Lockdown has taught us many good things, including healthcare. But many of us ignore the fact that eye health is equally important. The torture we have caused our eyes during the lockdown is quite a lot—the screen time due to online classes, work from home, and watching movies on TV has increased considerably. All of this has lead to eye strain and other complications. 

What is Eyestrain?

Eyestrain is a common condition when your eyes get tired from excessive use, such as driving long distances or staring at computer screens or other digital devices. Eyestrain can be annoying. But usually, it is not critical and goes away once you rest your eyes or take additional steps to reduce your eye discomfort. 

Eyestrain symptoms include:

• Sore, tired, burning or itching eyes
• A feeling that you can’t keep your eyes open
• Dry eyes or Watery Eyes
• Sore neck, back, or shoulders
• Double vision or blurred
• Headaches
• Increased sensitivity to light
• Trouble concentrating

What causes eye strain?

Excessive use of computers or other digital devices is one of the most frequent causes of eye strain. People who look at digital screens for two or more hours in a row every day are at higher risk of getting this condition.

Computer or other digital devices use strains the eyes more than reading anything offline like print material as people tend to:

• Blink less while using computers 
• View the screens that are at less than ideal distances or angles
• Use digital devices that have glare or devices that are more reflective.
• Use digital devices with low contrast separating the text and the background.

Some other factors that can worsen the Eyestrain condition 

• Poor posture
• Glare on your screen
• Setup of your computer desk
• Air-conditioning or Fan nearby

How can you prevent it from happening?

Eyestrain can cause eye discomfort, and it can get a little annoying. So taking precautions is very important. Including small routines in your daily life can take off the strain from the eyes. Find below some simple techniques that can help you with your eyestrain.

Eye yoga

Eye yoga is nothing but calming exercises for the eyes. It is useful in getting rid of eyestrain. You can find many eye yoga techniques online, which you can refer to and start including in your daily routine, especially if you are the one who has a lot more screen time. Eye yoga is beneficial and helps to reduce eye strain and discomfort. There are even videos online that you can refer to for eye yoga.

20-20-20 rule.

The 20-20-20 rule is easy; shift your eyes to look at an object every 20 minutes for at least 20 seconds. Also, the item should be 20 feet away. The 20-20-20 rule technique will give comfort to your eyes and help with eye strain. The constant staring at the computer screen causes eye strain as you are staring at the screen without blinking. By trying to move your eyes to another object helps release the strain on the eyes.

Time-off

Taking time off for a day or two can help with eye strain. But this option is not viable for everyone. So whenever is your day off, limit your screen-on time. Giving your eyes a Time-off will help your eyes to relax a bit. Give your eyes a little time off as they are always at work.

Correcting vision

Sometimes uncorrected vision causes eye strain. Eye strain happens because you are trying to focus on the screen you can’t see correctly. Your eyes are always trying to adjust to the screen in front of you, which causes eyestrain. In such cases, correcting your vision by wearing prescription glasses or lens is essential. By doing so, you can get rid of the eye strain.

These are some small techniques you can use to get rid of eye-strain. Eye-strain that is constant needs to be checked by a doctor as it could be due to an underlying condition. But usually, it is not severe.

Make sure to consult an eye specialist before adding any of the above techniques to your routine. Digital eye strain has gotten relatively common due to an increase in screen-time. So make sure to balance the time that you spend on screen. 

Disclaimer: This is an informative post. We request you to consult a doctor before trying out any of the above methods