How to restore tired eyes


Best Ways to Relieve Tired Eyes

Medically Reviewed by Poonam Sachdev on June 24, 2022

Try a washcloth soaked in warm water on your tired, achy eyes. Warm compresses can:

  • Add moisture
  • Ease pain
  • Increase blood flow
  • Relax muscle spasms

Wash your hands before you start so bacteria doesn’t get in your eyes. Dip your washcloth in water that you've boiled (to sterilize it) and cooled until lukewarm. Then put it on your eyes for 5-10 minutes, or as long as your doctor advises.

Different tasks call for different types of light. While you watch TV, it's easier on your eyes to keep the room softly lit. When you read, put the light where it's behind you and pointed toward the page, out of your eyes. On digital screens, adjust the brightness to match the level of light around you. Also, adjust the screen's contrast, so your eyes don't have to strain to see.

With these prescription eyeglasses, your eyes can focus at computer screen distance. That's about 20-26 inches from your face. Some have special lenses to help you quickly shift focus between close, middle, and far distances. Before you go shopping, understand that computer glasses are not the same as those that block blue light. Blue light-blocking specs may make you more comfortable, but they don't always prevent eyestrain.

Eye experts link this technique to an alternative therapy called The Bates Method, named for eye doctor William Bates. He questioned whether glasses were the only way to fix a person's vision. Research shows his method doesn't correct eyesight, but palming could help to ease eyestrain. Cup your palms over your closed eyes, putting no pressure on your eyeballs. The idea is that this can help to relax your eyes.

Small tweaks can make a big difference to your eyes. Make sure your screen is about arm's length (20-26 inches) away from your face. The center of the screen should be slightly below eye level (4-5 inches). It helps to have a chair you can move up and down. Adjust the text size so you don't squint. And try a document holder next to your monitor for printed papers. This limits how much you move your eyes back and forth.

Tea bags are good for more than a hot drink. They also work as a relaxing cold compress for your eyes. After you've brewed chamomile or regular tea, put the bags in a clean container in the fridge. Once they've cooled, put them on your eyelids to help soothe your eyes and reduce swelling. Make sure you've washed your face and hands well and taken out your contacts. And don't get any tea in your eyes.

Your eyes have muscles, and they can benefit from a workout, too. Try this: Hold your finger a few inches from your eyes and focus on it. Then, focus far into the distance, then back on your finger. Repeat a few times. Or, close your eyes, roll them up toward the ceiling, then down toward the floor. Look to the right, then left. These exercises may help ease eye fatigue. But they won't actually make your eye muscles stronger.

Experts say that when you use a digital device, you should take regular screen breaks. They recommend the 20-20-20 rule. Take a 20-second break to look at something 20 feet away every 20 minutes. Another tip: for every 2 hours of screen time, rest your eyes for 15 minutes.

When your eyes are dry, they feel more tired. Use a humidifier to add moisture to the air and your eyes. A humidity level of at least 45% is best. Also, adjust your thermostat or move away from vents so dry air doesn't blow on your face. If you smoke, think hard about quitting.

Over-the-counter or prescription eye drops relieve dry, tired eyes. Use them even when your eyes feel fine to keep them moisturized and stop your symptoms from coming back. Or, if you prefer to make natural tears, remember to blink more often, especially when you're on a digital device. We usually blink 15 times in a minute. But when we're on a computer, that drops to 5-7 times.

IMAGES PROVIDED BY:

1) WebMD / Alexander Hadjidakis

2) Getty

3) Getty

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SOURCES:

UCLA Health: "Computer-Related Eye Fatigue. "

Mayo Clinic: "Mayo Clinic Q and A: Relief for your dry eyes," "Eyestrain," "A look inside your eyes."

University of Rochester Medical Center: "Ice Packs vs. Warm Compresses For Pain."

University of Michigan Kellogg Eye Center: "Eyelid Spasms (Eye Twitching or Eye Twitch)."

All Wales Medicine Study Group: "Dry Eyes Syndrome."

Optometry and Vision Science: "Blue-blocking Filters and Digital Eyestrain."

Journal of Physical Therapy Science: "Effects of yogic eye exercises on eye fatigue in undergraduate nursing students."

Ophthalmic & Physiological Optics: The Journal of the College of Optometrists: "The Bates method, elixirs, potions and other cures for myopia: how do they work?"

Bates Method International: "Palming."

Molecular Medicine Reports: "Chamomile: A herbal medicine of the past with bright future."

Johns Hopkins Medicine: "How to Get Rid of Bags Under Your Eyes."

