The science of light & sleep

You don't need a chronobiology degree to use our products well, but understanding the "why" makes the habits stick.

Light is a clock signal

Special cells in your eyes detect blue light and use it to set your internal 24-hour clock. Blue light in the morning is good — it wakes the clock up. Blue light at night is the problem — it convinces your brain it's still daytime and suppresses melatonin, the hormone that lets you sleep.

How the glasses help

Red-light glasses filter out the wavelengths that trip that alarm, so your brain can read the evening as night and let melatonin rise on schedule.

How the Polar Loop helps

You can't improve what you don't measure. The Loop quantifies your sleep and recovery so you can see, in numbers, whether your evening habits are actually working.

Go deeper

Our blog breaks each of these down in detail — start with "Why blue light wrecks your sleep."