Amateur astronomers improve their vision in low light by waiting for a while outdoors at night, and, oddly enough, using flashlights with red filters installed when they need light. They do this because unfiltered light causes the eye’s iris to contract, and red light does not have this effect.
It is particularly interesting if this red light has actually been improving their visual sensitivity.
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At this point I’d wait to see if the study is replicable. And even then it doesn’t establish that the effect, if there is one, requires filtered light. There doesn’t seem to have been a control in the study for that, though there might have been in the insect studies that inspired it.
To use an analogy that may or may not be irrelevant, I can cure UV resin with full spectrum light so long as it includes the necesary frequencies and energy of UV light. The visible light doesn’t diminish the effect of UV curing. (IR, might affect it, though, I don’t know.)
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This sounds like spiratilistic woo to me.
If it works i’d like to know how it actually works, not just mysterious “energy”
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Vision definitely depends on energy, though not entirely mysterious.
What it seems they’re suggesting is that the photo-chemistry in the eye gets refreshed - what it doesn’t seem to include is a proposed mechanism.
Just spitballing here but perhaps the lower longer wavelengths stimulate a higher proportion production of opsins without the subsequent bleaching that full light exposure would incur. Creating a surplus balance of sorts.
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Yes, it totally does, but the main thing I’ve heard it attributed to is the red light providing energy to cytochrome c oxidase, which is past of the oxidative metabolic pathway in the mitochondria.
The field as a whole is red light therapy or low level light/laser therapy. Annoying, there are a lot of red light manufacturers funding studies in the area.
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AksHuaLLy the reason for the red light is that it does not degrade rhodopsin in the eye’s rods as quickly as white light, allowing for night vision to be maintained even if a red light is used.
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Thanks for the update. Most of what I recall about observing is from books and magazines from before the web caught on. I explored this topic this evening, and found that (as with much else) the efficacy of red light, compared to dim light of any kind is still being actively debated. It’s always good to swap new knowledge for old assumptions.
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I completely agree that more research absolutely needs to be done. However, filtering the light available to the subject is a different experiment that introduces a great deal of variability. My sun is different from your sun, if we live a different latitudes, or experiencing different weather. If your house has nice sun and I’m in a basement apartment, we’re not getting the same dosage. Additionally, anytime you rely on the Sun as a source for light, you introduce some danger. If you have an excellent filter that safely only allows one wavelength through, you still have to consider what least your least intelligent test subject is going to do.
Wow, that’s a blast from the past.
Anyone else look at the Virtual Boy and immediately think of the invaders in War of the Worlds, or the ones in the Tripods books?
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