Quick -- which one is me, and which one is Bono?
I know, it's really hard to tell. OK, so there might be some differences, but you can clearly see the similarity -- the orange glasses. Bono wears them because of a sensitivity to light. You should wear them too, but for an entirely different reason.
I'm Sure You've Heard the Advice.
They say if you want to get to sleep at night easier, you need to stop using your iPad or watching TV at least two hours before bed. The light, they say, keeps you awake.
I've found that to be true but, come on...give up reading my iPad at night? Stop watching Bait Car at midnight? Get real. That's just not going to happen.
The Science Behind Sleep vs. Technology
Here's why your phone, tablet, or television keeps you from sleeping: Exposure to daylight-coloured light (the kind that beams out of your digital devices) "causes the pineal gland to reduce production of melatonin." Melatonin is a hormone that makes you sleepy and lowers your body temperature.
In other words, use any digital device that beams light at you and you'll have trouble getting to sleep. (This, incidentally, is why e-ink Kindles are usually recommended for night-readers. They don't produce any light on their own.)
If you could block out these daylight colours (mostly blue colours), your body would produce melatonin like it should and you'll fall asleep easier. There's even research behind this.
Enter, Bono's Orange Glasses
This is exactly what orange glasses do. (I'm not talking about regular glasses with a slight orange tint -- I mean glasses that are very orange.) They block 95 per cent of blue- and daylight-coloured light from your eyes.
I've been wearing them for a while now and I can tell you it actually works. I wear them starting about two hours before I go to sleep, then I use my iPad lots, watch TV, etc. And I end up falling asleep way easier and faster than ever before.
And, more importantly, it makes me and Bono nearly indistinguishable from each other. As you can clearly see.
