How to Avoid Eye Strain

Medically reviewed by Theodore Leng, MD

Last Updated: June 22, 2022 Fact Checked

Although your eyes are designed to be used 24 hours a day, focusing on small items for a prolonged period of time, perhaps while reading or working on the computer, commonly causes eye strain. If you have a job where you have to do this, you may suffer from eye strain. There are things you can do to help avoid and treat eye strain.

Method 1

Method 1 of 4:

Practicing Preventative Techniques

1
Relax your eyes. When your eyes are tired, try relaxation techniques. You can try the practice known as cupping or palming', which are practices that give your eyes time to rest. Sit comfortably in a chair with your back straight. Rub your hands together to make them warm. Put your elbows on table and place your hands over your eyes and close them. Breathe normally and relax with your palms on your eyes for five to 10 minutes.
- For your first attempt, it is recommended to set an alarm for five to 10 minutes. If after this time you feel refreshed, then this is the correct amount of time. If you don't, add an additional five minutes and observe any changes.
- The pressure on your eyes should be light and comfortable.^{[1]
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2
Practice relaxation often. When you stare at close distances for long periods of time, you should follow these stretches of time with eye relaxation techniques. You should also try to frequently increase the distance between you and the object you focus on. If not, you can overly strain the ciliary muscle of your eye, which are the ones that control the lens during the work of eyesight at a distance. You can also make yourself nearsighted, either temporarily or permanently.^{[2]
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- The breakdown of the eye muscle changes the ability of your eyes to accommodate and ends up flattening the lenses in your eyes.
3
Blink more. Blinking provides a break for our eyes, but is often disregarded due to our heavy and long workloads. Blinking lubricates your eyes by spreading your tears evenly along your eyes. It can also help with eyestrain caused by dryness.^{[3]
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Research source} To help with this, train yourself to blink more often to prevent dryness.^{[4]
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American Optometric Association
Professional medical organization dedicated to supporting optometrists and improving public eye and vision health

Go to source} Put reminders somewhere near you so you'll be reminded to do this.
- Blinking also cleanses your eyes by pushing toxins off them through tears.^{[5]
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- The best amount of blinking is once every four seconds in order to spread tear film and prevent dryness.^{[6]
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  American Optometric Association
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Some eye strain occurs because you look at things too long without a break, such as a computer screen or book. Take breaks and sit with your eyes closed for a few seconds to rehydrate your eyes. Try to use the 20-20-20 rule, which means that every 20 minutes, take a 20 second break and focus on something else that's 20 feet away.^{[7]
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5
Exercise the muscles in your eyes. To help strengthen your eye muscles, you should exercise the muscles in your eyes. To do this, roll your eyes slowly side to side, up and down, and on the diagonals. Repeat this three to five times.
- Perform these exercises a couple of times each day, especially if you are working for long periods of time.
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Method 2

Method 2 of 4:

Changing Your Environment

1
Ease eye shifting. If your job requires you to look at multiple things at the same time, you may be causing yourself eye strain by shifting back and forth. This is because constantly shifting eyes means your eyes focus and refocus on different reading materials frequently. To avoid this, purchase a stand for your books and papers so your resources can easily be located and placed next to one another. If you work on a computer as well as with books or papers, put your materials on the stand directly next to the screen, so your eyes won't have to shift as much.^{[8]
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- When objects are only a few inches away from each other, your eyes don't need to refocus, which lowers the risk of eye strain.
- Try learning touch typing, which is typing without looking at the keyboard. This helps reduce eye shifting and can cut down on the time you stare directly at the screen, since you are looking at the papers or book instead. This also keeps you from shifting from your reading source to your computer screen.^{[9]
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2
Create the best lighting. You want to create an environment conducive to what your work is.^{[10]
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Harvard Medical School
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Go to source} Use incandescent lighting and avoid high-intensity lamps, which cast shadows and create glares on the material you focus on. Place a dim light on either side of your workstation to create equal brightness without dark, shadowed areas.
- If you work on a computer, create an environment that has lighting similar to that of your monitor. You can also purchase an anti-glare screen for your monitor. This will cut the glare if you're not able to eliminate harsh lighting or adjust your monitor.
- The ideal work space will have soft lights, limited natural light, no fluorescent lighting, and surfaces that don't reflect too much light.
- Switching your bulbs and adjusting your window blinds in your office may cut down on your eyestrain.^{[11]
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  American Optometric Association
  Professional medical organization dedicated to supporting optometrists and improving public eye and vision health
  
