People are increasingly spending time in front of screens on a daily and even hourly basis, giving eye muscles little chance to rest. A Baylor College of Medicine ophthalmologist explains how headaches form from eye strain and how to give your eyes a break.
“We focus on one object, especially an object that’s up close, like a computer screen or phone for prolonged periods of time, and we don’t give our eye muscles time to rest,” said Dr. Masih Ahmed, assistant professor of ophthalmology at Baylor. “If you don’t give your muscles enough time to rest, that can cause some tension of those muscles.”
Causes
When you look at up-close objects like phones and tablets, the muscles in the eye accommodate, which allows your eyes to zoom in and your pupils to change in size so you can focus. Tension can occur if eye muscles stay in this state for a prolonged period.
Dry eye is another common cause of eyestrain. When you focus on reading, working on the computer or watching television, you subconsciously blink less, which leads to the tear film evaporating, resulting in irritation of dry eye.
Mitigating strain
Ahmed recommends the 20-20-20 rule when working in front of a screen: take a 20-second break every 20 minutes to focus on something 20 feet away to give your eyes a chance to relax.
He also suggests using artificial tears for those who suffer from dry eye. Put in the tears before working in front of the computer, even if your eyes do not feel tired, to reduce eye strain from dry eye.
Prescription
Prolonged eyestrain often promotes headaches. If you wear corrective lenses, make sure you have the proper prescription as some might be too strong or too weak to reduce eye strain.
If you have an uncorrected refractive error and your vision is not as sharp, you might require more focus or energy to be able to see something, which can lead to a headache.
“You might squint more trying to get that pinhole effect for things to look clearer. Astigmatism can also make things look distorted in shape if your astigmatism is not corrected,” he said.
