Eye Health: THIS One Mistake Can Severely Impact Your Eyesight

Sedentary lifestyle is taking a toll on overall health, however, this one practices that several of us are guilty of can severely damage the eyesight. Here is how to protect your vision.

Eye Health: This one organ helps us to envision and soak in the beauty around us. Nurturing and nourishing our eyes is imperative and more so in this digitally driven age where, some by choice and some are compelled, to spend long hours on the screen. With working from home and increasing hustle culture, people spend an unhealthy amount of time working on gadgets.

While it has become a part and a parcel of our lives, it sure is not great for our eye health. There are several habits that can lead to dry eyes, eye pain, reduced vision, eyesight problems and more. But this one mistake, we are all (almost) guilty of doing is excessive screen time.

EYE HEALTH: HOW EXCESSIVE SCREENTIME MAY DAMAGE EYESIGHT?

Digital eye strain is real. After working for straight long hours on phones and laptops, we often choose screentime for a break as well. Scrolling Insta reels, or reading some interesting post or maybe just chatting on the phone or maybe taking a quick break with some OTT show, the screen becomes a place of work and a place for a break as well. And this is one grave mistake that can take a serious toll on our eyesight and eye health in general as well.

The symptoms and problems may not be visible as of now but may damage the eyes in the long run. Too much screen time is especially harmful to kids and their developing bodies.

• Dry eyes: If you stare at a computer monitor or cellphone for too long and then experience temporary blurry vision, it’s likely because the moisture layer on the front surface of your eye is getting dry.
• Low Blinking Rate: Sitting at a desk glued to screens leads to less blinking which becomes an obstruction of tear glands. It may lead to dehydration of eyes.
• Screen Light: The rays from digital screens also impact eye health, harm vision, and may degenerate the overall eye health as well.

This is one of those things that we know but how many of us actually take some preventive measures?

TIPS TO PROTECT EYESIGHT

1. 20 by 20 Rule: As we stare at screen for continuous hours at times, we should take a break from it. The 20-20-20 rule says that one may take a 20 second break almost every 20 minutes and fix the gaze at some other point apart from the screen. And it is best if that new point of gaze is nearly 20 feet away. This will help reduce eye strain a bit.
2. Blink It (for real): When we stare intensely at screen or are engrossed in reading something, we tend to not blink often. Blinking at regular intervals helps to maintain optimum moisture level in eyes.
3. Light Up!: Well lit rooms are of maximum importance be it your reading time or screen time. This is one thing we heard right from childhood days that well lit rooms are important for eyes. These days so many of us are guilty of scrolling from under the blankets or working in dimly lit areas, we need to stop. Let us not put more strain on our already strained vision sockets. The blue lights from screens affect more in low- ambient lights.
4. How about some screen glare control?: If you wear spectacle, anti glare ones are suggested. Configure your gadgets settings and adjust the light emitting from screens. Do not keep font size too small. Adjust the screen colour and brightness according to the light area you are in.
5. Distancing: Maintaining a decent distance from eyes to screens is paramount. One of most common health issue that may develop due to working without optimum distance from screen is called computer vision syndrome or the digital eye strain.

Therefore, it is important to manage screen time, and take proper breaks not just from work, but from the screen. Avoid scrolling reels or being online. It may also start to affect your overall physical and mental health as well.

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