Brief Summary
This video by Doctor Eye Health talks about managing eye strain with simple tips and eye exercises. It emphasizes taking frequent breaks, blinking consciously, updating prescriptions, and adjusting screen settings. The video also introduces three eye exercises: relaxing eye muscles, pencil push-ups for focusing ability, and Brock string exercises for improving eye muscle coordination.
- Take frequent breaks from screens.
- Blink consciously and use lubricating eye drops.
- Update your glasses prescription.
- Adjust your screen settings for comfort.
- Practice eye exercises like pencil push-ups and Brock string exercises.
Tip 1: Take Frequent Breaks
Doctor Eye Health says the most important tip is to take frequent breaks from screens. When you're focusing up close, like when reading or using a computer, you engage three groups of eye muscles: the ciliary body, extraocular muscles, and pupillary muscles. Staring at a screen for hours can tire these muscles. Every 15 to 30 minutes, stand up, look at something in the distance, go for a short walk, or do some light stretching to give your eyes a break.
Tip 2: Blink Your Eyes
Blinking is very important. Research shows that people blink two to three times less when looking at digital screens. Also, eyelids tend to not fully blink, leading to dry eye symptoms. To combat this, use lubricating artificial tear eye drops and apply a warm compress to your eyelids. Consciously blink your eyes a few times to ensure you are fully blinking. Also, try to relax and avoid hyper-focusing on your screen.
Tip 3: Update Your Glasses Prescription
If your vision is blurry or you're having trouble focusing, talk to your eye doctor about updating your glasses prescription. You might also consider getting computer glasses or glasses with prisms. While not everyone needs dedicated computer glasses or prisms, they can help relax your eye muscles and alleviate symptoms. Consult your eye doctor to see if these options are right for you.
Tip 4: Adjust Your Screens
Adjust your screens to the proper height so they're not too high or too low. Make sure the screens aren't too bright, and set everything up to make your eyes as comfortable as possible.
Notes on Eye Exercises
Doctor Eye Health mentions that there are many eye exercises available, but the video focuses on three major things. The first is relaxing your eye muscles to help with current symptoms. The last two are eye exercises to strengthen the teaming between the muscles inside and outside the eye, improving conditioning to prevent future eye strain.
Eye Exercise 1: Relax Your Eye Muscles
To relax your eye muscles, go outside, look off into the distance, go for a walk, or play a sport that involves tracking a ball. Another simple exercise is eye rotations. Look upward and slowly rotate your eyes in a full circle, both clockwise and counterclockwise. This helps stretch your eye muscles and gives them a break from focusing up close.
Eye Exercise 2: Pencil Push-Ups
Pencil push-ups help with your focusing ability. Hold a pencil at a distance and focus on it, then slowly bring it toward your nose. When the letters on the pencil start to blur, hold it there until your eyes can focus and clear it up. Then, push it back out and repeat. This exercise trains the eye muscles and improves the flexibility of the lens inside your eye.
Eye Exercise 3: Brock String
The Brock string exercise helps with vergence ranges, which is the control of the muscles on the outside of the eye. A Brock string is a long string with beads on it. Tie one end to a doorknob and hold the other end to your nose, with the beads spaced out along the string. Focus on the farthest bead and then slowly move your eyes toward the closer beads. This exercise strengthens the coordination of your eye muscles.
