Blue Blockers at Night and Insomnia Symptoms

Completed · Not applicable

Conditions studied: Insomnia, Sleep

In brief

Under entrained conditions, humans maintain a consolidated nocturnal sleep episode that coincides with environmental darkness and endogenous melatonin secretion. Various factors, such as artificial light, can compromise this temporal harmony, resulting in sleep disruption. Light is the strongest synchronizer of the circadian clock, with direct inputs via the retinohypothalamic tract to brain centers regulating sleep and circadian rhythms. Evening light exposure can suppress melatonin secretion and worsen sleep. This is critical, since most individuals routinely expose themselves to light before bedtime. The high sensitivity of the circadian system to blue wavelength light indicates that modern light sources such as light-emitting diodes (LED) may have particularly deleterious effects on sleep. It is possible to selectively filter out blue light while maintaining other visible spectra with blue-blocking (BB) lenses. Wearing BB lenses before bedtime may present a simple, affordable, and safe method to improve sleep. None have yet investigated the effects of BB lenses on subjective and objective sleep in insomnia patients, while simultaneously exploring the effects on melatonin secretion.

Key facts

Study ID

NCT02698800

Run by

Columbia University

People needed

15

Starts

2016-03-01

Expected to finish

2017-03-01

Last updated by the study team

2019-07-30

Who can join

Age: 18 and older, up to 65. Sex: any. Healthy volunteers: accepted.

You may qualify if…

• Insomnia for at least 1 month based on Insomnia Symptoms Questionnaire

You may not qualify if…

• obstructive sleep apnea; narcolepsy; periodic leg movement disorder
• currently shift worker
• psychiatric or neurologic disorders
• deep vein thrombosis
• current cigarette smoker
• currently taking beta-blockers
• pregnant/breastfeeding
• children less than 1 year old at home
• excessive daily caffeine intake

Where it is running

• Columbia University Medical Center — New York, New York, United States

Full record on ClinicalTrials.gov

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