Gazing at the sun will not cause blindness, if done at sunset or sunrise.
This is not true–sunlight always contains UV light, and this can cause severe and irreversible eye problems with prolonged exposure, especially if looking directly at the sun.
A Facebook video with over 31,000 likes promotes ‘sungazing’, saying that advice not to look into the sun is wrong and it won’t blind you. This could be dangerous.
Bad health information can cause harm if people follow it. It can also undermine good quality information from public health authorities and medical professionals. We have written before about dangerous false claims on social media presented as legitimate health advice including about sun protection.
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The video starts with the claim “Have you ever been warned not to look at the sun? Here's the truth. Gazing at the sun won't blind you” and later recommends this as a “daily practice”.
Sungazing is a meditative practice that involves focussing on the sun and looking directly at it. However, this is not recommended by medical experts.
Excessive sun exposure without appropriate sunglasses can cause irreversible blindness as well as increasing cataract risk.
Exposure over time increases these risks, so sungazing every day as the video says would be expected to cause damage.
Sungazing can cause immediate damage to the retina (the back of the eye). There are many case reports of eye damage happening after single episodes of deliberate sungazing.
The account that posted the video has commented under the post: “Disclaimer: As mentioned in the video, do it in the safe hours, 30 minutes after sunrise, or before sunset. - Clearly people do not know what “Gazing” means. No one said stare at the sun. Hope this clarifies the confusion…”
But sungazing typically does involve staring at the sun, and the video starts by saying warnings “not to look at the sun” are unfounded. The video is also viewable as a reel without seeing this comment.
The video also contains the same advice to practice sungazing “within 30 minutes after sunrise, before sunset”.
In terms of these supposed ‘safe hours’, sunlight does indeed contain less UV at sunrise and sunset, peaking in the middle of the day.
However, these periods do still have UV, and in fact the direct line of sight to the sun (as opposed to when it is above us in the sky) may increase the risk of UV damage to the eyes even when not directly sungazing.
Denise Voon (MCOptom), Clinical Adviser at the College of Optometrists told Full Fact: “Looking directly at the sun can cause solar burns so we strongly advise people not to look directly at the sun at any time of the day including at sunrise and sunset.”
The video also says “Forget about toxic sunscreens”. The NHS strongly advises use of sunscreen to prevent increased cancer risk from the sun’s UV rays. We have written about false claims on sunscreen previously.
We contacted the Facebook page that posted the video, but have not received a response at the time of writing.
Featured image courtesy of Sandy Chase
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