Dr Shikha Gupta is Assistant Professor, Glaucoma Services at Dr Rajendra Prasad Centre for Ophthalmic Sciences All India Institute of Medical Sciences
Health has taken a priority for most due to the current COVID pandemic situation. However, it has brought in many adaptations with respect to the lifestyle for many. From an ophthalmological point of view, children have shifted to online classes and the adults to a reckless ‘work from home’ regime, which has taken a brunt on our ocular health. Excessive near work on the screen can aggravate symptoms of eye strain, headache, watering, dry eye syndrome, burning sensation of eyes and exacerbating the near sightedness for many. Hence, it becomes important to share some eye care tips as a precautionary measure.
It’s advisable to enable the blue light filter mode on your desktop to help ease the strain on one’s eyes. Most desktop screens/ laptops have a built-in filter that can be accessed, additionally there are downloadable options in case the computer doesn’t have this feature available. Similarly for your smartphone, there are plenty of apps that can be download from the Google Play Store or iOS App Store to activate the blue light filter.
It is also important to use the largest screen as far as possible, kept at a maximum distance. For example, tablets, laptops, or desktops with large screens instead of smart phones, should be preferred. These should be kept at a distance (medium range of 50 cm rather than at 33 cm) with the observer in proper sitting posture with head erect with proper room illumination.
Reading the font in slanting head position, non-ambient lighting environment and reading font that is small in size can adversely affect the eye health. Keeping these points in view, the next aspect to this query is how much screen time is acceptable? Though, there is no exact definition of recommended screen time, unnecessary screen time should be avoided as long as possible particularly if symptoms of headache, watering, eye strain or fatigue exist.
The second important factor is that when we are watching screens, our eyes are focused at a fixed distance for a long time. While in everyday life we are focusing at objects at near or intermediate or far distance, and our focus keeps changing, when watching a screen, everything is happening at a fixed distance for a prolonged time. This can cause eye muscle fatigue and weakness; from overwork by near muscles manifesting as eye strain. Hence 20-20-20 rule should be followed when watching screen which means that every 20 minutes we should look away from the screen for 20 seconds at an object 20 feet away. These short breaks give our eyes a chance to change focus to a faraway object, hence helping the ocular muscles to relax. If regularly followed, eye fatigue could be avoided despite spending excessive screen time.
Furthermore, while gazing screens, we forget to blink enough, particularly children, resulting in dry eyes, watering of eyes, abnormal blink patterns, forceful blinking or eye rubbing. Hence it is important to remind oneself or the children about frequent blinking while using screens. It is important to wear glasses especially if these have been prescribed by an ophthalmologist. Regular and constant use of glasses will go a long way to reduce eye strain.
Similarly, a good balanced diet is extremely important for each one of us, especially that containing vitamins and micronutrients such as vitamin A, vitamin C, vitamin E, lutein, Zeaanthin and omega fatty acids. These are naturally found in diet in carrots, beetroot, mango, papaya and citrus fruits.