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20-20-20 rule

The 20-20-20 Rule for tired or fatigued eyes

The 20-20-20 Rule for tired or fatigued eyes

Lets start our blog with a topic that relates to many of our patients: working on the computer. Many patients report they are working in front of a monitor at least 8 hours per day. With few patients pushing up to 12 hours of digital devices per day. The amount of harmful blue light accumulates over time and could be damaging to the eyes' retinal tissue in the future! We'll discuss blue light rays in a future discussion. Let's focus on the common complaints reported by patients working on digital devices: eye strain and fatigue.

Why do eyes fatigue after prolonged hours of computer use? It's a simple matter of eye muscles being overworked. When you engage in near work, such as the use of digital devices, the eye muscles responsible for near focus are engaged. When the eyes focus on a distant object, those muscles are relaxed.

The solution? Find a new career! But that's unrealistic. One of the simplest helpful tidbit is to apply the 20-20-20 rule. For every 20 minutes of work, take 20 seconds of break and look at an object 20 feet away. So find your tape measure and lets mark 20 feet away from your desk. That's also unrealistic! Try and gaze off at the distance. Look outside the window, across the room, or just choose something simple to look at far away.

When applied, the 20-20-20 rule may not eliminate tired eyes or fatigued eyes completely, but it should provide some relief. We'll provide more helpful tips in future readings. Thanks for reading.