20-20-20 Method Of Prevent Digital Eye Strain – Eyestrain is a common condition that occurs when your eyes get tired from intense use, such as while driving long distances or staring at computer screens and other digital devices.
Eyestrain can be annoying. But it usually isn’t serious, and it goes away once you rest your eyes or take other steps to reduce your eye discomfort. In some cases, symptoms of eyestrain can indicate an underlying eye condition that needs treatment.
Eyestrain symptoms include:
- Sore, tired, burning or itching eyes
- Watery or dry eyes
- Blurred or double vision
- Headache
- Sore neck, shoulders or back
- Increased sensitivity to light, called photophobia
- Difficulty concentrating
- Feeling that you cannot keep your eyes open
Common causes of eyestrain include:
- Looking at digital device screens
- Reading without pausing to rest your eyes
- Driving long distances and doing other activities involving focusing for a long time
- Being exposed to bright light or glare
- Straining to see in very dim light
- Having an underlying eye problem, such as dry eyes or uncorrected vision, called refractive error
- Being stressed or fatigued
- Being exposed to dry moving air from a fan, a heating system or an air-conditioning system
20-20-20 Method Of Prevent Digital Eye Strain
First of all, check how you are viewing your screens. Your computer should be 15 to 20 degrees (or about four or five inches) below eye level and 20 to 28 inches from your eyes, according to the AOA. Avoid glare by using anti-glare screens or positioning screens so overhead lighting and windows don’t bounce light off them.
Next, consider implementing the 20-20-20 rule, which the AOA recommends to prevent digital eye strain. It is simple: Every 20 minutes, take 20 seconds to look away from your nearby screens at at something 20 feet away. It can ease the strain your eyes are dealing with staring at the brightly-lit screens up close.
Recent research has suggested that longer breaks are more beneficial, so if you can, focus on the object at a distance for longer than 20 seconds. Go for a full minute or even close your eyes, according to the Review of Optometry, to allow a layer of tears to form. But keep 20-20-20 in mind as a baseline to help you remember to do it in the first place.
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All day, you look at screens, from the moment your alarm clock goes off on your phone to the minute you set it again before bed—and all the moments in between. (You’re doing it right now.) Whether you’re working or trying to relax, though, all that screen-staring isn’t great for your eyes. It causes the eyes to work harder and can lead to computer vision syndrome or digital eye strain, per the American Optometric Association. Luckily, there’s something simple you can do to ease the burden on your eyes: It’s called the 20-20-20 rule.
