Key Takeaways
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Anti-glare glasses are designed to reduce glare and reflections from surfaces like screens for clearer vision and less visual distraction.
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Blue light glasses filter harmful artificial blue light rays from digital screens, helping to reduce eye strain and improve sleep.
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You can also choose glasses that combine anti-glare and blue light filtering to get protection from both types of eye strain.
Staring at screens all day? Or perhaps driving at night is leaving you squinting? You’re likely wondering: what’s better, anti-glare glasses vs blue light glasses?
The short answer: anti-glare glasses tackle the reflections coming from light sources, while blue light glasses block harmful blue light from digital screens.
Both can reduce eye strain, but they serve different needs. In this guide, we’ll explain their benefits, downsides, and the key differences.
Understanding Anti-Glare (Anti-Reflective) Glasses
Anti-glare glasses use an AR (anti-reflective) coating that eliminates surface reflections on lenses.
By letting more light through, these glasses can help improve clarity and reduce glare from overhead lights, screens, or headlights.
Benefits of Anti-Glare Glasses
1. Clearer Vision in Bright Settings
Reflections can obscure your sight and create visual distractions. The right pair of anti-glare glasses can cut these reflections significantly.
This is especially helpful in offices with harsh lighting or when reading on glossy screens. The result is sharper, crisper vision throughout the day, with less visual noise and better focus.
2. Reduced Eye Strain
Without distracting reflections, your eyes don’t have to constantly adjust to shifting light. This reduces the stress placed on your eye muscles, particularly during long reading or work sessions. It also decreases squinting, reducing the likelihood of tension headaches.
3. Safer Driving at Night
The combination of headlights, streetlamps, and wet roads all contribute to glare when driving at night. Anti-glare glasses help reduce these bright reflections, making your view of the road better, especially in low-visibility conditions.
This can help with reaction time and driving confidence, keeping you and others safer.
Limitations of Anti-Glare Glasses
1. Scratch easily
Anti-reflective coatings are usually quite delicate. Even soft cloths can sometimes scratch the surface if dust is present. Once scratched, the coating can distort your view.
This means that special lens cleaners and microfiber cloths are a must when cleaning your anti-glare glasses.
It’s also important to store your glasses in a hard case when not in use to extend the life of the coating.
2. Smudges Show Up More
The anti-reflective coating tends to attract oils and fingerprints, making your lenses look dirty faster.
If you frequently touch your lenses or use makeup, you can expect to clean them more regularly to maintain clarity.
3. Higher Price Point
AR coatings are an add-on in most glasses. Depending on the brand, they can increase your lens cost by up to 20%. So if you’re on a tight budget, this is a notable downside.
Understanding Blue Light Glasses
Blue light glasses use lenses that filter out specific wavelengths of blue light emitted from digital screens, LED lighting, and other artificial sources.
These lenses are designed to reduce digital eye strain and protect your sleep rhythm from being disrupted by screen exposure at night.
Benefits of Blue Light Glasses
1. Reduced Digital Eye Strain
Prolonged exposure to screens can lead to strained, dry, and irritated eyes. Blue light lenses may help by reducing the intensity of high-energy visible (HEV) light entering your eyes.
This can make screen time more comfortable, especially for gamers, office workers, and students.
You can find our list of the best blue light blocking glasses for gaming here.
2. Improved Sleep Patterns
Blue light exposure in the evenings has been shown to suppress melatonin, a hormone that initiates sleep.
By blocking blue wavelengths in the evening, blue light glasses may help you fall asleep more easily and get deeper rest. This makes them especially helpful for those who use screens late into the night.
For the best results? Wear your blue light glasses 2 hours before bedtime.
Take a look at our guide on the best blue light blocking glasses for sleep.
Enhance your sleep experience with Dream Recovery Blue Light Glasses.
3. Versatility in Use
These glasses come in many styles and prescriptions: reading, distance, and bifocal. Whether you need vision correction or just screen protection, there will be a pair available for you. Some versions may even include anti-glare coating as well.
Learn more here about the best blue light blocking reading glasses.
Limitations of Blue Light Glasses
1. Scientific Evidence Is New
Since these types of lenses are a pretty new invention, few scientific studies have been conducted exploring all of the benefits of blue light blocking glasses.
Regardless of this, countless users notice less eye fatigue and better sleep when using high-quality blue light glasses, especially in the evenings.
Check out this guide if you’re still wondering, “Are blue light glasses worth it?”
2. May Disrupt Beneficial Blue Light During Daytime
Natural blue light from the sun actually helps to regulate your body clock and boost your alertness.
This means that overuse of blue light blockers during the day could lead to grogginess or mood changes. That’s why it’s best to only use them during screen-heavy tasks or at night.
3. Not a Complete Eye Care Solution
While blue light glasses can make a really positive impact on your eye health and sleep, some of the other glasses don’t address all the causes of digital eye strain.
It’s still essential to adjust your screen brightness, limit the use of digital devices at night, and take regular breaks following the 20-20-20 rule (every 20 minutes, stare at something 20 feet away for at least 20 seconds).
Anti Glare Glasses vs Blue Light Glasses
When comparing anti-glare glasses vs blue light, the differences come down to the type of protection you need. Let’s take a look:
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Anti-glare glasses reduce reflections from light sources, offering sharper vision and improved comfort, especially in bright conditions and while driving at night. They don’t block blue light that might disrupt your sleep.
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Blue light glasses filter specific blue wavelengths emitted from digital screens. They’re best for long computer use, gaming, binge watching, and late-night scrolling. They shouldn’t be used while driving at night, since tinted lenses could make it harder to see.
If you’re someone who wears prescription glasses and finds yourself struggling with reflections and light sensitivity, getting new glasses with anti-glare technology or applying an anti-glare coating to your current glasses may be the way to go. Especially if you wear glasses while driving at night.
Whereas, if you spend a lot of time in front of screens, either for work or entertainment, and find yourself struggling with eye strain and disrupted sleep, blue light blocking glasses are a great choice.
Shop At Dream Recovery
When it comes to making the choice between anti-glare glasses vs blue light blockers, it all comes down to your individual needs. It’s usually best to consult an eye care professional if you’re unsure.
If you’re struggling with poor sleep and eye strain after extended periods of screentime, blue light glasses might be the way to go, however, not all of them are equal.
Unlike other mass-produced glasses, Dream Recovery’s Blue Light Glasses are hand-crafted, resulting in a polished, smooth, and high-quality finish. The frames are crafted from premium Italian Mazzucchelli acetate, while the premium lenses block 98% of blue light.
These glasses also feature two specialized lens options: Amber for daytime use and orange for nighttime use. These options are designed to provide continuous blue light protection for different times of the day.
Transform your sleep with Dream Recovery Blue Light Glasses.