTech lenses are available in prescription and nonprescription versions for adults and children. Transition lenses with blue light filtering are also offered for convenient use indoors and outdoors. Anyone who spends extended amounts of time using a computer or electronic device should contact the professional optometrists at Overland Optical Family Eye Care to schedule an eye exam and be fit with BluTech computer glasses.