How to relieve eye strain?

The eyes are an eccentric organ of the body through which we can admire the wonders of the world. But what would happen to such precious gems when they come under pressure?

Your eyes can tire from being overworked, and they may even feel irritated after long visual activities like looking at a computer screen, reading a book, or even long drives. This can result in what is known as eye strain. It is a commonly occurring condition in the modern world. Eye strain can be a result of various day-to-day activities like:

• Focusing on a single task for an increased duration.
• Poor lighting of the surroundings.
• Increased screen time and poor placement of digital device from the eyes.

If these are not modified they can progress to worsening conditions and lead to symptoms like –

• Headaches.
• Blurred vision.
• Dry eyes.
• Red eyes.
• In some extreme cases it can even result in should and neck pain.

All these can significantly affect the normal life of a person and impede them from doing some of their daily activities in the future if not solved.
Let’s jump right in and look at various ways to help our ease our eyes and give them the care they deserve.

Ways to relieve eye strain

• Environment setting: The lighting needs to change depending on the activity you do and should match to your comfort. While reading a book or the newspaper, the light should be directed to your task and preferably the source of light is to behind you. If you are watching the television or a digital screen the light can be dimmed which not only helps your eyes but also sets a relaxing mood. If you heavily use computers on daily basis check out this article How to Take Care Of Eyes For Computer Users.

• Blink: Your eyes need watering or else they will get thirsty and become irritated and dry. Luckily humans are designed to keep them watered by blinking which moisten and refresh your eyes time to time, but we might become immersed in our activities and forget to blink. So no matter how engrossed you are give your eyes the right treatment and blink time to time.

• 20-20-20 rule: this is a very simple rule that basically instructs you to take a 20 second break by staring at any object that is 20 feet away for every 20 minutes you spend looking at a screen up close. This is to help your eyes relax all the tensed muscles and refocus themselves.

• Catch a break: The eyes are not meant to be worked like a machine as they can not be stressed beyond a certain limit. In the end your eyes tend to become blurred and fuzzy if not given a break. So relax yourself and rest your eyes to give your productivity a boost.

• Position is the solution: The task you need to perform can be performed in different positions, but doing it in the right way can reduce your risks of eye strain. Books and newspapers are to be held at a distance of 15 inches, and the digital screens are supposed to be aced at a minimum distance of an arm length. Hand held digital screens are recommended to be read  below the eye level. This helps reduce strain on the muscles of the eyes.

• Document stand: at times you may have to refer documents as you work on your computer. The continuous shift can be a tedious task. That’s why positioning your documents in a way to avoid shifting of your eyes and neck can reduce the strain on them. A document stand specifically comes in application for this very reason.

• Fake tears: no not the tears you shed to get out of a situation, these are artificial tears that are sold over the counter for dry eyes. They can help re-hydrate your eyes in cases of intense focusing and prevent irritation of your eyes.

• Eye wear: there are many instances where the power of the glasses do not match the true eye sight of the individual. This can especially strain your eyes and cause even further deterioration of your vision. The eye wear should be of the correct and corresponding values to the true eye sight. For people who have to sit in front of a monitor for a long time are recommended to wear anti glare glasses and blue light light reducing glasses to take care of your eyes.

Despite all these ways to protect your eyes, many ignore these simple solutions and can result in complications like – cataract, retina dysfunction, macula degeneration, and sleep disturbances.

If you want to avoid these difficulties in the future take a break from this article and give your eyes the care deserve.