Staring at the screen for long hours is causing that strain in your eyes
You’re not tired, your eyes are tired. The cause? The one thing you probably can’t live without – your phone screen. Staring at a screen for long hours can be putting strain on your eyes.
A glare that’s straining your eyes
Like clockwork, we switch on our phones when we wake, and we mindlessly scroll through them before we tuck in to bed. Almost all of us are guilty of this. In between the hours of 9am to 10pm? We’re still on our devices – laptops, phones, tablets, you name it, we’re probably on at least 2 of them.
Before you know it, we’re racking up more hours on the screen than we’d care to count. We may not feel the effects of it in the moment, but we’re actually dealing years upon years of irreversible damage to our eyes. When we stare at a screen for an uninterrupted and prolonged period of time, our blink rate actually decreases significantly. According to studies, our blink rate reduces by 66% when we stare at the screen. Staring at a screen for long hours places a lot of strain and stress on our eyes and can lead to issues like dry eye.
Moreover, if we use our phones throughout the day, the near proximity of the phone to our eyes can contribute to the progression of myopia. The strain that our eyes undergo to accommodate to the near distance from the screen causes the eye to lose its shape and flexibility. This creates an environment for myopia to progress at a heightened rate.
So what can we do to prevent strain in our eyes?
We’ve only got 1 pair of eyes and we wouldn’t want to take them for granted, would we? So why wait to take care of our eyes when something strikes when we can take precautions to prevent them in them in the first place. Here are 3 things you can do to rest your eyes and relieve your eyes of that strain and reduce screen time:
1. Rest your eyes after 30 minutes of screen time
It’s easy for us all to get sucked into a whirlpool of work for hours upon hours. While it is important to get that work done and punctually too, it’s equally important for us to give our eyes a break every half hour. It doesn’t have to be a very long break either. A 2-minute break would suffice to keep your eyes going for another hour! You can use 2 minutes to close your eyes or just look out the window. Anything is better than sitting curled up in front of the screens all day.
2. Give your eyes some TLC
If you’ve got the time, you could always give yourself a little at-home eye spa treatment. Simply place a warm cloth over your eyes for 20 minutes and close your eyes for a short cat nap. To heighten that spa experience, you could even drop some essential oils on that warm towel for a relaxing scent too. After 20 minutes, your eyes will feel rejuvenated and refreshed.
3. Consult your optometrist for an in-depth review
Who better to tell you about your eyes than a professional optometrist? One of the best ways to check your eye health is to visit an optometrist for a comprehensive eye exam. During the eye exam, your optometrist will go through a visual acuity test, a retinal test, and will even diagnose and advise treatment for any issues your eyes may be facing. With planoeyecheck.com*, you can book an eye check for yourself today and receive a $50 voucher to offset the cost of your comprehensive eye exam!
A pair of eyes to last you a lifetime
We’ve got a pair of eyes that are meant to see more than just a screen in front of us. So let’s take our eyes off the screen once in a while and give it the adequate rest and care it deserves.
*Only available in Singapore.
Tools Designed for Healthier Eyes
Explore our specifically designed products and services backed by eye health professionals to help keep your children safe online and their eyes healthy.