My Review: Special Glasses that Increase Melatonin and Promote Sleep
Here’s my experience with my sleep glasses from lowbluelights.com.
First of all, they work. By blocking the wavelengths of light that halt the pineal gland’s melatonin production, they allow melatonin to gradually increase in the hours before bed. Basically, as crazy as it sounds on the surface, these are glasses that make you get sleepy. They are wonderful for us in those times when candlelight simply won’t do (i.e. we have family visiting or work we have to stay up late to finish).
Unfortunately, mine broke. I dropped them on the bathroom floor and the right hinge piece broke instantly. So do be careful with them if you get them!
I like them enough that I am eager to purchase a new pair (the first were generously provided by the company for me to review at my request – I had already been writing about their products because I was so impressed with this clever way of applying science/research to help sleep and many other health conditions).
One problem I had with the glasses was the size. I had the one-size-fits-all non-fitover orange glasses. They were huge on me! They would have been way more comfortable had they been smaller. But I am very petite.
This time I will try the size small fitover glasses except wear them without normal glasses since I don’t need to (that’s the only way you can get a size small). I also plan to order several of their light bulbs. I’ll write again at some point to let you know how the smaller glasses work for me.
I should also say the glasses are not particularly attractive to wear:), but that should be evident just by looking at the pictures of them on the site. You hardly need a reviewer to mention that.
For now, I just can’t say enough about how neat the concept of these glasses is and what a help it is for those whose sensitivity to artificial lighting keeps them from being able to sleep for many hours after going to bed. How many night owls could have greater freedom in their lives to either be a night owl or NOT be if they just knew about this!
(As I’ve written before, candlelight works, too, but for many these glasses would be so much more practical. Please check out my Sleep and Chronobiology category if this is new to you and you are interested in learning more—there is lots of sleep information as well as more about these sleep glasses.)
The company also gave me an amber night light to use and we have been very happy with it. I would highly recommend it to anyone who is nursing and/or needs light at night or who is trying something similar to my candlelight plan, but doesn’t want to be limited to using only candles.
It is a very dim nightlight, very unobtrusive, but your eyes adjust to it quickly so that it seems plenty bright enough to see (we use it in our bathroom as we are getting ready for bed). We have also used it at night when we got our new indoor living room hammock and wanted to sleep in it, but weren’t quite used to getting in and out!
Addition (9/26/08): In the two years since writing this post, I’ve tried many more products from this company. It has been worth the investment. Here’s what I recommend: I prefer their red LED nightlights to their amber ones because when I wake in the night to go into the bathroom where the nightlight is, the red one is far less jarring. You can’t see as much with it, but I think that for a nightlight, it’s perfect.
I also prefer using the fluorescent low-blue-light bulbs to using the glasses. The glasses are good for certain situations, but for me, it is too easy for the glasses to slip off and allow light to reach my eyes. And both pairs I had broke at some point when dropped (the company sent me a replacement pair for the first pair for free, but after a month I dropped those, too.). I never did try the size small, btw.
For my family, switching to the amber bulbs and just turning them on every night and our regular lights off, has worked wonderfully. In my opinion, nothing is quite as good as candlelight was for sleep (and I can’t explain why since the known science indicates there shouldn’t be any difference), but the convenience of this makes it worth the switch!
Here are links to some other reviews and others thoughts as well as some of the company’s articles:
Special Eyeglasses Help Increase Fertility (Press Release)
September 28th, 2006 at 11:05 am
[...] My Review: Special Glasses that Increase Melatonin and Promote Sleep [...]
October 18th, 2006 at 7:43 am
You are a resource of such wisdom! Thank you for posting all you have learned. You have no idea how you have changed whole families’ *lives* with this sleep information! Please know my *sincere* gratitude… Truly, I can’t begin to thank you enough.
Press on, sister!
Warmly,
Ann V.
October 27th, 2006 at 12:00 am
Thank you, Ann. Your words are such an encouragement!
November 28th, 2006 at 6:45 am
Just popping in to say: I just was getting tired of waking up with such depressing, horrible thoughts and was willing to look at doing things to change that—light therapy and exercise….
