At least that’s the plan…
Can new glasses make you happy?
Spy thinks so, at least when fitted with the company’s new Happy Lens technology. Said to allow in more serotonin-triggering long-wave blue light than standard lenses while filtering out more of the serotonin-discouraging short-wavelength blues, Spy’s claims are certainly novel. The theory is that bonus serotonin makes the wearer more inclined, chemically, toward happiness, an effect that continues as the chemical is metabolized. The lenses are also designed to reduce eye strain and fatigue while enhancing contrast to allow the eyes to better follow varying terrain (trails, for example).
Don’t agree? At least in the US, Happy-lensed glasses can be returned within fourteen days for a full refund.
Our quick peer through the lenses didn’t make have any immediate mood-lifting effects, but the rose tint hiding behind that blue mirror was pleasant and did make the green hills of Monterrey pop nicely. If nothing else, the smiling face etched into Happy lenses is a pleasant change from more aggressive eyewear branding.
The Screw – available with Happy lenses – is Spy’s performance flagship. The half-frame design allows for easy lens exchanges and those lenses are hydrophobic, oleophobic, and scratch-resistant (afraid of water, oil, and resistant to scratches) to keep vision clear. Hytrel pads keep the Screw stuck to the face and temple-mounted air scoops reduce lens fogging.
With more of a casual/enduro (sorry) look, the Cutter is notable for its separable frame and top-loading lenses. The all-white ship with standard lenses, while a black/white version ships Happy.
The Daft is an outsized shield-type design. Sadly, it’s not possible to be both Daft and Happy at the moment.
The Omen MX is just too awesome not to share- especially in the powder blue Happy version.
Aren’t you glad you saw that?
Comments (4)
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Now we know where Mrs Toast is working. Goats are a new departure.
Okay, I’m calling this one as horseshit.
ALL blue light is short wavelength. There is no “long wavelength” blue light – that would be (in ascending order of wavelength green, yellow, orange, red. Any physicists care to enlighten me? Any variation in wavelength of blues is going to be so infinitesimally small that it’s going to be undetectable in any experimental setting where you’re also looking at serotonin levels.
And serotonin being inclined to happiness? It’s not that simple. Any increase in serotonin takes weeks and weeks to have any effect on mood (the relationship is correlational, BTW, not necessarily causational) and is potentially more due to receptor cycling than the increase in serotonin per se. I also suspect that any (transient) increase in serotonin levels we see will be far below the threshold required to have any benefit on mood, even if the other stuff above wasn’t true. Also, dopamine is usually picked up by the mass media as being the “happy” molecule – even though it isn’t. Oh, and oxytocin. Any of those affected by wearing glasses? No? Oh..
On top of which I can’t find the “studies” mentioned in PubMed which might explain these magic long wavelength blue rays and their incredible effect on mood. Citations please!
Humpf.
Okay, a suick peer at their website shows lots of citations for melatonin: http://www.spyoptic.com/happy/happy-science not serotonin – someone got their neurotransmitters mixed up? Even then the evidence is far far from equivocal. There are no studies there linking melotonin and mood apart from SAD, which is a separate thing entirely.
And from a cursory look none of the studies filter blue into shorter and longer wavelengths. And the studies are all about how blue light is the one you need.
So, quackery then.
But they look cool. And I think Chipps is jet lagged.