Posts published on November 3, 2017

How Students Can Reduce Eye Strain

BY JANE HURST

As a student, you do a lot of reading, and you spend a lot of time working on a computer. Both of these things can lead to some pretty serious eye strain, which can make it harder for you to see over time. But, how are you going to be able to study without straining your eyes? Well, there is always going to some eye strain, but there are things that you can do in order to minimize it. Read on to find some excellent tips to help you reduce eye strain.

• Do Eye Exercises
  There is a simple eye exercise you can do that will help to reduce eye strain, known as the 20-20-20 rule. Basically, every 20 minutes or so, turn your attention away from the computer, and focus on something that is about 20 feet away, for approximately 20 seconds. This helps to relax the muscle inside the eye that is responsible for focusing, and keep your eyes from becoming tired out. Also, start practicing moving your eyes around while they are closed, to exercise your eye muscles.
• Text Size
  One of the easiest things you can do in order to reduce eye strain is to increase the size of the fonts you work with. Even if your professors request that you submit work typed in a specific font and size, there is nothing stopping you from increasing the size while you are working. It makes it easier for you to see what you are doing, and you can always decrease it before you hand in your work. A good font size to work with is about 14 points.
• Massage Your Eyes
  When your eyes get tired, you can massage them to help avoid strain. “Rub your palms together to get them warmed up, and then press them against your eyes gently. Hold your hands in place for a few seconds, and the warmth is going to help to relax the eye muscles and ease eye strain. You can also rub your temples gently, which is going to help eliminate stress that can lead to eye strain,” suggests Dr. Saba Khodadadian.
• Blink Often
  You may not even realize it, but when you are really into your work, you might end up forgetting to blink. This isn’t always an automatic thing that the body does. This is because you are concentrating so hard on what you are doing. When you don’t blink, your eyes are going to become dry and itchy, and this is a sure sign that you have been working your eyes too hard. It may be wise to also stock up on some eye drops to keep your eyes lubricated at all times.
• Take Breaks
  According to Periony taking frequent, short breaks is not only going to be good for your eyes, it is also going to be good for the rest of your body, and your mind. If you are going to be spending several hours in front of a computer, it is a good idea to get into the habit of taking short breaks every 10 minutes or so. These breaks can be as short as 10 seconds, just long enough to look away from the screen and give your eyes a quick break.
• Adjust Your Monitor Settings
  An easy way to reduce eye strain is to adjust the settings on your computer monitor. Fix the brightness so it is about the same as your surroundings. Adjust the contrast to make reading easier (black print on a white back ground is optimal), and adjust the color temperature to lower the amount of blue light that the monitor is displaying for more comfortable viewing.

Byline:

Jane Hurst has been working in education for over 5 years as a teacher. She loves sharing her knowledge with students, is fascinated about edtech and loves reading, a lot. Follow Jane on Twitter.