Irlen Syndrome: How to Upgrade Your Entire Life With Sunglasses

Alright y’all, listen up. This article is important. We’re going to be discussing a condition that is more common than asthma or heart disease, but few of the people who have it ever find out. Irlen Syndrome is a condition where the brain works harder than it should to process excess blue light, causing low energy and difficulty focusing and performing. Well, in today’s world, everyone is exposed to blue light. Blue light is the light coming from your fluorescent light bulbs, screens on electronics, LEDs, pretty much every artificial light source we use today.

Basically here’s the thing, everyone is constantly exposed to blue light frequencies, and many of us lose energy processing it because we have Irlen syndrome. However, because we live our whole lives exposed to blue lights, most of us just think it’s normal. Without testing, there really isn’t any way to know you have Irlen syndrome. There are some clues. If you get tired after staring at screens, or get headaches. If you find yourself feeling worse in places like walmart that use high amounts of fluorescent lights. For the most part though, it’s hard to know for sure.

This is where the work of Helen Irlen comes in. Helen Irlen is a therapist and researcher who discovered that many of her clients improved greatly when they wore blue-light blocking glasses or avoided artificial light sources. Ironically, she discovered Irlen syndrome because she herself DOES NOT have it. The symptoms of Irlen syndrome are so common that, she believes, if she had it herself, she would not have thought it was simply a will-power problem when her therapy clients told her they just get tired after looking at screens.

Now, here’s the fun part: what we can do about it. You see, the reason I’m so excited about learning about Irlen syndrome is that addressing it is a way that so many people can improve. You might be a top performer who has a lot of great habits, yet if you worked on lowering your blue light exposure, you could be even better. On the flip-side, if you’re someone like me who has lived their life relating to the term ADD or who has trouble with deep focus or energy, then this may be your magic pill. At the very least, it’s one of the cheapest and easiest health improvements you can make.

First, you’ll want to test for Irlen Syndrome by taking the Irlen Syndrome Test. You can take a free test at https://irlen.com/get-tested/

I recommend taking all the tests on this page, but at least take the long test.

If you determine that you could have Irlen Syndrome, here’s how you can address it. First and foremost, you can get diagnosed or at least take the test. Not to beat a dead horse but if you’re reading this, you should take the free test. Even if you’ve never had focus problems, become tired from reading, or had headaches from light exposure, you could still very easily have Irlen syndrome.

The easiest solution for Irlen syndrome is to get a pair of Blue-light blocking glasses. You can simply buy a pair of cheap colored glasses or sunglasses, or you can invest in professional glasses that are made for the purpose of light-health. I personally like the brand Gunnar Glasses at https://gunnar.com/ . They make glasses for professional gamers and offer all sorts of frames and lenses. Franky I just like them because they actually look good, though they are also top notch quality. If you really want to go professional, you can get a pair of glasses from the Irlen institute by getting diagnosed professionally. You can find a diagnostician at https://irlen.com/find-an-irlen-test-center/ . Otherwise, for the cheap and easy option just start wearing some gas station sunglasses all day. Orange tints work well, and do a good job blocking the blue light without making rooms too dark. Understand however that official blue light blocking glasses like gunnar are designed specifically to block all the most interfering shades of blue light that affect our minds.

The glasses are the best and most effective way to address blue light, but there are other methods to be sure. First of all, try to use natural light sources as much as possible and artificial lights sparingly. If you can, use halogen lights in your house and not fluorescents or LEDs.

Next, install software on your computers to lower blue light spectrums. The best program is f.lux which can be found at https://justgetflux.com/ . f.lux is free but if you can, be sure to make a donation to them. This software is great and helps people who work on computers all day, which is more and more common these days. If you can, download the same software on your phone and tablets, or find an alternate. I think f.lux is available on apple but not android. There are plenty of alternatives though, and a few should come up if you search f.lux on your app store.

For more information on Irlen Syndrome, be sure to check out these articles and podcasts:

https://blog.bulletproof.com/irlen-syndrome-test-glasses-treatment-light/

https://blog.bulletproof.com/helen-irlen-your-glass-is-always-full-through-irlen-lenses-291/

https://bengreenfieldfitness.com/article/biohacking-articles/vision-enhancing-glasses/

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