How Safe Are Your Eyes From Smartphone Light? What Studies Say
Dry eyes, blurred vision and headaches happen because of extended screen time. It also causes suppressed melatonin production, affecting sleep patterns. Such exposure has a potential risk of macular degeneration and cataracts.
Notably, the amount of blue light released from smartphone screens is relatively tiny. A 2014 study from Harvard, which talks about the blue-light screen, remains the best evidence for light-emitting devices affecting sleep. The oft-cited study found that sleep gets delayed by an average of 10 minutes due to screen use before bed.
However, some experts think it's not much. "The evidence for smartphone use near bedtime affecting sleep and circadian rhythms isn't great," Stuart Peirson, a professor of circadian neuroscience at Oxford University, said as quoted by WIRED.
But many experts advise not to use mobile phones before bed, or reduce the screen time overall. According to a vision study by the US-based National Eye Institute, children are more at risk than adults because their eyes absorb more blue light from digital devices.
Constant scrolling can distract a person and may stimulate the brain and delay REM sleep. A study revealed that mobile phone addiction is similar to substance addiction when it comes to its impact on brain activity. The study noted that those who were addicted to their phones showed higher levels of anxiety. They also had trouble focusing on tasks when not having their phones.
8 Tips To Protect Your Eyes
Screen Settings: Lower brightness, use warmer colour temperatures, and enable night mode.
The 20-20-20 Rule: Every 20 minutes, take a 20-second break and focus on something 20 feet away.
Blue Light Filters: Enable built-in filters or download apps like Twilight, Flux, or Night Shift.
Maintain Proper Distance: Hold your phone at least 16-18 inches away from your eyes.
Blink Regularly: Make a conscious effort to blink while using your phone.
Wear Blue Light Glasses: Consider glasses that filter out blue light for added protection.
Regular Eye Exams: Schedule check-ups to monitor your eye health.
Text Size and Glare: Adjust text size and reduce glare to minimise eye strain.
Use of Phone in Dark Rooms: Avoid using your phone in dark rooms or with harsh lighting. Take breaks and prioritise eye care practices.
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
Hindustan Times
26 minutes ago
- Hindustan Times
How AI is revolutionising skincare by offering personalised and precise skin remedies: Experts say it's here to stay
Your smartphone can do a lot besides helping you to make calls, stay virtually connected, track your fitness goals, and even analyse your skin! Artificial Intelligence (AI) has made this reality possible. The skincare industry is witnessing an epochal change globally with a flurry of apps adding a touch of cutting-edge technology to personal beauty routines by way of personalised skin analysis, product recommendations to advanced diagnostic tools. However, experts say people must tread this path with caution. AI revolutionised skincare industry(AI Generated) AI is empowering individuals to better understand and care for their skin. With the ability to analyse thousands of data points, including skin type, concerns, lifestyle, and even environmental factors, AI helps create highly customised skincare solutions that deliver more effective results. This technological shift is making skincare smarter, more accessible, and tailored like never before, transforming how we approach beauty and self-care. Grant Kuo has launched Digital Doctor, an app for skincare analysis in India. Talking about the reason, he tells HT Lifestyle: 'I often saw friends and family frustrated by skincare that overpromised and underdelivered - driven more by flashy marketing than real skin understanding. One of the most effective ways to solve every problem is to start with root-cause analysis, then target solutions to deliver better, fast results." This is exactly what his app offers. It measures your skin, analyses it on various parameters like uneven skin tone, skin issues and more, and finally, suggests skincare products on the basis of your skin concerns. At Digital Doctor, they have collaborated with cosmetologist Dr Tushar Opneja of New Delhi-based Regenix Clinic. Opneja says, "AI-powered skin analysis is a powerful step forward in personalised skincare. When combined with evidence-backed formulations, it ensures both accuracy and safety. Most of the products we suggest app users are dermatologically safe and clinically tested, which makes the entire experience both smart and trustworthy." However, like every tool and machinery, these AI apps also have certain limitations, say industry experts. Dr Shareefa Chause, Dermatologist at Dr Shareefa Skin care clinic, Mumbai, tells HT Lifestyle, 'The benefits of AI tools can be that they can help with tailored routines, cost-effectiveness, and better skin. However, there is also a downside to this. These apps tend to have some limitations and can't be fully reliable. The inaccurate lighting, poor image quality, or algorithmic bias can lead to incorrect recommendations, and one can suffer from more skin problems. Some people using AI may experience skin irritation if the recommended products aren't suitable for their skin type, and even suffer from allergies that can steal their peace of mind.' She adds, 'Over-reliance on virtual analysis may delay prompt expert attention for serious conditions. Privacy is also a concern, as apps collect sensitive facial data. So, it is better not to be dependent on the apps. Even though AI in skincare is a promising advancement, don't replace it with dermatological advice.' Another dermatologist Dr Rinky Kapoor, co-founder and Director, The Esthetic Clinics says, 'While AI-based apps and platforms can be a useful starting point, they are not a substitute for