Harvard Medical School: "Most cases of pink eye (conjunctivitis) don’t require antibiotics. "

National Institutes of Health: "Exercises and Stretches."

University of Rochester Medical Center: "Don't Ignore Dry Eyes."

Prevent Blindness: "Computers and Your Sight."

American Academy of Ophthalmology: "Computers, Digital Devices and Eye Strain."

American Optometric Association: "Computer Vision Syndrome."

© 2022 WebMD, LLC. All rights reserved. View privacy policy and trust info

How to Revive Tired Eyes

Reader's Digest CanadaUpdated: Oct. 28, 2020

Need to know how to perk up eyes that always look tired? Here are some simple fixes to refresh your peepers—and you've likely got all of the ingredients you'll need at home.

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Avocado Under Eye Mask

Didn’t get your beauty sleep? For many people, tiredness causes dark circles under the eyes that add years to your appearance. Place slices of ripe avocado under each eye or apply a paste of ground almonds and milk to lighten the dark shadows.

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Chilled Tea Bags

Caffeinated tea, which contains natural tannins, is a mild diuretic and long-used by grandmothers and runway models for reducing eye puffiness. Soak two tea bags in warm water, and then chill the bags for a few minutes in the refrigerator. Place one tea bag on each eye for five minutes, and your eyes will look as though you got a solid eight hours of sleep.

Learn about these 36 everyday habits that can save your eyesight.

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Freeze Teething Rings

Here’s a way to perk up eyes that is child’s play. Put two baby teething rings in the freezer until they’re ice-cold, then lie down and place the rings on your closed eyelids for about 10 minutes. The cold will not only reduce eye puffiness but will invigorate you, too.

Don’t miss these four common causes of itchy eyes and how to treat them.

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Massage with Cold Spoons

Take two metal teaspoons and hold them under very cold running water for a few minutes. Then lie down and place the bowls of the spoons over your eyelids for 30 to 60 seconds. The sharp cold of the metal will revive tired eyes and may boost your energy at the same time.

Try these eight energy-boosting foods that are way better than coffee.

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Cucumber Slices

When your eyes are red and puffy, cut a couple of slices of cold cucumber, then lie down and put a slice over each eye for 30 minutes. Once you’re up, your eyes will be brighter and your body refreshed. This quick fix is also healthy enough to eat, too.

If you’re having trouble resting, here are the nine best vitamins for sleep.

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Hemorrhoid Cream for Puffiness

Models and performers alike have been known to reduce tired eye puffiness and wrinkles with-believe it or not-hemorrhoid cream. If the odour of the cream is too strong, mix in a bit of your moisturizer before applying-and be careful not to get any of the cream in your eyes.

Next, eliminate tired eyes for good with the 19 things you should do all day long for better sleep tonight.

Originally Published: October 28, 2020

Originally Published in Reader's Digest Canada

Asthenopia (eye fatigue) - what to do if the eyes get tired quickly

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  • Asthenopia in children and adults

Maybe it's asthenopia. The name is unfamiliar, but the state itself is familiar to everyone. This term ophthalmologists call eye fatigue as a result of prolonged intensive work. A person feels symptoms of asthenopia while reading a book or text from a computer screen, or after many hours of driving.

Visual tasks that require high concentration cause overexertion and spasm of muscles, and not only the eyes. The muscles of the eyelids, face, and even the jaw are also included in the visual process, and to such an extent that pain and discomfort are sometimes felt. Lighting also plays a role: the eyes get tired quickly in dim light. Looking intently at the monitor, carried away by his tasks, a person blinks less often, and asthenopia is accompanied by dryness of the eyeball. Refractive errors - nearsightedness and farsightedness - exacerbate eye fatigue.

In general, the symptoms of asthenopia are varied:

  • fatigue,
  • burning and pain in the eyes,
  • blurry image,
  • double vision,
  • headache,
  • tearing,
  • dry eyes,
  • sore neck,
  • photophobia - hypersensitivity to light.

Many of these signs are also characteristic of eye diseases, astigmatism, farsightedness or nearsightedness. To understand the true cause, it is still better to come for a consultation with an ophthalmologist and undergo a comprehensive eye diagnosis.

What should I do if my eyes get tired quickly?

It is impossible to reduce the load on vision in the modern world - work, entertainment are unthinkable without gadgets. It’s not worth putting up with fatigue, especially since it’s easy enough to relieve tension.

