With remote learning in full swing, we are using our screens more and more. This can fatigue our eyes, especially those with glasses.

Did you know, we blink almost 4 times less looking at a screen than when we’re not? This means our eyes tire more quickly and can cause us pain and potentially long-lasting eye damage. It’s important, therefore, to care for our eye health as much as possible.

Install a blue light filter

A blue light filter, whether that be on your device or created by special glasses, can effectively protect our eyes, especially at night.

Exercise your eyes

Eye exercises are also beneficial for our eye health. There is lots of information online about the best eye exercises for you to do; one of our favourites is to look to your right, roll your eyes up to the ceiling and down to your left and then finish by rolling your eyes to the floor. This is done 10 times clockwise and 10 times anticlockwise.

Check your distance

Finally, make sure you’re not sitting too close to your screen. This is a problem many people face: you may not even realise you’re doing it!

Aim to sit an arm’s length away from your screen. Try this by sitting upright in your chair and ensuring your fingertips are just touching the screen when you reach out one of your arms.

Sitting too close to a screen risks drying out your eyes, whereas sitting too far away forces your eyes to strain to read small text. This is why it’s important to find the perfect balance. A handy tip for this is to increase the zoom of your chrome window with the shortcut CTRL + scroll wheel or by going into Chrome settings.

Take a break

Of course, the best possible way to protect our eyes is to have regular screen-time breaks. Make the most of your five minute breaks in between lessons to leave all screens and allow your eyes to rest.

Euan and Florence, Year 13