With more and more of our daily lives revolving around staring at screens, it seems the world is getting streamlined at the expense of our eyes.
One study said Americans now spend the equivalent of 18 years of their adult lives in front of screens, but with many jobs dependent on it, what can one do to give their eyes some much needed rest?
Eye doctors say a little ocular relief is as simple as remembering “20-20-20.”
The first step in the 20-20-20 method is to blink, something that people sometimes forget to do nowadays when locked in on their screens.
Blinking helps moisturize eyes and keeps them from drying out. Then after you make yourself blink, focus on something at least 20 feet away for 20 seconds, and do that every 20 minutes.
Making sure we don’t plow through the workday with dry eyes is essential to eye health, doctors say.
“It affects us every decade of our life that we age more because the amount of tears we produce decreases,” Raj Maturi, an ophthalmologist and spokesperson for the American Academy of Ophthalmology, told Axios.
If your eyes still feel dry at times, artificial tear drops four times a day can be helpful, according to the American Optometric Association.