Like most people, your job involves staring at a screen for many hours every day. Also like most people you’ve noticed your eyes start to grow weary. You put them under too much strain and can end every day with sore, dry eyes and a headache. It’s time to do something about this and start protecting your eyes when you look at screens – here’s what you should do:

Check If You Need Glasses

The first thing on the agenda is simple: get optometrist eye testing to see if you actually need glasses or not. Blurred vision and eye fatigue could stem from your eyes working too hard because you genuinely need prescription lenses when reading things on a screen. Go get a test, and if you do need glasses, wear them while you work to avoid excessive eye strain.

Give Your Eyes Regular Breaks

Everyone struggles with this, but set a timer on your phone and give your eyes a break from the screen every 20 minutes. During this time, stare at something 20 feet away for 20 seconds – it’s known as the 20-20-20 rule and it gives your eyes a chance to relax. They enjoy some respite and this goes a long way to preventing eye fatigue and pain.

Adjust Your Working Conditions

Here are three common working conditions that will ruin your eyes:

• The screen is too bright
• The screen is too dark
• The ambient lighting around the screen is too dark
• The screen is way too close to your face
• The screen is way too far away from your face

All of these situations create circumstances where your eyes keep straining more than they have to. Adjust your working conditions to fix the problem and help your eyes feel more relaxed, even when you’re looking at a screen. Here’s all you need to do:

• Lower the brightness so you can still see, but it’s not too bright
• Make sure there’s enough light around you to complement the screen’s brightness
• Keep your monitor around an arm’s length from your face

Don’t Forget To Blink

Fair enough, this is the hardest piece of advice to follow because most of us don’t consciously think about blinking. The act of staring at a screen forces our eyes to concentrate on things for long periods, meaning we often forget to blink. Not blinking means your eyes don’t get enough moisture and can feel really dry. That’s why you end up with blurred vision or eyes that feel like they need a rub.

Get into the habit of remembering to blink so you moisturise your eyes and avoid these problems. Once you start doing it, you won’t stop – so that’s good.

All of these ideas will help you protect your eyes when staring at screens all day, but don’t forget the biggest tip of all: try to reduce your screen time. Don’t stop work and immediately go on your phone or keep using your computer – go outside, play some sports, exercise or do anything other than looking at a screen. Oh and also, don’t buy blue light glasses. They’re an absolute scam, and there’s zero evidence that they protect your eyes, so don’t bother.

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