How To Practice Good Eye Care For Screen Users

There aren’t many of us who don’t use a screen regularly. From our cell phones to working on a desktop or laptop, glancing at your GPS as you drive, or binge-watching the latest must-see box set, we spend a lot of time concentrating on those few inches of an LED or digital display.Because of this shift in lifestyle, ophthalmologists are seeing a dramatic increase in a variety of eye conditions. No matter what your situation, you’re unlikely to be reducing your screen use any time soon, making it essential that you practice good eye care.

What Screen Use Does to your Eyes

• The 5 common problems caused by screen use

The 5 common problems caused by screen use

Many issues can be caused by even minimal regular use of a screen. Of course, the most obvious way around this is not to do it—but let’s be honest, for the majority of people this isn’t going to happen. Before we discuss how you can practice sensible eye care to negate these effects, let’s first look at 5 of the most common problems that many people suffer from.

1. Dry & Irritated eyes: This happens because we blink less when staring at a screen. This means fewer lubricating tears across the eye and inside the socket. This can cause pain, redness, and blurry vision.
2. Tired eyes (eye fatigue): Intense staring causes your eyes to become weary. This can cause double vision, headaches, and affect your concentration.
3. Reduced focusing: This is known as loss of focus flexibility—in other words, your eyes can’t adapt to looking at different distances as quickly as they should. This commonly occurs with increasing age but can also be impacted by excessive screen time.
4. Shortsightedness: Especially relevant for kids, we tend to reduce the amount of time spent outdoors because of screen-based activities. This can impact the long-term eye health of children, who have an increased risk of shortsightedness if this occurs.
5. Damage to the retina: Screens emit blue light that’s been shown to cause damage to the cells in the retina. This might increase the risk of developing a sight-threatening condition, called macular degeneration.

How to Protect Your Eyes with Strategic (& Easy) Eye Care

• Simple eye care tips to reduce screen time damage

Simple eye care tips to reduce screen time damage

Apart from reducing unnecessary screen time, the following are easy ways to improve the health of your eyes.

• Reduce screen glare by turning down the brightness and positioning the screen so it doesn’t reflect lighting or sunlight. The screen shouldn’t be brighter than the surrounding light.
• Ensure the screen isn’t too close—about 25 inches away from your eyes is about right.
• Position the screen so you look slightly down at it.
• Use the 20-20-20 rule: Take a break from the screen every 20 minutes, look at an object around 20 feet away for around 20 seconds. This will help reduce eye strain.
• Use blue light filters. These could be built into the screen itself, a screen cover, or by wearing blue light filter glasses.
• Use good quality eye drops or artificial tears if your eyes feel dry.
• Ensure you have a yearly eye exam. This will mean that any conditions that might develop are caught early, and appropriate action is taken.

Experiencing Problems from Screen Time? Contact the WBEC Today

The only way to successfully negate any issues caused by screen time is to combine the sensible steps mentioned above along with the services of a great ophthalmologist. The clinicians at the West Boca Eye Centre are passionate about helping people live in the real world—with all the screen time that entails—yet ensure their eyesight and eye health remains in an optimal state. Don’t leave your eyesight to chance. Visit https://westbocaeyecenter.com today and get in contact to discuss your bespoke requirements.