If you spend a lot of time in front of your laptop, whether for entertainment purposes or work (or both!), you’re most likely concerned about your eye health, and circadian rhythm (sleep health) – as you should be.

Looking at the LCD screen for extended periods of time without taking breaks can cause eye fatigue and headaches and negatively impact your eyesight in the long run.

Some newer laptop screens that I have seen recently, from companies like HP have been described as LBL screens, or Low Blue Light. They sometimes also come as Privacy Screens as well, with a filter layer over the glass to prevent passerbys from getting glimpses of what you are doing.

What Is Low Blue Light Technology?

In short, laptop screens with the LBL technology filter out the harmful blue lights, which can cause eye strain to those sensitive to it.

Another common symptom users experience is having trouble falling asleep after being exposed to low blue light prior to going to bed. This is because bright lights interrupt the circadian rhythm, or indicate to the brain that it is daytime and instruct the brain to halt melatonin production.

There are apps you can download to force older screens to filter out blue light as well, like the excellent f.lux. You can find out more about that software by clicking this link.

With LBL enabled laptop screens this filtering out of blue light is done at the hardware level, and is usually accompanied by some kind of app, or software supplied by the manufacturer, which allows you to adjust or disable the filtering.

Depending on the type of laptop screen, enabling the LBL mode may or may not change the screen’s brightness. If it does not, keep in mind that using an optimal brightness setting is also vital for a comfortable viewing experience.

In dim-lit rooms, you should decrease brightness, and increase it if you’re in a room with plenty of light. Quite a lot of laptops have sensors built in near to the webcam which do this automatically.

Other Things To Keep In Mind

Besides having a low blue light mode, you can also ensure that the laptop you’re buying also has a flicker-free backlight. You can also opt for laptops with a higher refresh rate.

Many laptop screens now come with 120, 165, 144, 240, 300 or even 360 hertz refresh rates. The higher the rate the less "flicker" your eyes will have to deal with, which can reduce eye stain.

Further, laptop screens should have a proper anti-glare screen coating to eliminate reflections if they are being used outside. This is called a MATTE screen, or Anti Glare. More about that here.

Naturally, even with all these means of protection, it’s still recommended to take breaks; even a short 5-minute break after every hour or so is very beneficial.

Windows also has a built-in Night Light feature that can reduce blue lights. It works in a similar way to the f.lux software we recommended above, but we feel the f.lux software is a better option and has many more features.

If you have an older display with none of the features mentioned so far, and cannot install 3rd party software like f.lux, you should consider getting a pair of blue light blocking glasses or a blue light screen protector that you can attach to your monitor.

Conclusion

Using Low Blue Light Technology will obviously impact image quality, so if you’re playing a game or watching videos, you’ll certainly want to turn it off, which is understandable.

However, when reading, typing, or using the monitor prior to going to bed, we recommend you try out different LBL settings. It might look weird or unhelpful at first, but after a while, you’ll notice that your eyes feel more comfortable.