How To Reduce Eye Tiredness

Salam..

Young adults nowadays are hardly escaped from using digital devices ( computer, tablets, smartphones) and as a result of a prolonged near work, our eyes will become tired and some will also notice redness of the eyes. Also, this is sometimes accompanied by a headache at the end of the day.

Working in the optical sector, I have received a lot of complaints regarding this issue. If you are experiencing these kind of symptoms, here are some tips to reduce the risk of eye tiredness.

1. Regular eye exam

First and foremost, have your eyes checked regularly to ensure you have an updated prescription for your glasses or contacts. Inform the optometrists/opticians how often you use the computer and how far the screen is in front of your eyes so they can test your eyes at a specific working distance.

2. Practice 20-20-20 rule

Take a break! Do not push your eye muscles. For your information, our eye muscles help us to focus at near. Just as the muscles at other parts of our body, they will get tired after a prolonged activity. For example, after we do a vigorous exercise, our muscles will become sore. The same goes to our eye muscles.

So, remember this 20-20-20 rule. Take a 20 seconds break after 20 minutes of near work and gaze at distant objects (preferably green objects) before continuing your work. This will make a significant difference.

3. Remember to blink

Believe it or not, we blink less often when we are using computer/tablets but little that we realize about it. Blinking is very important to keep your eyes moisturize as it will spread the tears around the eyes. When we blink less frequently, the tears will get evaporated easily to the surrounding and leave our eyes dry.

Another vital thing you need to know is, tissues in our eyes (cornea) also need oxygen which generally comes from the surrounding. The oxygen will first dissolve in our tears before it is supplied to the cornea. So, when we are having dry eyes, less oxygen will get inside the eyes. As a result, our eyes will become red.

4. Use computer eyewear

Lenses nowadays have a protective coating against harmful blue light emitted from the computer screen. This blue light can cause damage to the eye especially retina (macular degeneration) and crystalline lens (cataract). By having a blue light filter built in your lens, it will reduce the damage to the eyes and lessen the eye strain. Besides, ensure that your lenses have an anti-reflective coating to reduce the glare by minimizing the light reflecting off the front and back surfaces of your lenses.

3. Modify the position of your workstation

It is important to position your computer at a proper distance in front of you. Generally, the screen should be slightly below the eye level and around 20-28 inches from the eyes. Avoid positioning your computer near to the window as it will give out glare which causes eye strain.

5. Eye exercise

Regular eye exercise can reduce eye strain by improving our focus and concentration. Simply hold a pen at your arm's length at your eye level. Focus at the top of the pen. Slowly bring the pen closer to your eyes and stop when it appears blur/double. Then bring the pen back to your arm's length. Repeat 10-15 times.

6. Modify computer display

Use larger prints as small ones require more focus. Adjust the brightness of the screen so it will be at the same level to the surrounding.

Last but not least, do have enough sleep as it will affect our overall health and well-being. Hope those tips will help!

Till then, Assalamualaikum..