Caring For Your Eyes

vCaring for Your Eyes

Aryaman Chakravorty, Year 7B

The coronavirus locked us into our homes while the world shifted towards online alternatives. As our dependence on online platforms increases and we make our way through Zoom meetings, emails and various online websites and tools, we tend to forget that the screen we stare at everyday can hurt our eyes over time.

Our eyes are our windows to the world, and we have to take care of them. This holds true more than ever now with the time we spend on screen. Many discomforts are caused due to the excessive screen time, and some can even lead to vision loss. The common eye problems resulting from excessive screen time are as follows-

• Dry, itchy and irritated eyes • Eye strain and fatigue • Blurred vision

• Double vision

• Mild to severe headaches

• Sleep problems • Worsened near-sightedness

Some Tips to Keep Your Eyes Healthy!

The good news is you can actually avert many of these problems almost completely with a few very easy and doable measures. Some of these are: • Taking frequent breaks from the screen. • The brightness of the screen should match the brightness of the surroundings. • Focus on something that is a minimum of 6 meters away and look at it at least every 20 minutes. • Go for regular eye check-ups. • Keep the position of your laptop/computer screen away from windows. • Zoom in, increase font size and turning text into bold helps to reduce eye strain. • Computer screens should be 2 feet away from your eyes and 4-6 inches below your eye. • Blinking and rolling your eyes are the best exercises that help our eye muscles. • We should always get 8-9 hours of sleep every night. • Always have a healthy diet. That includes vegetables, seeds, nuts, egg yolks, fish, cheese, milk, butter (anything with vitamin A), and most importantly, drink lots of water. • Splashing your eyes with cold water is always recommended. • Use an air humidifier to increase humidity in the room as air-conditioners make the air dry. • Always work on your devices with the lights on. During these holidays and beyond, take care of your eyes, and ensure that those windows stay in sparkling condition!