I guess you’ll find it hard to imagine your everyday life without your smartphone or laptop. To relax, for work, to check something out, they all go for several hours a day.
The result-your eyes are red and itchy.
More bonus points for the blurred vision and fatigue. The use of eye drops is also on the list.
Well, the best thing you can do is to remove all of the electronics, but I guess it might be that hard for you as it is for me.
That’s why in this article, I’ll share with you some tips and tricks that will save you a whole bunch of problems with your eyes.
What causes eye pain?
A number of factors make your eyes hurt when you’re staying in front of the screen.
Don’t forget to blink
To begin, research has shown that we actually forget to blink when looking at the monitor.
Normally, we blink around 15-20 times per minute, which makes 1,200 per hour.
It seems a lot, right?
But when we’re spending time on the computer, this number is considerably lower.
If you work normally for about 8 hours per day, sitting on the desk, your eyes basically dry out, which irritates them a lot.
The tears contain water, oils, lysozyme, etc. to nourish the eyes.
There are three types of tears: basal, emotional and reflex. Reflex tears appear when there are harsh irritants, or in case of dry eyes.
That’s why, sometimes, when you spend hours in front of the screen the tears start to roll one after the other.
What can you do?
Well, try this exercise. Every 20 minutes, blink around 10 times really slowly so that your eyes can re-moisture and you can finally forget about the eye drops.
It’s all about the habits
Most of the eye-related problems are caused by bad habits.
Create timing
For sure, it’s not necessary to cut all of your devices but building some high-tech habits is a must.
Instead of checking your phone for something new every 5 minutes, try to make a schedule. Turning on your device once every hour will help you regulate the time you spend in front of the screen.
Experts recommend shutting off the electronics for one or two days per week.
The ideal time for me is over the weekend. Every weekend I go out of town, for a hike or to the beach where I basically don’t use my phone at all.
The result? Even though I work in front of the computer, I don’t have any eye-related problems.
Follow the 20-20-20 rule
That one’s easy. Every 20 minutes, look at an object which is 20 feet away from you for at least 20 seconds.
Regular eye exams
It’s important to go to a specialist every once in a while to check whether you see as best a possible.
Not only can your doctor prescribe you wearing glasses but he can detect some early symptoms concerning your overall health such as diabetes, high blood pressure or a risk of stroke.
Check the humidity levels
There a lot of factors that make the air in the room dryer. During the winter months, the humidity levels become lower which makes the moisture from the eyes evaporate a lot quicker and the dry eye symptoms become worse.
You can try putting a humidifier in the room where you’re working or where you’re most often using your device to ease the symptoms.
Adjust your ambient lighting
Really often, eye strain is caused either by harsh interior lighting or by too much much sunlight coming through the window. There are a few things you can do.
The first one is placing your monitor perpendicular to the window, not in front of or behind it.
What else? You can use fewer or just put low-intensity light bulbs to reduce interior lighting. Another trick is to close the blinds or curtains.
Improve your devices
Researches show that 80% of the adults in America spend more than 2 hours a day in front of the screens and around 60% of them experience eye strain symptoms like red, dry eyes, eye pain, blurred vision, etc. So, what does this tell us?
We’re spending more and more time looking at those screens. Sad, but true.
Overall health problems are occurring due to the emitted light from the digital devices, especially from blue light.
Blue light
Blue light damages the retina and causes macular degeneration.
Actually, we have a cell in our retinas that is connected to our pineal gland, situated in the brain. That gland controls our sleep and wake cycle.
Not only that blue light damages the retina but it’s linked to something called the circadian rhythm.
When we’re exposed to blue light right before we go to bed, the Pineal gland produces less melatonin and we just can’t fall asleep.
Sleeping problems are one of the causes of cardiovascular problems, cancer and an overall increase in mortality.
Well, now you see what’s the problem with the blue light and why we should avoid it at all costs.
Iris
I can recommend you installing an eye-protecting software that lowers the emitted blue light from your laptop, smartphone or computer.
Iris is such a software.
It’s used by thousands of people and becomes more and more popular with its daily updates.
Basically, the two main features that Iris has, are reducing the blue light and regulating the brightness. There are 3 modes.
The first one is automatic. If you select that mode, the program automatically detects the ambient lighting and regulates the brightness.
With the manual mode, you have to choose between 9 types, Health, Sleep, Reading, Programming, Biohacker, Sunglasses, Dark, Movie, and Overlay.
Final words
If you’ve been working on a sedentary job in front of the computer for ages, probably you’ve got used to constant eye pain. But there are a bunch of things you can do to stop the eye strain.
Improving your high-tech habits is key.
While using proper lighting, limit computer usage or making regular eye exercises are a solution, there are some applications and software which do most of the work for you.
Well, installing such software as Iris is definitely a must.
Not only it will save your vision and reduce eye strain but also, the quality of your sleep will improve.
If you liked this article, share it with friends on social media so they can learn some tips and tricks for improving their eye health.
