How Long Can You Stare At The Sun Before Going Blind

ah the beach a place for Sun fun and irreversible eye damage wait irreversible wait what we've all heard that staring at the Sun is bad for you but it really makes you wonder how long could you sneak a peek before scorching out your vision for good what about all those rules about looking at eclipses what about people who say staring at the Sun is good for you well science has the answer so throw on some shades brainiacs we're finding out exactly how long you can safely stare at the Sun first off don't ever look directly at the Sun just just don't not only does it cause damage it causes it quickly you'll physically see the damage in as little as two minutes after staring the moment you lock eyes with the Sun you literally start developing an eye sunburn not unlike the time you decided to hang sand sunscreen at the beach ultraviolet light penetrates crazy deep and the cells in your cornea will start to blister and crack only a few hours after exposure fortunately survival instincts kick in pretty quick and most people will be compelled to look away but what about just a quick glance that can't be all that bad right we're sure you've noticed that weird blurry spot that'll appear in your vision this is nothing to worry about at this point you're only looking at a few minutes of weirdness before things go back to normal but let's say you decide to keep on staring you're now subjecting your eyes to ridiculously high doses of UV radiation if you limit yourself to only a second or two you're still okay at this point it is possible to recover eventually you'll regain function in the bleeped out areas of your vision and again be back to a hundred percent in no time oh wait you're still staring bad call my friend now things are starting to get serious after about five to six seconds of solid staring the retinas super fragile tissue starts to break down and will eventually lead to total solar retinopathy this means your eyes are no longer going to process light normally and you're going to be left with huge spots of your vision blurred out kind of like the sensor bar on a TV so say goodbye to all your rods and cones because the damage comes quick and in some cases is irreversible astronomer Mark Thompson put a pig's eye behind the scope of a long-range telescope and faced it towards the Sun it only took the Sun 20 to burn a hole through the lens of the eye admittedly most people know that looking at the Sun through a telescope is a particularly bad idea so this may not surprise you brainiacs but here's the thing even though you have only looked for a few seconds the damage can take about 12 hours to kick in if you notice watery eyes sensitivity to bright lights or headaches see your eye doctor immediately there may still be time to reverse the damage more serious symptoms include decreased color vision or just blurry vision in general blind spots difficulty in discerning shapes and even permanent eye damage that can indeed include blindness it's no joke take the Sun very seriously and that includes during a solar eclipse the day may darken for a bit but it's still incredibly dangerous to look at in Eclipse without proper gear technically while the moon is completely covering the Sun you could look directly at the Eclipse and not worry the tricky part is this is such a fleeting moment before you know if the moon will have already traversed across the Sun enough to let dangerous amounts of UV rays free so even if it looks like twilight around you if you keep looking at in eclipse you might as well be looking directly at the Sun but believe it or not there are small groups of people who believe that staring directly at the Sun can be good for you they will gaze right at our nearest star for as long as 45 minutes these self-proclaimed Sun gazers will stare at the Sun in the morning or at dusk for an initial duration of 10 seconds they will then add on 10 seconds each day until they're staring at the Sun for 45 minutes at a time popularized by Hiro Ratan manic he claims to have not eaten in 8 years since beginning this practice he says that by eating a steady diet of solar rays he needs no other nourishment than water while also claiming Sun gazing will stimulate weight loss give higher energy levels and increase the size of the pineal gland and he says to trust him he was studied by a team of doctors at Jefferson Medical College for 130 days who can confirm his story except he wasn't George Brainerd PhD whom Anna claimed to be studied by says the study never took place as amazing as these health benefits sound turns out this man was nothing more than a snake oil salesman and the son gazers well if they are experiencing health benefits they very could be coming by means of the placebo effect where our brains believe we are doing something to our bodies that will help us and because we believe it actual changes start to occur the human mind is an incredible thing right so take our word for it this sungazing stuff can cause serious retinal damage best to stay away well there you have it the ifs ands and buts of how long a human can stare at the Sun without damage and the consequences of looking for too long but don't get discouraged brainiacs there are actually extremely effective methods of looking at the Sun that include glasses or if you love arts and crafts you can view sunspots with a homemade sunspot viewer as for the Sun gazers well to each their own but maybe show them this video if you ever come across one [Music] you [Music]

Channel: Brainiac

Views: 793,803

Rating: 4.9029636 out of 5

Keywords: Brainiac, sun, star, solar, solar eclipse, solar damage, corona, light, UV, uv rays, sun gazers, retina, cones, rods, eyes, eye ball, sun burn, brainiac, animated story, stories, animation, Sunscreen, sun's rays, astronomy, eclipse, sunburn, radiation, retinitis

Id: Qh3HE7lFGls

Length: 5min 30sec (330 seconds)

Published: Thu Feb 06 2020