With dry eyes...

How about you? Do you also find yourself working behind a screen more and more often?
I do, and it requires awareness.

Awareness of how my eyes are doing.

Did you know that, biologically speaking, a screen is perceived by your brain as a threat — a danger? Everything your body interprets as danger translates into stress. That means tense muscles, faster and more shallow breathing, but also wide-open eyes that stay alert and vigilant for what might happen.

Many studies show that when you sit behind a screen, you are constantly “on.” In other words, it leads to chronic alertness.
And that means: blinking too little, which leads to dry eyes (and eventually poorer eye function).

It even has a name: computer vision syndrome.

Of course, you can immediately go to the drugstore and buy eye drops. Yes, that certainly helps — but you can also take action yourself.

Unfortunately, as you get older, these symptoms tend to increase.

Dr. Erik Peper conducted research in the United States and shares surprising insights that are very easy to apply — but you do have to actually do them…

The simplest solution is to look outside or into the distance after a certain number of minutes. Time passes faster than you realize, so setting a timer might help.

Research shows you should actually do this every 20 minutes:
Take a 20-second break and look at least 5 meters (about 16 feet) away into the distance.

Another helpful practice is this exercise:

• Close your eyes.
• Breathe into your belly (your abdomen expands as you inhale and softens as you exhale).
• Create an inner smile on your face (gently lift the corners of your mouth and feel your body relax).
• Take three natural breaths with your eyes closed and that soft smile on your face.
• As you exhale, very slowly open your eyes just a tiny bit and softly peek through your eyelashes without really focusing on anything.
• Close your eyes again, inhale, and repeat this two more times.

If you suffer from severe dry eyes, this book is said to be an eye-opener (no pun intended 😉):
Vision for Life: Ten Steps to Natural Eye Improvement by Meir Schneider (2012).

I haven’t read the book myself, because the exercises above already help me — now that I’m more aware.

If you have other suggestions for dry eyes, I’d love to hear them!