8 Tips For Reducing Digital Eye Strain

Have you notice your eyes feeling more tired lately? Does it get red, watery or dry?

If you said yes to one or more of the symptoms then you likely have experienced digital eye strain. Staring at your digital devices for prolonged periods at a time can tire out your eyes.

To keep your eyes healthy and reduce eye strain try incorporating these tips into your daily routine.

1. Take More Breaks

While eye strain is common and not serious you should be cautious as it can dry out your eyes and increase your risk for other complications such as infections and corneal injuries. Not to worry, usually taking a break from your digital devices will be enough to relieve your symptoms.

• Try the 20-20-20 rule by getting up every 20 minutes to look at something 20 feet away for 20 seconds. This will help relax your eye muscles after an intense session on the computer.

2. Blink More Often

We tend to blink less when we stare at our screens. When we don’t blink our eyes can dry out and may become red from irratation.

• Blinking is what helps remove irritants and lubricates our eyes by spreading tears. Try to blink more often to ensure your eyes are well lubricated.

3. Use Artificial Tears

If blinking more often doesn’t do the trick and your eyes are still dry then try over the counter artificial tears.

• You can get eye drop tears over the counter to keep your eyes lubricated to help relieve your dry eyes. Just make sure you get the preservative free drops so that you can use it as often as you need.

4. Limit Your Screen Time

Be more mindful of when you use your digital devices.

• Are you just bored? If you find yourself picking up your device when your bored and feeling guilty afterwards then consider replacing that habit with a more productive habit.

If you constantly find yourself doomscrolling for hours then try using technology to set limits to prevent yourself from going astray

• Apple devices ship with screen time which allows you to set daily limits for how long you can use an app. If you log into iCloud on both your phone and laptop then you can sync your app limits between all your devices.

5. Use a Screen Reader

Give your eyes a break, close it and relax while your Mac or iPhone reads out loud to you.

• To enable speak screen feature on your Mac, navigate to system preferences and select accessibility then click on the “Spoken Content” tab. Check the “Speak Selection” checkbox and click options to set a keyboard shortcut. Now, whenever you come across text you want to have read out loud just highlight the text and press the assigned keyboard shortcut.
• On your iPhone or tablet, it’s even easier - you can swipe down with two fingers from the top of your screen to have all text on the screen spoken out loud. See this official Apple YouTube video to learn how to enable speak screen for your iPhone or tablet.

6. Increase font size

If you find yourself hover closer and closer to your monitor then that might mean your font size is too small. The right font size would be different for everyone, play around with it. To change font size on Mac OSX go to “System Preference” and search for displays. Under resolution select the “scaled” radio option. Tip: press command and + to increase size and command and - decrease size.

7. Eyewear

Does blue light blocking glasses work? Digital screens emit blue light but so far there is no conclusive evidence from studies that suggests blue light damages the eye. The studies are still new so take it with a grain of salt. But either way, it can’t hurt to wear it.

If you have prescriptions make sure it is still up to date. Otherwise, go visit your optometrist to get an eye exam to check if you need glasses. Having appropriate prescription for your eyes can help reduce strain.

8. Minimize glare

When light bounces off your screen and enters your eyes the sudden change in contrast can irritate your eye. When the contrast becomes too much for your eyes to handle your eyes become uncomfortable and irritated.

Also when there is contrast between the brightness of your screen and your environment it can also lead to eye strain.

You can buy an anti-glare screen protector for your laptop, phone and tablets to help reduce strain from glare.

Also, make sure the brightness of your screen matches the brightness of your environment.

By default, your iPhone has auto-brightness turned on. Auto-brightness will help reduce irritation by ensuring your screen brightness always matches your environment automatically.