These symptoms can develop when the muscles around your eyes become fatigued.
Eye strain does not permanently harm your eyes or affect your vision.
This article discusses eye strain and its causes.
Verywell / Alex Dos Diaz
It also discusses the diagnosis and treatment of eye strain.
Sometimes you may not notice until you stop what you are doing.
The effects of eye strain usually only last a short while.
At times, though, symptoms can last for several hours.
You may start feeling eye strain right after starting an activity instead of hours later.
If you have other symptoms like nausea or severe eye pain, you may have another condition.
See your healthcare provider.
What Causes Eye Strain?
Eye strain happens when the muscles that focus your eyes become tired.
Ciliary muscleschange the shape of the lens in your eye.
Eye strain occurs after long periods of using these muscles.
Small fonts andblue lightcan be hard on the eyes.
Eye fatigue related to use of these items is called digital eye strain.
When you move your eyes rapidly, it exhausts yourextraocularmuscles.
Why Do My Eyes Feel Heavy?
Risk Factors For Eye Strain
Anyone can get eye strain.
It is common in children and adults of all ages.
These problems include:
Vision problems make it harder for you to focus your eyes.
When you have these problems, your eye muscles will strain to focus.
The effort to focus both eyes when one is worse than the other can also cause eye strain.
The same is true for those who are exhausted or do not get enough sleep.
If this happens frequently, you may have a problem with your vision.
Corrective lenses like glasses or contacts can help.
Additional symptoms like nausea or severe eye pain may indicate a different health problem.
Your healthcare provider may want to do tests to find the cause of your symptoms.
An eye exam is more than just vision testing.
Your healthcare provider will also look at the structure of your eyes with eye examination devices such as anophthalmoscope.
Treatment for Eye Strain
No medication or procedure can relieve eye strain.
This can even help when your eye strain is severe.
If you perform tasks that require long periods of reading or looking at tiny objects, take breaks.
Look away every 20 minutes or so.
Try closing your eyes or focusing on something at a distance.
Change the Light
Always work or read in good light.
Even if dim light seems fine to you, it could cause eye strain later on.
Adjust Computers and Phones
Set your screen so it is just bright enough.
The contrast should be comfortable for reading.
When working at a computer, sit an arm’s length from the screen.
Many electronic devices have modes that display warmer colors that cause less eye strain than blue lights.
Look for a setting called “color temperature” or “nighttime mode” to make nighttime reading easier.
Also, adjust the font size on your phone or computer.
A font that is too small can be hard to see.
A large font takes up too much space on the screen, making it hard to read large documents.
Use a clear, easy-to-read font.
Do Blue Light Glasses Prevent Eye Strain?
To date, there’s not enough research to support this.
However, there are anecdotal reports of people who sayblue light glassesare helpful in reducing their eye strain.
Make an appointment to have your eyes checked.
Summary
Eye strain is common.
It is triggered by overuse of the eye muscles.
Symptoms include dry eyes, eye pain, headaches, and blurry vision.
Reading, driving, or looking at small things up close can cause eye strain.
Using screens and playing video games can also contribute.
Eye strain is common in people who have uncorrected vision problems.
If your eyes feel better with rest, you probably have eye strain.
Giving your eyes a rest from constant focus can help.
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