After working intensely the whole day, your eyes may get tired- feel achy and sore. However, for most people, this is more frequent than that. Tired eyes are often known as Asthenopia (eye strain) occurs when your eyes get tired of intense use and the lack of sleep. Though rarely serious medical conditions, the achy and burning eye may annoy you and make it impossible to read or focus. It’s always better to prevent eye strain whenever you can.
What are the symptoms of tired eyes:
- Red-eye
- Eye Irritation and itchiness
- Sore eye
- Blurred vision
- Light sensitivity
- Fatigue and nausea
- Dry eye
- Watery and burning eye
- Back, neck or shoulder pain
- Eyes feel heavy
- Headache
How to deal with a tired eye?
In most cases, the soreness due to tired eyes resolves on its own by taking the proper rest. Here are some tried and tested ways that can help ease out this eye trouble.
Take frequent breaks from the screen:
Remember to take frequent breaks to reduce eye fatigue. The 20 20 20 rule to break the repetitive glaring at a screen can help. Ophthalmologists explain this rule as “look away from the screen/ work after every 20 minutes to focus on something that is 20 feet away for 20 sec.” Also, take short breaks every 30 minutes, when doing focused work.
Adjust lighting:
Inadequate lighting of the screen, as well as surrounding, can increase the strain on the eyes. Make sure the ambient lighting is optimal whenever you are reading, Binge-watching or working on screens. Besides, adjust your computer brightness, font size and colour temperature to make viewing easy and comfortable.
Keep eye hydrated:
There are tips that you can follow to reduce the risk of tiredness caused by dry eyes. Being a symptom of dehydration, drinking adequate amounts of water is the best way to treat dry eyes. Eye drops and artificial tears can also help address the dryness in your eye.
Moreover, a reduced blinking rate when focusing on a near object can dry out your eyes. Remember to blink more often to ease the tiredness.
Apply warm and cold compresses:
To relieve the discomfort avoid rubbing eyes, besides tired eyes can easily be resolved by applying a hot and cold compress (keep your eyes closed) – warm compresses will relax your muscles and ease the pain while cold compress will help relieve soreness and increase blood flow.
When fatigue is not alleviated despite following this, it can be a sign of some underlying diseases that require doctor supervision.
Have the routine eye examination:
Get a comprehensive eye examination done every year, so your doctor can check your eye health and determine the early sign of eye illness. An annual examination will also help in ensuring your glasses prescription are updated and not straining your eye. Your doctor will also tell you that the eyeglasses you are using suit your needs or not, and suggest anti-glare or computer glasses accordingly.
Eye exercise:
Workout for the eye is essential to reduce eye fatigue and soreness. Though the simplest and most effective way to deal with tired eyes is blinking. Continuous blinking is the best exercise to trigger tear hormones and reduce soreness in the eye. Meanwhile, practising focus changing tasks and palming activities are good for reducing pain and strain
Use a computer or blue light glasses:
Tired eyes are more common in those who spend more time on screen and suffer from computer vision syndrome. By wearing blue light and computer glasses, you can reduce eye strain that likely causes eye fatigue.
Why does my eye feel tired all day after sleeping?
A primary sign of an extremely busy day, Tired eyes may be the result of several activities including reading, writing, driving or anything that requires more focus.
Some other causes of eye fatigue include lack of sleep, excessive driving for a long haul, eye infections, using uncorrected prescription glasses and staring at the screen without blinking.
You stare at a computer screen all day or resist using your prescription glasses for reading and viewing faraway objects – if squinting during this time sounds familiar? This way, you are only causing your eye to strain and form a condition when your eye feels tired, dry and itchy.
Reading and working in low light conditions or without taking breaks can also cause tired eyes. Additionally, dry eye syndrome or exposure to dry air can be a cause of ongoing tiredness.
Besides these habits, some prescription drugs also make your eyes feel heavy.
Setting some boundaries and avoiding the potential causes is the best way to get rid of the problem. But if the symptoms persist, it is important to visit the doctor.
Wrap up:
In today’s world scenario, when we steadily move towards digitalization, we spend most of our time in front of screens. Tired eyes are one of the potential effects of screens that causes double vision, headache and concentration difficulties. However, this effect can easily be altered by taking proper precautions to reduce eye discomforts.
If this simple tactic does not work to relax your eye, you may have an underlying eye illness or an allergy. Talk to your doctor, when you have a severe headache, a big change in vision and frequent eye discomfort.
