While watching my son play on his iPad, it struck me how much blue light exposure he gets in a day. When we are outside, he wears sunglasses and sunscreen to protect his eyes and skin from blue light damage, but at home, watching the Wheels on the Bus in Vietnamese, Polish, or Spanish – languages we do not speak – there is nothing protecting the health of his eyes. Screen filters and blue light glasses are not as effective as internal supplementation of carotenoids like lutein and zeaxanthin for eye protection.
Blue light is a very energetic wavelength on the visible spectrum found in sunlight, electronic devices such as computers, smartphones, tablets, and it has increasingly become an issue in today’s health sector for a number of reasons. It has the potential to cause a lot of damage, including the creation of reactive oxygen species (free radicals), and it disrupts our ability to sleep well (although it plays an important role in our circadian rhythm – we sleep when the sun goes down – and our mood [we all love to frolic in the sunshine]). Again, an antioxidant, such as lutein, becomes extremely important in combating these oxygen radicals that cause damage.
When I think about my son growing older, I think about his overall health and wellbeing, but more specifically, I worry about his eye health. Because of family history, I probably know more about this than I should – both my mom and I wear glasses and she has been actively working to slow macular degeneration in one eye and prevent it from occurring in the other. She makes sure to wear sunglasses outdoors and supplements daily with lutein and other vitamins and antioxidants.
Blue light can lead to permanent vision changes. We need to filter it out. Lutein is one of those filters that works from the inside out. For myself, because of the family history with macular degeneration, I take solace with knowing I’m doing something to add lutein into my diet every day — largely through Nu Skin’s collagen product Beauty Focus Collagen+. I realized that the plus (+) is the additional ingredients added to their liquid collagen that no other collagen manufacturer really adds. One of those key additions is lutein. Another is phytoceramides, but that is the topic of a different post. Collagen production lessens in your late teens, early twenties, and by your thirties you start to lose collagen at an increasing rate.
In my experience, we are seeing a lot more people needing glasses earlier in their life rather than later — hello blue light. This is why I love that Nu Skin has added lutein to their collagen product, for eye health—and also as a prime antioxidant for overall health.
If you’re interested in hearing more about this powerful rip-and-sip collagen drink, or the research behind it, I’ve found it to be heavily reassuring to have in my routine. DM me and we can talk.
PRODUCT LINKS
Beauty Focus Collagen+
Eye Formula