07 Jul 2020 
Ever wondered how the how screen time and its artificial light is affecting your eye health?
Most Americans spent a significant portion of their life with their eyes glued to electronic devices of one sort or another.
Artificial sources of light include LED and fluorescent lights, and digital devices including flat-screen televisions, smartphones, e-readers, and tablets. This artificial light is on the blue end of the visible light spectrum and has short, high-energy wavelengths.
Our eyes have difficulty filtering out blue light, which allows the blue light to travel to our retina at the back of our eye and potentially damage those cells. We don’t all react the same way to that blue light. But you’d be hard-pressed to find someone who’s never experienced a negative symptom due to their screen time, even if they didn’t realize it. Downsides include tired eyes, dry eyes, discomfort, headaches, and shoulder pain. These are all results of digital eye strain and Computer Vision Syndrome.
Try looking at objects placed at a distance for 15 seconds, then bringing back your focus on a closer object (nothing techy), and look at that for 15 seconds as well. Repeat several times. Also, try rotating your eyeballs – your body isn’t the only thing that needs exercise!
Staring at a computer for hours dries up the surface of our eyes because it causes us to blink less. Dry eyes lead to irritation, which can bring about other problems like red eyes and itchiness. To help avoid this, close your eyes for a few seconds every now and then, or blink (hard) a few times. Lubricating eye drops (Refresh and Clear Eyes brands are good, Visine is NOT) are also recommended to help keep your eyes moist and healthy.
Available over the counter, they can reduce eye fatigue and strain. We wear sunglasses to shield our eyes from UV rays. Some argue blue light filtering glasses should be used the same with artificial light!
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