professional dermatological advice. Skin concerns can be complex and often linked to deeper health or hormonal issues that technology alone may not be able to detect. A trained dermatologist brings medical expertise, experience, and a holistic understanding that machines may not replicate.' How AI is transforming skincare: Personalised Skincare Recommendations The reality of skincare has changed to a great extent now. One-product-fits-all skincare is not the scenario. AI uses data like your age, skin type, concerns, lifestyle, and even climate to suggest tailored routines and products. Many apps analyse your selfie and ask a few questions to recommend a perfect regimen. AI-Powered Skin Analysis AI-powered devices and apps can analyse skin conditions such as acne, wrinkles, dark spots, and hydration levels with incredible accuracy, just from a smartphone camera. Apps, like Pers Active Lab, is the first in the Indian market to integrate AI for skincare analyses. It measures your skin conditions and suggests skincare products as per your skin issues and concerns. These apps also helps dermatologists to identify and monitor skin diseases early. Virtual Try-ons & Augmented Reality (AR) Just like for skincare, AI is also transforming the way we apply makeup. AI combined with AR lets you see how a particular makeup will look or work on your skin before buying them. This also include testing different shades of foundation or lipsticks on your skin tone. Or see how your skin might improve after using a particular serum. Smarter Product Development AI helps brands analyse millions of ingredients, reviews, and clinical data to develop better formulations faster and with less trial-and-error. It also predicts how ingredients will interact. Monitoring & Tracking Progress AI tools can track changes in your skin over time, comparing your photos and offering advice as your skin improves (or reacts negatively to products) The Future of AI in Skincare AI continues to evolve, with potential to predict ageing patterns, design completely bespoke products, and even integrate with wearable sensors to monitor skin health in real time. Though these skin apps do tell you a lot about your skin concerns, there are other things you need to take care of to treat your skin issues. Taking proper sleep, eating a healthy and nutritious diet, and staying hydrated are just some of them. Similar articles for you: Kareena Kapoor uses snail mucin! Here is what this Korean skincare ingredient is all about Nighttime skincare routine that is a must: Goodbye tired, dull skin, wake up to healthier, glowing skin How to groom your beard like a star: Celeb grooming expert Darshan Yewalekar shares top tips Disclaimer: At Hindustan Times, we help you stay up-to-date with the latest trends and products. Hindustan Times has an affiliate partnership, so we may get a part of the revenue when you make a purchase. We shall not be liable for any claim under applicable laws, including but not limited to the Consumer Protection Act, 2019, with respect to the products. The products listed in this article are in no particular order of priority.
Time of India
40 minutes ago
- Time of India
Market consolidating now, poised for upswing in H2: Sachin Shah
Sachin Shah , Fund Manager, Emkay Investment Managers , says the Indian economy is poised for a significant upswing in the latter half of the fiscal year, coinciding with an earlier festival season starting in September. Stimulus from regulators and supportive global inflation, particularly in oil and metal prices, are expected to boost demand. Domestic businesses are performing well, with leaders excelling and selective capital expenditure showing positive trends. There is a lot of sectoral divergence . Markets are watching both macros and micros and we see a lot of development happening in the tariff front also. Of course, the India-US deal is still under negotiation. How do you see the construct of the market now? Sachin Shah: You are right. We are seeing a good amount of consolidation but within the markets, within the sectors we are seeing that there is a decent amount of divergence and more importantly since we are in the midst of an earning season, we are seeing decent kind of results, from the likes of HDFC Bank, ICICI Bank or for that matter even companies like Eternal , Paytm, Laurus Labs. Explore courses from Top Institutes in Please select course: Select a Course Category Digital Marketing Product Management Finance Operations Management MBA Public Policy Others others Data Analytics Management Data Science healthcare Cybersecurity Project Management PGDM CXO Degree Artificial Intelligence Data Science Technology Healthcare MCA Leadership Design Thinking Skills you'll gain: Digital Marketing Strategy Search Engine Optimization (SEO) & Content Marketing Social Media Marketing & Advertising Data Analytics & Measurement Duration: 24 Weeks Indian School of Business Professional Certificate Programme in Digital Marketing Starts on Jun 26, 2024 Get Details Skills you'll gain: Digital Marketing Strategies Customer Journey Mapping Paid Advertising Campaign Management Emerging Technologies in Digital Marketing Duration: 12 Weeks Indian School of Business Digital Marketing and Analytics Starts on May 14, 2024 Get Details I am giving names across sectors, across largecaps and midcaps. So, wherever the results have been very decent, markets have rewarded, markets seem to be giving a vote of confidence over there. Wherever there have been some challenges with the results, we are seeing some disappointment; but again over there, we are not seeing a very sharp knee-jerk reaction. We are seeing that investors are probably going to put in more on hold rather than a selloff and basically, we will probably wait out for another couple of quarters because a lot of actions that we have seen at the ground level in terms of whether it was the RBI rate cuts, whether it