There are studies that have shown that the blue light impairs sleep. For years, mobile device manufacturers have responded to this question by incorporating a technology on smartphones so that, at night, the intensity of blue light is reduced. And in Android 10, This function is called Night Light. It effectively limits cool light and replaces it with... warm tonesand we can also regulate its intensity.
La lighting of today's smartphone screens is LED ; That has some advantages, but also some drawbacks. One of them is that this lighting has an inclination towards cool tones, with a high blue component. And blue, as we mentioned before, affects sleep. Because? Because it inhibits the production of melatonin, which is the sleep hormone. Experts recommend stopping using screens two hours before we go to sleep, but in many cases this is not possible and that is why we have the possibility of using the sleep function. Night light.
The relationship between blue lightMelatonin and rest have been studied in depth: the photoreceptor melanopsinThe melatonin receptor, located in the retina, is especially sensitive to a very specific band of the blue spectrum (approximately between 460 and 480 nm). When we are exposed to this type of light in the last hours of the day, our brain interprets it as still being daytime and delays the start of melatonin secretion, which can cause... we take longer to fall asleep and that the quality of sleep is worse.
In laboratory experiments, it has been observed that a person reading in a tablet or smartphone Drinking alcohol for a couple of hours before bed can delay your sleep by about an hour. This effect is compounded by other factors such as stress or caffeine, so reducing your intake as much as possible is important. exposure to blue light Sleeping during the night has become one of the usual recommendations of sleep hygiene experts.
Why 'night mode' or night light is so important on mobile phones
During the day we don't mind inhibiting the production of melatoninIn fact, it's not something that's going to affect us negatively because we need to be awake and activeAt night, however, yes. The screens work with the system RGB, creating the entire range of colors by mixing only three: Red/Green/Blue, that is, red, green and blue. This night mode, or sleep mode Night light, what it does is control the RGB lighting system reducing the intensity of the blue component. The colors on the screen are affected, as is evident, leaning towards warmer tones. The viewing experience is not too faithful to reality, but we stop harming rest.
In addition to color modification, Night Light is increasingly integrated with other system settings designed for the nighttime mobile phone useFor example, many devices allow you to combine it with the dark themewhich inverts the backgrounds to black or dark gray tones. This combination reduces the total amount of light emitted by the screen, which not only improves the visual comfort in dark environments, but it can also help to save battery in OLED panels, where black pixels barely consume any energy.
It is also common for Night Light to be linked with functions of Digital well-being o Rest modeThese tools include features such as disabling notifications, dimming the wallpaper, applying grayscale, and limiting certain apps at night. This not only mitigates the impact of blue light but also reduces the... Distractions that can tempt us to keep using our mobile phones when we should be sleeping.
Another relevant aspect is the possibility of manually adjust the warm color intensityOn both Android and other systems, we can slide a bar to decide how much "orange" we want on the screen. A higher intensity implies a greater reduction of the blue component, at the cost of colors appearing less natural. Most users, after a few days of adjustment, end up preferring warmer settings for the feeling of... less eye fatigue overnight.
This idea of ​​reducing blue light isn't exclusive to the system's native function. There are dedicated applications such as Twilightwhich apply a reddish or amber filter over the entire screen and synchronize it with the sunrise and sunset times of your location, and there are also the screen protectors with blue light filterThese types of apps allow for a very high degree of customization; they can dim the brightness below the standard minimum and even interact with... smart bulbs to adjust the lighting throughout the room.
When sleep time approaches, it is best to reduce cold light and reduce the intensity of gloss from the screen. The second is done automatically by the device, with the ambient lighting sensor. And the first thing we can control with the mode Night light, which we can activate manually, and also by establishing a programming automatically so that it activates on its own at a certain time of day.
You can adjust the intensity of the mode Night lightHowever, it's best to set it to maximum. This way, the intensity of the blue light component will be minimal, ensuring that sleep is affected as little as possible. In Android 10, this is a native function which we can find in the Settings menu, within the Display section.
On many recent Android phones, the usual route is to go to Settings > Display and touch settings > Night lightFrom there we can activate the filter at that moment, choosing whether we want it to turn on. from dusk to dawn using the device's location or setting a custom schedule (for example, from 22:30 PM to 7:00 AM). On that same screen, there is usually a slider to raise or lower the color temperaturefrom less warm to warmer.
In addition, the Night Light can be combined with other functions such as GrayscaleAvailable within Rest Mode or Digital Wellbeing. By turning the screen to black and white, the phone becomes less visually appealing and reduces the tendency to continue compulsively consuming content, which helps to... Let's disconnect before going to sleep.
In other systems, such as iOS, there is an equivalent setting called Night ShiftThis feature is accessible from Settings > Display & Brightness. It also allows you to schedule times, activate the sun from sunset to sunrise, and adjust the intensity of the warm tone. Although the name has changed, the goal remains the same: to reduce the impact of blue light on the brain. circadian rhythm and make using mobile phones more pleasant in dimly lit rooms.
By integrating these functions coherently—dark theme, night light, reduced brightness, grayscale, and sleep modes—it's possible to transform the mobile phone into a a much less intrusive tool During the night. With a few adjustments, we can continue reading, checking important messages, or consulting information without the screen becoming a source of white and blue light that noticeably interferes with our sleep.
Adopting the habit of turning on the Night Light, programming its automatic operation, and taking advantage of the system's wellness options is a simple way to take care of both visual health such as the quality of sleep. Although the ideal is still to reduce screen time in the hours before bedtime, properly configuring these functions allows the inevitable use of mobile phones at night to have a much smaller impact on our bodies.
