The New England Journal of Medicine recently handled the cases of two different women who temporarily went blind. The women didn’t know each other and also lived completely different lives. One was 22 years old, the other was 40.
Both of them went to consult a doctor, and as it turns out, they did share one thing in common:
They had both used their cell phone in bed, in the dark.
Using a smartphone too much in bed at night can cause temporary “blindness.” It’s a phenomenon that can happen to anyone, regardless of age or eyesight.
The 22-year-old woman had felt that her night vision was “impaired.” She had been using her phone at night while lying in bed, just before she went to sleep. The other woman couldn’t see anything within the first 15 minutes of waking up each morning. Her temporary blindness persisted for six months. She had also used her phone in bed, not at night, but when it was still dark, just after she woke up.
Doctors decided to test the validity of these conditions for themselves by also using their phones in the dark. They successfully the women’s experiences. After using the doctors used their phones in the dark, “their vision was considerably reduced…and took several minutes to recover.”
The reason your vision is impaired or otherwise negatively affected is because of the sharp contrast between the bright phone screen and the surrounding darkness. The difference in brightness strains your eyes, causing “differential bleaching of photopigments” to occur, which results in temporary vision impairment.
Protect yourself and your eyes a favor, and don’t use your phone at night before you go to sleep. Besides, eliminating screen time in your last hour before bed also helps you fall asleep quicker. It’s just a win-win situation.