is the tax breaks, whether it is the liquidity push, lower inflation, should probably start playing out in the next two-three quarters and maybe during the festival season. So, probably that is the hope. Overall, wherever good results are seen, we are seeing decent traction. Wherever, the results are not so good, probably markets are putting them on hold. Let us talk about big bold themes for the next six months. What is on your radar? Last time when we spoke, you were bullish on the consumption sector and themes around that. What is your take on the second half of this current financial year? Sachin Shah: A lot of factors, as far as macros are concerned, seem to be in favour of the Indian economy to start doing much better, particularly in the second half of this financial year which is during the festival season. In fact, this time, the festival season is going to be a little earlier. So, maybe sometime in September, October, November, we should see a decent amount of demand coming back and clearly it is getting a lot of stimulus from the regulator side, plus the global inflation is also very supportive – be it oil prices or a lot of other ferrous and non-ferrous metal prices. Live Events You Might Also Like: India-UK trade deal not historic but should help Indian workers in UK: Swaminathan Aiyar All of that should really help as far as the demand pickup is concerned. Even when you see some of the earning season at this point in time, most of the domestic businesses seem to be doing reasonably okay and within that, the leaders are doing even better. Another very big thing is in terms of selective capex also, when we hear some of the management commentaries in this earning season, that also seems to be under a good trajectory. Overall, we believe that the current earning season is panning out fairly decent and probably the second and third quarters should do even better. What is your view on the pharma sector in the light of the tariff threats which are there currently? I see a significant part of your exposure is in pharma. How should one navigate this sector? Is it a good bet at the current juncture? Sachin Shah: You are right. Basically, all the macros being very positive for the Indian economy, there is just one big overhang, the tariffs. Again, the tariffs relative to the other countries, is something that we need to watch out for. As far as the pharma sector is concerned, we have been fairly constructive on this sector for almost the last two, three, four years or maybe even longer and within that, we have been very strongly positioned as far as the CDMO, the CRAMs (the contract research and manufacturing space) is concerned. So, whether it is Divi's Lab, or Laurus Lab, we have been owners of these businesses for a while now and we believe that these are businesses which are like have a secular theme for the next three to five years, not only China plus one but even Europe plus one in terms of the outsourcing as a theme and companies, all the companies in these sectors, particularly the leaders have actually established with their customers their right to win in terms of their domain expertise, in terms of the setting up very large capacities. Even currently, the kind of the capex announcements that we are hearing from these companies is really large. Something we have not seen cumulatively for the last five-seven years is what we are going to see in the next two-three years, so that is another very important thing. You Might Also Like: Are current market valuations hiding opportunities or risks? Christy Mathai explains The third very important thing is the kind of comfort that they give to their customers in terms of respecting their intellectual property rights because a lot of these companies work on patented products or some of these NCPs, and that comfort as far as their confidentiality on their IPRs is also very critical. So that is one space that has long legs, at least for the next three-seven years. We continue to be very positive on that. Tariff on that, I understand, is also a function of the value proposition that these companies bring to their customers. If they have a strong value proposition compared to the other countries or the companies in the other countries, they will find their way out. What is your view on the automobile sector both from the global front and the eventual impact coming to the domestic market because as you see the tariff implications first 15% was announced for Japan and the latest one is for the European Union, again in particular for the cars itself. Now 15% is very low versus what was anticipated earlier. How do you believe this is helping the automobile space? Do you see some good times for the global automobile makers and then eventual impact coming to India or is it too early to say? Sachin Shah : No, we definitely believe that as far as exports are concerned, and auto components are concerned, we have a very large opportunity, very similar to pharma. Our companies have established the right to win. They have relationships with a lot of these customers as they have been supplying them components. They are also supplying large OEs globally. In fact, not only globally, but even in India, there is a very long gestation period as far as the product approvals are concerned and our companies have already surpassed those hurdles. They have the confidence of their global customers in terms of their quality checks, so that is very positive. Second, another very important thing is in terms of the domestic side because today domestic is still a very large market for our OEs and there we are not seeing very great numbers in the last at least three-four months in this financial year or maybe even the last six months. But there the hope is that with all the measures that both the government and the RBI has taken in the last few months, at the ground level, we should see demand coming back very strongly.
