Why My Eyes Are Always Tired?

“The eye is the jewel of the body” Henry David Thoreau

It is said that our eyes are the mirror of our soul and can reveal a lot of truth. They reflect our emotions and your entire inner self. Hence it is very important to maintain this precious organ in top order.

In this age of high and fast technology, where we are at the constant mercy of our computers, mobile phones and tablets, this precious jewel is endangered and eye problems, especially those caused due to excessive strenuous activities, are getting more and more common.

Abraham Mathew Saji
Pharmacist

In today’s world we blink a lot lesser and are more exposed to air-conditioned environments with reduced consumption of water causing our eyes to get dry, leading to itchiness, soreness and sight problems. Just as our body gets tired after working for long hours, our eyes too get tired when subjected to excessive hours of activity, leading to a conditioned referred to as Asthenopia, also known as tired eyes.

Let us try and understand some of the common causes for tired eyes:

• Exposure to gadgets like computers, laptops, mobile phones, tablets, game pads for excessive periods of time.
• Exposure to air-conditioned environments.
• Inadequate consumption of water (the stress here is on water rather than fluids).
• Inadequate lighting.
• Reading for prolonged periods of time without a break.
• Driving for prolonged periods of time without a break.
• Any other activity that requires the eyes to focus for prolonged periods of time without a break.
• Insufficient sleep.
• Astigmatism, a condition causing sight that is out of focus, due to an abnormally curved cornea, causing the eyes to get strained more.
• Presbyopia, a condition with slow loss of ability to see close objects and to read smaller print, causing the eyes to get strained more.

Some common symptoms of tired eyes:

• Itchy eyes leading to redness and soreness.
• Headaches.
• Watery eyes.
• Improper sight.
• Blurred vision.
• Double vision.
• Dry eyes.
• Droopy eyelids.
• Twitching eyelids
• Bags and darkening under the eyes.
• Neck, shoulder and back aches.
• Heavy headedness.
• Insomnia.
• Overall feeling of fatigue.
• Difficulty in concentrating.
• Increased sensitivity to light.

Some preventive and remedial measures one could take-up are:

• Remember to blink more often: We may forget about blinking as we could be engrossed too much in the activity being undertaken. May be one can put pop-up reminders on the gadget screen that reminds one to blink. Dryness of the eyes can also lead to inadequate supply of oxygen to our eyes.
• Adjust the room lighting: more contrast will put more strain on the eyes, regardless of the activity being carried out, like reading, typing, watching telecasts or typing. Avoid lighting directly above or behind a computer screen to reduce any reflections due to glare.
• Consume more water: Water commonly referred to as “the elixir of life” can help in many ways for our entire body, of course not leaving behind our eyes.
• Adjust the air-conditioner: Adjustment of the air-conditioner fan in such a way that the blast of the fan is not directed to one’s face can also play a major role in preventing the eyes from drying out.
• Take a break: Today staring and focusing at fixed distances without much movement of the eyes, face, neck and shoulders is very common. It is advisable to take frequent short breaks from the high focus activity being carried out. This will not only refresh the eyes, but also the mind.
• 20-20-20 rule: Look at anything that is about 20 feet away from you, for about 20 seconds, very 20 minutes.
• Check your eyes: Along with us, as our eyes too age, their prescription number also would change. It is advisable to get the eyes checked periodically to ensure that the right prescription glasses or contact lenses are being used.
• Get adequate rest: Getting adequate rest, in the form of a good sleep for about 7 hours, can play a major role in maintaining our eyes and entire body in a healthy condition.
  Cool compression: Cool compression over the eyes can be very refreshing and helpful to the eye muscles. It is not advisable to place ice directly on the eyelids.
• Warm compression, Just like cool compression, warm (not hot) compression using a thin flannel cloth soaked in warm water can be helpful to the eye muscles.
• Adjust the computer or viewing surface: Eye strain can also result from too close viewing and raised eye and neck position during viewing. It is advised to adjust the view to maintain both the distance and angle of view for healthy eyes and also for ergonomics. As a general rule it is advisable to have a viewing distance of about 20 to 26 inches and a viewing angle a little below eye level.
• Anti-glare screen: Having an anti-glare screen for the computer screen can help to reduce the strain caused on the eye muscles due to the excessive lighting and glare.
• Adjust screen settings: For easier and un-strained reading, it is better to adjust the font size bigger. Also adjusting the contrast and brightness levels of the screen can help to reduce the strain on eyes.
• Use artificial tears: Dry eye treatments available over the counter for symptomatic relief of dry and fatigued eyes.
• Pay attention to posture: Poor posture while seated or lying down and reading can do a lot of harm to our eyes and its supporting muscles. Hence it is imperative to pay more attention to little details of our posture and correcting it.
• Avoid viewing computer screens or for that matter any gadget screen just before retiring to bed: The light, especially the blue light emitted by electronic gadgets can not only make it more difficult to fall asleep, but also can wake you up more easily and often.

If the problem persists, it is advisable to seek consultation and advice from your healthcare practitioner. The healthcare practitioner will assess your overall symptoms and habits; and based on the results of a few necessary tests, prescribe the appropriate corrective measures to be adopted.

Before concluding here are a few simple workouts for the health of our eyes:

• Focusing on objects near and far. Here we need to focus on an object about 5 feet away for 10 seconds, followed by focus on an object about 20 feet away for 10 seconds.
• Focus on a pencil tip at an arm’s length, moving it from centre to the left side, followed by centre to the right side.
• Perform repeated blinking for 10 seconds at a stretch.
• Make an imaginary 8 sign with our eye movement.
• Palming by stretching the upper eyelids with the help of 3 fingers of both hands with deep and relaxed breathing.
• Rolling of the eyes includes rotating the eye balls clockwise for about 10 rounds followed by anti-clockwise for about 10 rounds.

 

References:
1) Mounir Bashour; Tired Eyes – What You Can Do To Wake Your Eyes Up; http://www.eyehealthweb.com/tiredeyes; accessed 09 Dec 2016.
2) Laurie Barclay; Relieve Your Tired Eyes; http://www.lifeextension.com/magazine/2009/relieveyourtiredeyes; accessed 09 Dec 2016.
3) Diseases and Conditions: Eyestrain; The Mayo Clinic; http://www.mayoclinic.org/diseases-conditions/eyestrain; accessed 09 Dec 2016.
4) Pramod Kerkar; Eye Fatigue or Eye Strain: Causes, Symptoms, Exercises and Prevention; ePainAssist; http://www.epainassist.com/eyefatigue; accessed 09 Dec 2016.