There have been many studies done, that show exposure to the blue light emitted by electronics – smartphones and tablets – especially if you are reading before you go to sleep. At night this can throw our body’s natural biological clock – the circadian rhythm – out of kilter, our sleep can suffer, and even worse, according to a Harvard study, it could even contribute to cancer, diabetes, heart disease and obesity. Not all colors have this effect – blue light is great during the day because it helps to boost our attention and reaction times, but after sundown, it is not so good. They recommend using a dimmer, reddish, light at night, thus cutting down on the shift of your circadian rhythm and helping you to suppress melatonin. This the idea behind a new option in the popular reading app, Oyster, with their new Lumin feature.
Oyster is a popular reading app, brought to Android market about a year ago, and has won awards and has been featured by The New Yorker, CNN, The Today Show and even The New York Times. If you subscribe to their Oyster Unlimited for $9.95 a month, you have unlimited access to over one million books that are synced to your app instantly allowing you to read them offline. The app allows you access to virtually every author in the world and will offer recommendations based on what you like to read. You can even share what you are reading on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram, follow friends, create book lists and explore the ‘libraries’ of creative and interesting people.
The newest release of the app now includes a new feature that they call Lumin, and when you turn on that feature it automatically adjusts to the amount of natural sunlight outside, based on your location and the time of day. As the sun sets, the feature starts to subtract the amount of blue light your device – be it a smartphone or tablet – is emitting and gradually replaces it with a warmer, softer amber light. This color no only reduces your eyestrain, but make it easier to fall asleep. Oyster is the first e-reading device to incorporate automatically adjusting the amount of blue light you are subjected to while reading.
With Oyster, you can either purchase a book and read it or sign up for their Oyster Unlimited for $9.95 a month – less than the cost of many single books – and have unlimited access to over one million books. There is a free 14-day trial so you can try the unlimited service. With over one million books, unlimited access and now the Lumin feature…the world really is your Oyster.