Here are a few "recipes" available to everyone:

  • Massage. Light circular movements in the area of ​​​​the eyelids and above the eyebrows for 40 seconds increase blood circulation and relax the muscles.
  • Warm palms. Rub your palms and place them on your closed eyes for half a minute.
  • Sunbathing. You can get an energy charge by substituting your face for a couple of minutes under the sun's rays. The eyes must be covered.
  • Exercise for the eyes. Even the alternation of looking far and at a close object trains the eye muscles.
  • Cool water relieves swelling, tension and fatigue, improves blood circulation.
  • Compresses from chamomile tea, milk, cucumber reduce puffiness, relieve irritation, help muscles relax.
  • Lighting. Too bright light makes the eyes work hard, as well as too dim. Choose the optimal intensity.
  • Brightness and color temperature on monitors. Remove excessive brightness on your computer and other gadgets. Take a break from the computer - give your eyes a rest.

And don't forget to blink and breathe, no matter how absurd it may sound. Tears wash away germs and provide the cornea with the necessary lubrication, while deep breathing supplies oxygen to the eyes.

A little self-care and the discomfort will leave you. And trust the specialists for serious vision problems.

How to relieve eye fatigue and reduce eye strain?

Eye health is directly related to whether you can control the load on your eyesight and provide your eyes with sufficient rest. Experts from the Lucky Look federal network of opticians tell you how to relieve eye fatigue and reduce eye strain if you work at a computer.

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Contents

  1. Visual fatigue symptoms
  2. Why eyes get tired
  3. How to quickly remove fatigue from the eyes
  4. How to reduce eye strain
  5. Prevention of visual fatigue
  6. Terminals

How to understand that the eyes need rest

Any visual discomfort indicates that it is time to take a break from work and give the eyes a chance to rest. Experts identify the main symptoms that indicate an overstrain of the visual system:

  • Veil, mist before the eyes;
  • Image doubles and blurs;
  • Eyes inflamed, reddened;
  • Increased tearing and sensitivity to bright light;
  • Possible painful sensations in the eyes - pain, burning, itching;
  • Having trouble focusing at close range;
  • Eyelid twitching possible.

Be careful, these symptoms can also signal the presence of serious visual impairment! To rule out negative scenarios, you need visit an ophthalmologist.

Increased visual fatigue can indicate serious disorders, so do not put off a visit to the ophthalmologist

Causes of increased visual fatigue

Why does vision deteriorate? The main causes of this phenomenon are distinguished:

High eye strain. This is often faced by schoolchildren and students who are forced to read and write a lot, as well as office workers whose activities involve continuous sitting at a computer or reading documents.

Also, if you are fond of computer games, like to watch TV shows on your mobile gadgets - smartphones or tablets - or spend all your free time with a book, your eyes are also exposed to a high load.

In order to minimize problems with this lifestyle, it is necessary to take breaks as often as possible and give the eyes regular rest.

Computer vision syndrome. This is a whole complex of symptoms, which is caused by overstrain of the visual system due to prolonged use of the computer. The reason for the development of the symptom is not so much the need to look at the monitor for a long time, but the functional change in your posture, eyes, neck. For example, the constant sliding of the gaze from the keyboard to the monitor and back leads to accommodative asthenopia, which is manifested by discomfort, eye fatigue, pain, pain in the superciliary region, blurred vision of the object of fixation.

Subsequently, this can cause problems such as myopia (nearsightedness), accommodation spasm (inability to focus on small objects and details) and dry eye syndrome.

Properly organized workplace and touch typing skills will help to minimize the harm from constant work at the computer.

Dry eye syndrome. Often appears on the basis of computer vision syndrome, develops due to insufficient moistening of vision: with concentrated work at a computer, a person blinks less often, as a result of which the tear film dries up. Plus - the air near the computer heats up and also becomes dry.

Organize your workplace and use special glasses for working at the computer

In the summer season, when air conditioners are in operation, the pathological effect of dry air on the eyes only intensifies. And if you use contact lenses, the syndrome develops even faster.

To reduce the negative impact of external factors and provide more comfortable conditions for the eyes, place a humidifier near your workplace. Also buy moisturizing drops (choose them with the help of an ophthalmologist) and use them several times a day. Try to blink as often as possible.

How to get rid of tired eyes quickly

During a break, do light eye exercises:

  1. Look into the distance for 20 seconds, focus on an object that is located about 20 steps away from you;
  2. Close your eyes and make four rotations with your eyeballs - first clockwise, then against it;
  3. Without opening the eyelids, move the eyes up and down;
  4. End the exercise by blinking rapidly for 30 seconds. The gaze is directed forward.

To maintain the effect, apply moisturizing drops selected by an ophthalmologist to your eyes. Do not self-medicate, be sure to seek help from a specialist - moisturizing drops come in different viscosities, they can have a healing effect, or they can simply moisten the surface of the eye. Only an ophthalmologist will determine what exactly your vision needs and select the necessary remedy.

