How to prevent eye strain when using a computer?

Heard about computer eye strain? We bet you’ve also experienced it by now. At this moment in time vision problems from computer screens are reasonably common in every age group. From kids to teenagers and older adults, we are gouging our eyes and commonly get redness around the lens. Our eyes are one of the important sense organs in the body and are very delicate enough to get irreversibly damaged.

Due to various vision problems occurring currently, we are suffering through various vision changes and uneasiness in the eyes. The principal cause of the various set of eye problems is due to blue light rays. It’s one of the most heightened threats to our vision problems now and is responsible for causing various detrimental computer eye strain. Read on to discover the cause, remedy and prevention for constant computer eye strain.

What is computer eye strain?

Computer eye strain syndrome also known as digital eye-strain is a set of various vision problems. These visual problems occur because of excessive hour consumption of digital screens. As a result, we develop a series of painful eye problems which affect our eye condition and visual acuity.

Eye-strain caused by computers, laptops, tablets and smartphones cause a drastic change in our lifestyle. Since our life is now thoroughly integrated with the use of digital devices, it is now completely apparent to catch computer eye strain in an instant. Everyone with healthy vision as well as people with eye condition is bound to experience symptoms of computer eye-strain if they use screens. Computer eye strain involves eye problems like blurry vision, double vision, eye-strain, headaches, dry-eyes and sleep deprivation.

At the initial stage, this computer eye-strain seems pretty light and not worrisome however with time, it turns frequent. Once you develop eye-strain in your eyes then these will continue to occur until you use protection. Researchers have reported that if this computer eye strain is not prevented or treated at the right time, they’ll turn into progressive vision loss. Severe eye diseases like a cataract and age-related macular degeneration can result due to computer eye strain. With some many unendurable vision complications, individuals encounter problems while performing their day to day activities.

What are the signs of computer eye strain?

How do you know that you’ve developed eyestrain? We’ve compiled you with the most common computer monitor eye strain symptoms. These symptoms might seem very insignificant and small-scale but with time these turn out to be the hardest to bear. Though eye strain and headaches from computers are the most standard type of symptoms, there are many others as well.

Take a look and initiate prompt action if you identify similar signs in yourself.

• Blurry vision
• Headaches
• Neck Pain
• Exhaustion in seeing
• Unclear Image
• Watery eyesv
• Dry eyes
• Burning Sensation
• Irritated eyes
• Shoulder and Neck Pain
• A feeling of a foreign particle
• Difficulty in refocusing in the eye

These are the most occurring signs of computer eye strain however there can be many others as well depending on the individual eye condition. If you have any eye condition then eye strain from the computer and screens can be more painful and severe.

What are the causes of eye strain when using a computer?

The root problem of computer eye strain begins with uninterrupted hours of digital screen usage. It’s an undeniable fact that our lives revolve around the use of the internet, technology and digital devices. As much as screens have provided the leisure of entertainment, gaming, education, shopping and many more but it has its negative impacts as well.

All our digital devices, the sun and the LED lights emit harmful blue light rays. It is a high energy visible light (HEV) that penetrates the retina of the eyes and causes various problems in the eye. Blue light exposure in a limited time is not a vital problem to the eye but since we can’t manage our time. We are digitally dependent on our screen and continue to consume 40 hours in a week. An average person in the United Kingdom uses the screen for up to 5 to 6 hours a day. The increased hours of exposure of blue light rays is daunting to the eyes as it leads to the creation of multiple vision problems. Blue light rays focus on the retina of the eye and lead to visual fatigue and headaches in a user.

What are the Impacts of Blue light rays?

Blue light rays have a significant impact on our eyes due to the prolonged hours of digital screen usage. Here are some of the notable impression of blue light rays absorption in the eyes:

Retina: Since the retina in our eyes is the site of vision formation which is located at the end of the eyeball, it carries out a great role in the prevention of blinding. However blue light rays directly penetrate the lens to reach the retina and result in the retinal photochemical damage. As a result, you are on the verge of developing age-related macular degeneration or permanent vision loss.

Irritation and Exhaustion: The most universal aftermath of developing computer eye strain is experiencing constant eye irritation. The annoyance or irritation in the eye is utterly intolerable and leads to intense agony in the eye. With hours of work to do on your screen, you’ll feel exhausted after an hour. It is because our eyes have to put a lot of focus or concentration on the screen than usual to interpret the image.

