How to Reduce Eye Strain Symptoms: Complete Guide 2024

By Vanessa Richards

January 10, 2024   •   Fact checked by Dumb Little Man

Eyestrain Symptoms

You may have heard that digital screens aren’t good for your eyes. Well, that’s not a myth.

Your eyes, apart from being delicate, are also extremely photosensitive. It might shock you but your eyes can get tired too!

Overly engaging in activities that require focus, for example, more screen time or reading a book for a long period of time can make your eyes feel tired or irritated. This condition is known as eye strain/eye fatigue or asthenopia.

The good news is that eye strain, if it’s due to overactivity, is not a serious condition.

You can easily get rid of eye strain through simple lifestyle changes.

What is Eye Strain?

Eye strain/eye fatigue, medically known as asthenopia, is a condition where your eyes feel irritated or tired due to over engaging in activities requiring sharp focus. For example, you may have felt that when you read too much for an exam or use your phone for a longer duration of time, your eyes start aching.

If you are experiencing eye strain, you don’t need to panic because it is not a serious condition and can’t damage your eyes permanently. But, the thing is that your eyes have a certain limit of focus that they can bear. Beyond that, the muscles that are responsible for eye movements just get tired, in which case you must consult a competent healthcare provider.

Eye strain is not only bad for your eyes but for your general health as well. That’s because eye strain can also be severe, which may become chronic if you don’t modify your lifestyle.

What Are the Causes of Eye Strain/Eye Fatigue?

Your eyes have muscles, just like the rest of your body does. The more frequently you use them, the more the muscles will get tired. When that happens, you experience aches in your eyes with or without irritation, as well as blurred vision. So, the major cause of eye strain is over-engagement in focus-requiring activities.

Causes of eye strain range from over-engagement in focus-demanding tasks, such as driving, reading, or using a tablet, to underlying eye problems.

According to the National Eye Institute, here are some of the main reasons why eye strain occurs:

  • Using digital electronic devices for long periods of time (more than about seven hours), such as playing video games
  • Using digital devices in poor posture
  • Reading for prolonged durations of time
  • Driving for prolonged durations of time
  • Dry eyes
  • Prolonged exposure to bright lights
  • Blue lights, dim light for long periods of time and dry indoors
  • Damaged ciliary muscles
  • Stress
  • Refractive errors (blind visions)
  • Engagement in tiny crafts
  • Reading small fonts

What are Common Eye Strain Symptoms?

Eye strain symptoms are very similar to symptoms of other visual problems, which is why we always recommend that you consult with an eye doctor. However, the symptoms aren’t usually very severe and are temporary.

Here are some of the most common eyestrain symptoms you may experience:

  • A feeling of fatigue in the eyes
  • Irritation
  • Pain in the eyes
  • Redness of the eyes
  • Burning eyes
  • Headache
  • Blurry vision
  • Itchy eyes
  • Dryness in the eyes
  • Watery eyes
  • Heavy eyelids
  • Muscle spasm of the eyes
  • Inability to focus or concentrate properly

Other Symptoms

  • Mild headache
  • Inability to keep your eyes open
  • Neck or shoulder pain
  • Eye twitch
  • Nausea
  • Double vision
  • Squinting

Computer Vision Syndrome or Digital Eye Strain

As we already discussed, prolonged use of computers, watching TV, and other digital devices can lead to digital eyestrain. Scientists estimate that people whose daily use of digital devices exceeds 2 hours are more likely to develop this syndrome.

Causes

Digital devices, as compared to reading from a hard book, are particularly more damaging to the eyes due to the rays that emit from the screens.

This syndrome is commonly caused by:

  • Less than normal blinking
  • Eye problems, such as weak eye muscles
  • Uncomfortable postures
  • Using a glaring digital device for prolonged periods
  • Poor contrast between foreground and background
  • Using digital devices in a bad posture
  • Excessively bright computer screen
  • Not using glasses or corrective lenses while using digital devices
  • Uncorrected vision problems, e.g. uncorrected refractive errors
  • Exposure to blue light over extended periods
  • Side effects of eye drops
  • Sensitivity to light
  • Viral conjunctivitis

Symptoms

According to the American Optometric Association, these are some common symptoms of computer vision syndrome:

  • Eye pain
  • Eye strain
  • Less than normal blinking
  • Headache
  • Dry eyes
  • Blurred vision

How do I Treat and Prevent Eye strain?

Eye strain is not a particularly hard problem to get rid of. You can get rid of eye strain through simple rest, artificial tears, and sleep. What’s complicated is to get rid of the root causes of the eye strain that you are experiencing and related risk factors.

