Eye fatigue is also termed eye strain. It happens when your eyes start to feel irritated or tired due to overactivity. Activities that can result in eye strain include constant screen viewing, reading, driving, and more.
Eyestrain is very common in the younger generation and working class. As we are in the digital age, most of us at some stage will surely experience eyestrain. When you experience eye fatigue, due to extensive screen time on a tablet, smartphone, or PC it is known as computer vision syndrome.
Eyestrain can be treated with rest, and sleep. On the other side, if you experience prolonged eye-fatigue then you must discuss the condition with your optometrist.
What are the Symptoms & Causes of Eye Strain
Some of the clear and early symptoms include tired and itching eyes. The symptoms and conditions vary from person to person. Headache, blurred vision, dry or watery eyes, shoulder, and neck pain are all included in eye-strain symptoms.
The primary cause of eye-fatigue nowadays is related to excessive screen time. When you start looking at the screen for prolonged hours this will result in the above conditions. According to a report, 87% of people in the USA on average spend two hours daily on one or two screens.
Children at an early age are prone to eye fatigue, they need parental guidance.
The below scenarios can cause eye strain or eye fatigue in all ages.
- Lack of rest, overly engrossed with screen time
- Eye dryness, with reduce blinks.
- Prolonged focus hours, for doing any specific task.
- Working in a place with too dim or too bright lights
- Already have a weak vision or uncorrected eyesight.
- Eye or screen position is not good
- Screen position too close or too far from eyes.
- Excessively bright screens are not adjusted according to the room environment.
How to Prevent Eye Fatigue with Simple Hacks
Below are some lifestyle changes to adopt, as they can help you to cope with eye strain effectively.
- Enable Night Light on Screen
A very helpful feature introduced in the creator's update on windows machines. It is a system-wide feature that adjusts the color temperature of your screen. The same feature is also available in macOS and iOS and is named ‘night shift’.
The cool blue light coming from a standard display can disturb your sleeping patterns. Scientific studies proved that night light features can lower eye stress from long screen times.
- Adjust lights in Your Workplace
If your room or office is not properly lit, this can cause you eye stress. Don’t go for too dim or too bright lighting, always adjust the light according to the activity. Like if you are reading, then the light must come from your back, shining on the reading material. On the other side, if you are watching TV, then you can dim the lights around you.
Always adjust the screen brightness according to your room environment. Always monitor for glares as they also contribute to eye stress. If you work in an office with 7 to 8 hours of screen time, opt for anti-glare screens.
- Avoid Eye Dryness
With prolonged screen time, your eyes tend to reduce blinking automatically. This can result in dry or irritated eyes, as blinking helps to keep our eyes moist. This issue can be resolved by instilling artificial tears and eye drops where necessary. On the other hand, you can develop a habit of blinking more.
- Improve Ventilation
A working place with poor air quality can lead to a higher risk of eye fatigue. Moreover, if you have a heating or cooling system in the room may also cause dry eyes. To combat such a situation, turn off the heating or cooling system and use a humidifier to improve air quality. If that’s not possible move to a spot which don’t have low air quality issues.
How to Treat an Eye Strain?
Most of the time the eye strain is treated by following all the above tips. If your condition lasting more longer than usual you may need to see a doctor. Most often by resting and using the above lifestyle hacks, the eyestrain will go away within a day or two. But if it's taking longer, then you may need corrective lenses, visit your optometrist for a detailed examination.