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By the way, gymnastics also requires prior consultation with a doctor. Make sure you have no contraindications. Also, the ophthalmologist can advise other types of gymnastics.

How to reduce eye strain and prevent fatigue

There are a few rules that must be observed in everyday life. Thanks to this, you can significantly reduce the load on your eyesight, and your eyes will get tired much less.

If you work at a computer, the first thing you need to do is to properly organize your workplace.

  1. It is important that the workplace is well and evenly lit. Do not allow the sun's rays to shine directly into your eyes or on the monitor screen, it is better if you sit sideways to the window. Also, there should be blinds on the window so that on sunny days you can control the intensity of lighting - if the light is too bright, your eyes get tired faster.
  2. Better if you work with a high-quality LCD or plasma monitor, preferably with a large diagonal. Experts recommend choosing monitors with a flicker frequency of 60 to 100 Hz. Be sure to adjust the brightness and contrast of the image for yourself. Remember that an excessively bright screen tires your eyes.
  3. Adjust the monitor to your posture: the center of the monitor should be 10-20 cm below your eyes. The distance to the screen from the eyes should be at least 60 cm.
  4. If possible, reduce computer use to 4 hours a day;
  5. Take breaks every 20 minutes during operation. At this time, you can not switch to mobile gadgets, as there will be no sense in pauses in this case. It is better to perform light eye exercises, which we talked about above. But before doing gymnastics, you need to consult with a specialist and make sure that you have no contraindications to this;
  6. Provide air humidification - buy a special device and install it near your workplace;
  7. Regularly use moisturizing drops selected under the supervision of an ophthalmologist;
  8. Try to blink more often;
  9. Use special goggles for working at a computer, they block the blue spectrum of radiation emitted by the monitor and reduce eye strain.

Prevention of visual fatigue

The health of your eyes depends on your daily habits. Hygiene of vision allows you to maintain good health and reduces eye fatigue, even under conditions of increased stress.

  1. Sleep 7-8 hours - a good and full sleep is very important for eye health, which should last at least 7 hours. It is important that the room in which you sleep is darkened;
  2. Stop using gadgets 2 hours before bedtime. Firstly, this way you will fall asleep easier and your sleep will be stronger. Secondly, at this time, the eyes will be able to rest from the irritating light. It is better to read an ordinary paper book or an electronic one, but working on the principle of E-Ink (which means "electronic ink"). No mobile phones, computers or tablets. It is also better to refrain from TV;
  3. Observe reading hygiene: do not read while lying down or in a moving vehicle, while reading, hold the book at a distance of 30 cm from the eyes. The light source should be behind and slightly above;
  4. Include in your diet foods that are good for vision - blueberries, carrots, melons, fish, etc. One "healthy" menu alone will not solve the problem, but in combination with other good habits, proper nutrition will have a positive effect on vision and well-being generally;
  5. Make it a habit to visit an ophthalmologist once a year, even if nothing bothers you. Only timely detection of possible violations will prevent their development. Remember that on your own you cannot always correctly assess your condition;
  6. Sign up for a free vision test

  7. If you need vision correction, it is better to use glasses instead of contact lenses at the computer. Firstly, it will reduce the dryness of the cornea. Secondly, there are special coatings for spectacle lenses that can reduce eye strain and protect them from the blue spectrum of radiation;
  8. Wash your face thoroughly before going to bed. Women need to completely remove makeup. Men should also pay enough attention to washing, because during the day dust and dirt particles settle on the eyelashes, which can get into the eyes;
  9. It is best not to use an eye mask while sleeping. If you cannot fall asleep without it, choose a product that does not put pressure on your eyes and does not squeeze your temples, otherwise the blood circulation of the organs of vision may be impaired. Remember that the mask should be washed regularly.

Conclusions

Simple exercises that should be done regularly throughout the day will help to quickly relieve fatigue from the eyes. But this is not enough! To make your eyes less strained and tired, it is important to provide the right conditions:

  1. Organize your workplace according to all the rules;
  2. Install a humidifier near the work area;
  3. Use moisturizing drops throughout the day;
  4. During work break every 20-40 minutes to do gymnastics;
  5. Turn down the brightness of the monitor and screens of mobile gadgets;
  6. Do not read in a moving vehicle;
  7. Choose from paper books or e-books powered by E-Ink technology;
  8. If possible, reduce your computer time to 4 hours a day;
  9. Do not use mobile gadgets and a computer 2 hours before bedtime;
  10. See an ophthalmologist at least once a year.

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