Here are natural remedies, medications, and supplements that will treat the underlying causes of your eye strain.

Natural Remedies

If your eye strain is in its early stages, you can easily cure it by following simple natural tips and remedies. The following natural remedies will heal your eyes within no time.

Simple natural remedies and eye health tips you can easily follow at home:

  • Rest your eyes
  • Divide your tasks into parts and take regular breaks after completing each task.
  • Sleep well
  • Never forget to wear glasses or corrective lenses/contact lenses.
  • Use lubricating eye drops
  • Adjust the brightness of your screen properly
  • Place your digital screens in a manner that you can view them comfortably.
  • Use non-allergic artificial tears.
  • Avoid blue light
  • Reduce glare

Supplements

3 Best Supplements for Eye Strain

ProductKey Feature

Ocutamin

Top Consumer's Choice

Visisharp

Best Supplement To Reduce Inflammation

Eyesight Max

Best Supplement To Eliminate Eye Toxins

1.Top Consumer’s Choice: Ocutamin

eye strain symptoms

If you are missing your good old vision and want to restore it, get yourself an Ocutamin and see the magic. Ocutamin is a totally natural and safe product that can help you get rid of eye strain within no time. It will also keep you safe against blue light. This product frees you from the terrible side effects of drugs as well as surgery.

Ocutamin is the best product because it contains natural ingredients like Bilberry, Lutein, Quercetin, and many other immunity-boosting and anti-inflammatory ingredients.

Shop at Ocutamin Official Website

2. Best Supplement To Reduce Inflammation: Visisharp

eye strain symptoms

If you are in search of a supplement that can strengthen your eyes, enhance your vision, and free you from eye strain and other issues, VisiSharp should be your go-to option. This particular supplement will help you battle the microbes that harm your eyes. This product is backed by years and years of research into the natural cure of eyesight-related issues.

With VisiSharp, you can slow down the deteriorating processes that are harming your vision and giving your eye strain.

What makes VisiSharp extremely effective is that it contains all-natural ingredients in the right amount, such as marigold flower, quercetin, bilberry, Vitamin A, Zinc, Taurine, and grape seed extracts.

Shop at Visisharp Official Website

Full Article: Visisharp Reviews: Does it Really Work?

3. Best Supplement To Eliminate Eye Toxins: Eyesight Max

eye strain symptoms

This product is based on rigorous scientific research as well as the priceless experience of Native American Navajo people with natural plants that are good for vision. Eyesight Max works great for everyone with eye strain and other vision-related issues.

It not only cures eye strain but also the symptoms associated with it, such as blurriness, irritation, pain, and inflammation. Because Eyesight Max is made from 100% natural herbal ingredients, it is extremely safe and free from side effects. It will enable you to use gadgets without having to worry about blue light.

Shop at Eyesight Max Official Website

Full Article: Eyesight Max Reviews: Does it Really Work?

Conclusion

Eye strain is not a serious problem, but if you keep ignoring it and do not treat the underlying causes, you can end up losing your vision. If you are looking for a single product that works best for all symptoms of eye strain, Ocutamin is the best and most affordable option.

Here is why we believe Ocutamin is the best treatment for your eye strain:

  • Ocutamin’s ingredients alleviate symptoms of eye strain from the roots by removing the toxin organophosphate (OP) completely from your system.
  • It restores acetylcholinesterase in your system which is crucial not just for your eyes but for your overall health.
  • By removing OP from your system, Ocutamin also decreases your chances of getting type 2 diabetes.
  • Ocutamin is 100% natural
  • It has been thoroughly tested both clinically and non-clinically
  • Free from any type of side effects
  • A non-GMO product

Click here to get Ocutamin at a Discounted Price

>> Related Article: 5 Best Eye Vitamins and Supplements in 2024 • All Natural Supplements

Eye Strain FAQs

Which Digital Device Causes the Most Severe Eye Strain?

Well, all non-portable and handheld digital devices can cause eye strain. The intensity of eye strain basically depends upon how bright the screen is and for how long you use it.

Is Eye Strain Permanent?

No, but it can become permanent if your eye muscles get damaged beyond recovery.

Can Corrective Glasses Prevent Eye Strain?

Well, they can’t completely eliminate eye strain, but they can reduce digital eye strain and the harmful effects of bright screens to a large extent.

Vanessa Richards

Vanessa is a mom of 3 lovely children and a software geek. Outside of her career as a health and wellness instructor. She enjoys writing and researching on topics such as finance, software, health and culinary.

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