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3
Get the right eyeglasses. Having the wrong eyeglasses can contribute to eye strain. Make sure your eyeglasses have the proper prescription. You can check with your eye doctor if you are unsure of your prescription. If you wear bifocals, you might tilt your head at an awkward angle when using your computer. If this is the case, talk to your eye doctor to see if progressive lenses may work better.^{[12]
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American Academy of Opthamologists
Professional medical organization focused on advocating for public health and supporting sight-related research

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- Ask your eye doctor about computer glasses if you work on a computer for long hours. They work by reducing the amount of accommodation required by eyes to focus on a computer, which reducing eye strain.^{[13]
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- Also look into purchasing lenses with an anti-reflective coating, which will help cut down on computer glare. There are also plain, nonprescription lenses with this coating available for those who don't require vision correction.
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Method 3

Method 3 of 4:

Changing Your Computer Setup

1
Position your monitor. Eye strain is often caused by staring at a computer for too long. When you work on a computer for long hours, you need to be in the right position from it to reduce eye strain. Try to position your face as far as you possibly can from the monitor. 20 to 40 inches, or 50 to 100 cm, is a good distance because your eyes relax at this distance.^{[14]
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American Optometric Association
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- You should also put you screen slightly lower than eye level, with the top of the monitor aligned with your eyes when you look straight ahead. This angle keeps your neck in a more natural position, and ultimately causes less work for eyes.^{[15]
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- In order to accommodate this, you may a need larger screen or bigger font sizes.
- While working with screens and monitors, try slightly closing your eyes or squinting if your eyes feel strained. This prevents your eyes from drying out too quickly.
2
Adjust the brightness and contrast on your computer screen. In addition to the placement of your screen, adjust your monitor settings for optimal visibility. Use the brightness and contrast controls, as well as color settings, to configure a view that causes the least amount of strain. Start by turning down your screen's brightness and turning up the contrast.^{[16]
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American Academy of Opthamologists
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- Screens that are too bright are hard on the eyes. When there's not enough contrast between blacks and whites, your eyes have a hard time distinguishing between different items, which adds to eye strain.^{[17]
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3
Clean your screen. If you suffer from dry, irritated eyes, you may have dust reaching your eyes because of particles on your computer screen. There are electrostatic particles that may be emitted from the computer screen, which can push dust toward your eyes and cause irritation and strain. To avoid this, wipe down your screen with an anti-static solution sprayed onto a cloth.^{[18]
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University of Rochester Medical Center
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- Repeat this activity daily, which will also cut down on extra dust as well.^{[19]
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  Cleveland Clinic
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4
Upgrade your computer. If you are suffering from eye strain, buy a high resolution monitor. Older monitors cause your eyes to constantly readjust because they tend to flicker more and have a slower refresh rate. You should also use updated software to automatically change color settings when you work at night, such as the software Flux.^{[20]
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Research source} Computer screens need to be brighter during the daytime, but this can be too much light for nighttime.
- This can cause the screen to look too bright at night, even with the lowest brightness settings.
- You can adjust your computer screen manually by changing the settings to what is best suited for viewing in dim lighting or at night.^{[21]
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  American Academy of Opthamologists
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Method 4

Method 4 of 4:

Understanding Eye Strain

Eye strain, or asthenopia, is a common complaint for many people, mainly due to constantly diverting attention at work and at home, especially between laptops, tablets, and phones. There are certain symptoms that are common with eye strain. These may include blurred vision, itchy eyes, twitching eyelids, headache, and sensitivity to light.^{[22]
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Cleveland Clinic
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2
Look for severe eye strain. If you suffer from eye strain for long periods of time, you may develop severe eye strain. The symptoms are similar to normal eye strain, but they are more intense. You may also experience tired feelings in your eyes, sensation of foreign object in your eye, and intense eye pain. If you are suffering from serious or severe eye strain, stop what you are doing immediately and:
- Leave any rooms with bright lights
- Find a dark room and lie down with your eyes close
- Add eye compresses to ease the symptoms
3
Talk to your eye doctor. If you try preventative and treatment methods and you still suffer from eye strain, you should talk to your eye doctor. You may need an eye exam to make sure that you are wearing the correct prescription of eyeglasses or if you need to change to bifocals or another type of eyeglasses.^{[23]
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- Problems with eye strain often lead to the diagnosis of persistent migraines, which are a type of severe headache. It can be medically treated and it is important to see what eye issues trigger these migraines so you can prevent them.
If you experience any eyestrain plus symptoms such as headache, migraine, blurred vision, or nausea, see your eye doctor immediately. If the symptoms are intense or interfere with performing everyday activities, go to your nearest emergency room.^{[24]
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American Academy of Opthamologists
Professional medical organization focused on advocating for public health and supporting sight-related research

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