AND I REALLY wanted to STOP being a night owl and wake up EARLY (before 7 am) in the morning….. (my pattern: bed at 12-1 am…. wake at 7 am)
I wore the lowblue light glasses last night for the first time, starting at 5 pm…. was yawning like crazy by 9:15, was in bed before 10 and then woke up this am before the dawn simulator (the one which you recommended!) began at 5:30 !!!!!!!
And I am awake so HAPPYYYYYY!!!!! Darryl found me a little too “pumped for this early in the morning” ~grin~
I told Darryl I was going to be a traveling salesperson for those glasses! But I knew before that I could be tired and ready for bed, and if I sat down here to check email before hitting the hay, I would perk up and not feel drowsy at all—- all that blue light coming from sitting this close to the screen supresses the melatonin and I wouldn’t fell sleepy for HOURS (if at all….)
And it looks like the glasses can change all of that!!! I am DANCING this am!!!
So between the dawn simulator and the glasses, you have PROFOUNDLY impacted/improved my life–I can’t BEGIN to tell you how GRATEFUL I am—THANK YOU!!!!! Everyone needs to hear about these products and the science behind them! ~grin~ Thank you for being part of that!
All is grace… and graced by you,
Ann V. who is off to exercise now! ~smile~
February 13th, 2007 at 12:37 am
Wow! Glasses that increases melatonin production. Pretty clever! You won’t have to take the melatonin supplements over-the-counter and risk developing side effects.
June 14th, 2007 at 2:57 pm
i just wanted to say thank you for doing so much leg work, digging up so much great information for providing this superb resource! as i was digging online all i found were articles on insomnia, or sleep apnea,various disorders that i was sure i didn’t have. again, thank you so much and best wishes to you and your family!
beth
June 27th, 2007 at 3:02 pm
Beth, thank you so much for your comment. It really encouraged me, partly because I had felt the same way about not fitting into the mold that most of the internet sleep articles were directed toward.
It was so good to discover there really was research that could help me, but that it just hadn’t become common information yet. I’m so glad it has been able to help others. I continue to benefit from that research I did more than a year ago as the things I learned keep me from returning to my old night owl ways:)
September 18th, 2007 at 6:22 pm
We have started to employ the lightbilbs and nightlights from the company you mentioned and are having great success reversing our night owlish sleep patterns! Thanks for the info.
I just had a question about the glasses – do they fit snug enough around your face so that no white light can get in? Also – they are kind of pricy. Do you think that blueblocking safety glasses/goggles sold by safety companies could accomplish the same thing? Or what about the “Blublockers” sunglasses? Is there something unique about Sleeplamps’ glasses that is not duplicated in these cheaper versions?
Thanks
March 13th, 2008 at 3:54 pm
What a wonderful amount of good research and experimentation you have done! Thanks so much!
In answer to the recent question re Blue-blocking glasses, here is another kind, much less expensive ($7.28 plus shipping). … Mentioned by Dr. Phelps at http://www.psycheducation.org/depression/LightDark.htm
Uvex Skyper safety glasses offer a wrap-around protective spectacle providing exceptional protection, high comfort and a great fit. The ratcheting lens inclination system, molded-in nosebridge and adjustable duoflex® cushioned temples ensure a custom fit.
Featuring SCT Orange tinted lenses that were designed for use in the dental industry or in other industries where UV lamps are used for curing materials such as paints or inks
Meets ANSI Z87+ and CSA Z94.3-1992 standards. Made in the USA.
Manufacturer: Uvex
Item #: S1933X
Frame Color : Black
Lens Color : SCT Orange $7.28
September 26th, 2008 at 3:36 pm
sALLY, thank you for this link. What interesting information!
September 26th, 2008 at 3:44 pm
[...] have made modifications over time as I wrote in my newly edited Finale post and sometimes I miss pure candlelit evenings, [...]
October 3rd, 2008 at 7:21 am
I as well have been using blue blocking sunglasses at night and it has made a difference to my sleep patterns.
I found that company you listed has good products. However, their sunglasses are way too pricy for what they are. I contacted them as well as the BluBlocker people and got the breakdown of the wavelengths they block. They are analogous in the important blue region (I recall the BluBlockers blocked more other wavelengths, too. They were darker.) However, since you can get a pair of BluBlocker sunglasses for $19.99, and the LowBlueLights glasses are $79.99, I would go with the BluBlockers!
However, the LowBlueLights people are the only ones who sell the lightbulbs. They also have blockers for your computer, too.