Time of India
an hour ago
- Time of India
Cadence nears deal to pay over $100 million to US for China sales, sources say
Cadence Design is expected to pay over $100 million to the U.S. government as part of a deal to resolve an investigation into sales of its chip design products to a Chinese military university believed to be involved in simulating nuclear explosions, according to two people familiar with the matter. Cadence is accused of illegally selling chip design technology to front companies representing China's National University of Defense Technology, the sources said. Explore courses from Top Institutes in Please select course: Select a Course Category Data Science Operations Management Public Policy PGDM Cybersecurity Technology healthcare Others Digital Marketing Leadership Artificial Intelligence Healthcare Design Thinking Degree Finance Data Analytics Product Management Management CXO Project Management Data Science MCA MBA others Skills you'll gain: Duration: 10 Months E&ICT Academy, Indian Institute of Technology Guwahati CERT-IITG Prof Cert in DS & BA with GenAI India Starts on undefined Get Details Skills you'll gain: Duration: 11 Months IIT Madras CERT-IITM Advanced Cert Prog in AI and ML India Starts on undefined Get Details Skills you'll gain: Duration: 11 Months E&ICT Academy, Indian Institute of Technology Guwahati CERT-IITG Postgraduate Cert in AI and ML India Starts on undefined Get Details Skills you'll gain: Duration: 10 Months IIM Kozhikode CERT-IIMK DABS India Starts on undefined Get Details Skills you'll gain: Duration: 30 Weeks IIM Kozhikode SEPO - IIMK-AI for Senior Executives India Starts on undefined Get Details NUDT's supercomputers are thought to support nuclear explosive simulation and military simulation activities, according to U.S. Commerce Department notices restricting shipments to the university. San Jose, California-based Cadence, which said earlier this year it began settlement discussions with the U.S. over sales to China in December, did not immediately respond to a request for comment, nor did NUDT. The Justice Department declined immediate comment. The Commerce Department did not immediately respond to a request for comment. Live Events The potential deal, which comes as the U.S. and China meet for new trade talks, shows the U.S. is still willing to enforce U.S. export controls on China, even as it relaxes some of the restrictions as part of negotiations. The sources said the deal is not finalized. NUDT was put on the Commerce Department's restricted trade list in 2015 to keep it from using U.S. technology to power its supercomputers, according to department postings. Other aliases and locations were added to the university's listing in 2019 and 2022, including Hunan Guofang Keji University, Central South CAD Center, and CSCC. The U.S. investigation into Cadence, which began more than four years ago, involves "historical sales by Cadence to customers in China," according to a company filing. Cadence received a subpoena from the U.S. Commerce Department in February 2021, demanding records related to certain customers in China. A related November 2023 subpoena followed from the Justice Department over the company's business activity in China. Cadence sold its EDA technology to NUDT through the CSCC or Central South CAD Center alias about 50 times between 2015 and 2020, according to one source familiar with the probe. Chip developer Tianjin Phytium Information Technology, which traces its roots to NUDT, also has been tied to Cadence sales for the university, another source said. Phytium was added to the restricted trade list in 2021. It did not immediately respond to a request for comment. Several employees at a Chinese subsidiary of Cadence were terminated over the sales, one of the sources said. Entities are placed on the restricted trade list, formally known as the entity list, for activities deemed contrary to U.S. national security or foreign policy interests. U.S. companies are not allowed to ship goods and technology to them without licenses from the Commerce Department, which are generally denied. Cadence will hold a call about its second-quarter financial results at 2 p.m. Pacific Time (2100 GMT) on Monday. Cadence, whose customers include major semiconductor manufacturers and companies such as Nvidia and Qualcomm, is known for its electronic computer-aided design software. Electronic design automation (EDA) tools are key to designing chips and verifying that they are bug-free. NUDT has developed chips to power university supercomputers, including Tianhe-2, once touted as the world's best supercomputer, which the U.S. believes has been used in research on or the development of nuclear explosive devices. Twelve percent of Cadence's revenue came from China last year, down from 17% in 2023, amid regulatory developments and geopolitical tensions.