Sleep Deprivation: If you are performing a task at night then blue light leads to sleep deprivation. At night, blue light rays at its excessive level and hence it causes hindrance in the secretion of a sleep-inducing hormone called melatonin. Once the hormone secretion slows down, our sleep quality changes to worse. Our brain perceives the night as daylight hence keeps us feeling charged and wakes the whole night which eventually leads to a bitter morning. The morning brings tiredness, sleepiness and unproductiveness. It also produces an increase in sleep disorders after a period of time.

Instant Breaks between work: Blue light rays result in various forms of visual problems at once. You experience all of them one by one, your eyes water in a minute and other times it turns completely red. It often feels exceedingly worse than it looks. As a result, the frequent occurrence of computer eye strain leads to disruption in the work. You have to follow breaks every 5 minutes to rest your eyes or take it away from the screen. Which ultimately breaks your workflow and causes inconvenience with your creativity.

How to treat eye strain from the computer and other digital screens?

With such fundamental problems from blue light exposure from our digital screen, we are restricted to take urgent steps to cease its wrath. If you are also worried about how to prevent eye strain from computer use then we have sorted with some helpful guide. With our discussed tips, you’ll be acknowledged about how to reduce eye strain at your computer with perfect guidance and results.

There are many solutions on the web and suggestions from an ophthalmologist to treat or prevent eye strain but only some are impressive towards blue light eradication. All the recommendations are influenced by home computer eye strain remedy and technology advance support. Here are some of the most robust and effective solution that has impacted a beneficial change in the eye:

Glasses for computer screen eye strain: Blue light Glasses

The best glasses to reduce computer eye strain are Blue light glasses which are advised severely by most of the opticians around the world. Blue light glasses are anti-reflective coated and known for removal of 99.9% of harmful blue light rays. With its anti-reflective filter, the blue light rays get blocked or reflected when coming towards the eye. With the elimination of blue light rays, eye problems like eye-strain, headaches, dry-eyes and many more reduce to none and your eye feels free.

It supports an active protective mode for you to continue your work without any eye complication and disturbance. With blue light glasses, you don’t need to perform any major lifestyle changes but switch to a fashionable accessory. It encourages you with unlimited hours of screen protection and brings a statement to your ensemble. Blue light glasses that help reduce computer eye strain are one of the efficient and effective solutions towards the removal of blue light rays.

Blue light filters are available in prescription and non-prescription lenses so that everyone can collectively secure themselves. Nothing but use a pair of glasses while performing your 9 hours of office work, or while playing video games and surfing through social media (we know how long it takes).

Use Artificial Tears

Artificial tears help greatly with giving sudden relief from the pain of itchiness and redness. It keeps your eyes lubricated and prevents the dryness from recurring. There are many types of artificial tears in the market, and their use depends on the eye condition. Your opticians will recommend to you the teardrops that will suit the best for you. It is highly advised that you don’t take drops that contain preservatives as it may cause problems in the eye.

Blink More Often:

Blinking helps greatly against developing tears and eye strain. With professions like graphic designer, Coders or accountant and others need to focus their eyes on the screen intensively. The intensity of concentration or stares causes the eye to get instant exhaustion and develop headaches in the eye. However, if you blink more, the overexposure and focus get to break in between and there’s no intensive pressure lying in the eye.

Take Breaks from Screen:

For some, it might not be an option as many perform their professional work on the screens but health remains always the priority. It is highly advisable for employees to require 15 minutes of break for almost three times a day to maintain the health of the eye. However, an ordinary individual should certainly take breaks from constant social media and Netflix surfing. Time taken away from the screen, not only results with healthy eye condition but also maintains stress-free mental power.

Regulate the Brightness in Monitors and Rooms.

Less or extreme brightness in the monitor affects your eyes very vigorously than you expect. The glare emission causes external pain and causes difficulty to barely see an object clearly. Not only the extreme brightness from monitors is harmful but the glare from your room is equally challenging to the eyes. Glare from the LED and fluorescent lights cause unnecessary lightning in the eyes which can result in pain and tears. Therefore turn off your lights which are not necessary at the moment you are using your screen or in general to absorb adequate brightness.

Use Blue light filter Application on Digital Screen

Nowadays books and movies have turned into smartphones and tablets, the screen has achieved absolutely less distance from the eye. Hence digital devices such as computers, laptops, tablets or smartphones have a pre-equipped blue light filter application in them. This application helps to minimise the blue light rays emission from the screens when needed.