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For long hours of work in front of the computer, our eyes get tired. What will help you recover quickly?
Redness, dryness, burning, and finally, just eye fatigue. Long hours of work at the computer do not affect our vision in the best way. How to relieve stress? Svetlana Dontsova, an ophthalmologist of the highest qualification category at the MEDSI International Clinic, comments.
“We regularly forget about this, but still, in order to reduce eye strain, first of all, you need to observe the visual mode and take a break from work every 45 minutes. During breaks, you can do short exercises: blink often, move your eyes in different directions with maximum abduction, make circular eye movements, look into the distance (preferably out the window) and at the tip of the nose. Exercises train the internal accommodative muscle, as well as relax the external motor muscles of the eye. With myopia and farsightedness, you need to carry out exercises in glasses for the distance, with age-related farsightedness – without glasses.
You can also use computer glasses for unloading. They reduce glare and therefore eye fatigue. True, they increase the contrast, so before using them, do not forget to adjust the contrast of your monitor. It is not worth spending the whole working day in glasses – 2-3 hours are enough for unloading.
Drops can also help the eyes cope with stress. However, only a doctor can select them. There are drops that help relax accommodation (autofocus). There are drops that moisturize the eye surface, which helps to cope with office dry eye syndrome. Do not abuse the so-called “blue” vasoconstrictor drops: they disrupt microcirculation and the ocular surface.
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- Help your eyes relax
You can support your eyes by adjusting your diet. There are many trace elements useful for vision in parsley and celery. Eat more fruits and vegetables of red and orange color containing vitamin A (for example, carrots, apricots, peaches, oranges, corn, sweet peppers, tomatoes, sea buckthorn, mango, pumpkin, melon). Spinach, broccoli, chicken eggs, grapes, beans, peas, zucchini are sources of lutein. The eyes also really need vitamin C. There is a lot of it in kiwi, blueberries, hawthorn, rose hips. Vitamin E is rich in soy, olive oil. You can not do without omega-3 fatty acids contained in the fish of the cold seas – salmon, sardines, cod, herring.
Eye exercises
Close your eyes. Put your hands over your eyes. Fingers should be tightly clenched so as not to let in sunlight. Stay in this position for a minute, try to relax. The absence of light and the warmth of the hands will help the eyes regain strength.
For this exercise, you will need a small colored ball. Stand up straight with your feet together. Throw the ball with one hand, catch it with the other, while carefully following the movement of the ball with your eyes. Vary the trajectory of the throw: higher, lower. This exercise helps to get rid of the enemy of good vision No. 1 for a while – constant fixation of the gaze at one point. The eyes need movement to see well.
Imagine a huge floor-to-ceiling clock. Choose the rhythm of the clock hand, slowly follow it with your eyes. This exercise can be done with your eyes open or closed. You can follow the clock hand with your index finger. Exercise improves concentration and perception, stimulates the eye muscles.
Extend your arm in front of you as if you were looking into a mirror. Look at your thumb, blink once, then close your eyes. Slowly open them and look at your index finger, blink twice, close your eyes, etc. Lowering the eyelid helps the eye to relax, moisturizes it. We blink about 50 times per minute, but in case of stress or tension during prolonged work in front of a computer screen, much less often, since blinking prevents us from fixing our gaze on one object for a long time. It is best to repeat this exercise several times a day.