When it comes to taking care of their eyesight, people seem to always fall short of their responsibility. Why? Maybe it’s because we don’t get to see it or feel it the way other parts of the body remain visible or felt when we’re doing something. Whether it’s work-related or purely for entertainment, millions of people spend so many hours each day reading e-books, messaging friends and family, typing on their netbooks or playing the a top-rated game on their tablets. All these may seem like normal activity for many of us, but have we ever stopped and wondered what this means for our eyesight?
Meanwhile, it would be good for you to know that as of this moment, there is no research that has proven or reported that technology has a role to play in causing any permanent damage to our vision. However, there are some small scale problems that people experience when they stare at mobile and TV screens for hours on end.
A significant number of people see an retinal specialist to complain about an uncomfortable feeling in their eyes. They think that they are experiencing symptoms of a more serious vision problem. The answer they hear, however, is that their ocular discomfort can sometimes be attributed to using too much of science’s most tangible product. Technology can become a bit overwhelming to the eyes, especially if you don’t give them enough rest in between long periods of staring at screens.
So what can your eyes suffer from when you are playing Candy Crush Saga longer than recommended? Some of the most common eye ailments that you can experience from excessive screen time includes the following:
The Tension Headache
If you’re screen is set to having an extremely high contrast and the brightness is maxed out, then you are asking for trouble in the form of a tension headache. This type of headache is one of the most common and accounts for about half of all headaches that people experience.
If you’ve recently switched from paperbacks to e-books, then you should know that reading dark print text on an immensely bright background can cause muscle spasms at the temples. Thankfully, there are e-readers such as the Nook and the Kindle that are specifically made for extensive reading. So invest on e-readers instead of using your mobile phone or tablet to read your favorite novels.
The Dry Eye
The thing about our eyes is that when we look at something far away in the horizon, they blink for a couple of times. The number of times we blink starts to decrease when we shift to looking at an object that is closer the eyes. This means the tears quickly evaporate, quickly than when you were blinking more frequently.
With this in mind, this is why you get dry eyes when looking at your desktop monitor screen for too long. It is even worse for people who wear contact lenses, as the lenses are placed on top of the tear film, making the dryness worse. It also causes itching, stronger than normal blinking, and the accumulation of grit in the eyes.
The Eye Strain
People experience eye strain when they look at things up close because their eyes slightly converge, which means smaller pupils and the eye muscles have to adjust to the size of the lens. By spending hours playing on their computer, mobile phone, or tablet, people are keeping their eyes converged for a long period of time, causing eyestrain and headaches.
So the next time you grab your phone, think of how your eyes are affected and limit the amount of time you use your gadgets. Or if you really need to, settle for twenty second breaks. Lastly, an Arizona retinal specialist would be more than happy to explain just how our eyes are faring from all the exposure to gadgets, so do not forget to schedule an appointment with your family’s eye doctor for a detailed discussion on the matter.
