How to protect your eyes from overstrain

Sergey Chub

Doctor of the first category, ophthalmic surgeon of the St. Petersburg clinic "I see».

According to researchGlobal Prevalence of Myopia and High Myopia and Temporal Trends from 2000 through 2050 the prevalence and tendencies of myopia, this disease is now much more common than before. If in 2005 the number of people suffering from myopia in the world was 1.9 billion people, then in 2020 - already 2.6 billion, and by 2030 this number may increase to 3.5 billion.

In the era of gadgets, it is not easy to keep our eyes healthy: many of us work at computers and stare at the monitor for hours, forgetting about the necessary rest. As a result, discomfort, dryness, and photophobia appear by the end of the day. The following guidelines will help protect your eyes from eye strain and reduce the risk spoil vision.

Take a break from screens

It’s surprising that many people perceive the smartphone as a way to relax the eyes. But, if I recommend the patient to take breaks while working at the computer, this does not mean that you can “relax” with your eyes in your smartphone, play or correspond. Vision is still strained, as, for example, the back, if a person sits or stands incorrectly, subjecting the upper spine to very significant loads.

A feeling of dry eyes, redness, double vision, pain - these are common problems among those who have to work at the monitor for a long time. Eyes get tired if they lack refocusing. To fix this - the following recommendation.

Do eye gymnastics

Exercise for the eyes maintains the tone of the oculomotor muscles and their well-coordinated work, which ensures good vision and gives a sense of spatial depth.

Exercise should be done several times a day, depending on eye fatigue. Here are five of them that you can do while you work:

1. Blink frequently for 30-60 seconds. This is a preparatory action that is recommended to be performed at the beginning of exercise and in between other exercises.
2. Consider things that are at different distances from you, periodically changing the focus from a close subject to a distant one. Thanks to this, refocusing is accomplished, without which the eyes get tired.
3. Rotate your eyeballs, looking up and down, left and right. It can be performed with both closed and open eyes. The duration of the exercise is up to 2 minutes.
4. Draw with your eyes any geometric shapes in the air or on the wall for 2-3 minutes.
5. Close your eyes for 3-5 seconds, then open for the same time and repeat 6-8 times. This will improve blood circulation and muscle function of the eyelids.

Talk to an ophthalmologist

If you feel like vision began to worsen, perhaps you have false myopia, or a spasm of accommodation. This condition causes undue stress on the eyes when working at close range. In this case, special drops that relax the muscles of the eyes will help. However, only an ophthalmologist is able to find out whether a patient is true or false myopia. In addition to drops, the doctor may prescribe hardware physiotherapy treatment.

Take care of your eyesight and be healthy!