Are you lately suffering from tired or dry eyes? Have you just started to notice more dark circles around your eyes? Are you getting frequent headaches nowadays? All of this can be the outcome of staring too long at your mobile screen.
The mobile screen emits High Energy Visible (HEV) light which is also commonly called the “blue-light” in high amount. HEV is the section of visible light with the shortest wavelengths and maximum ability to damage the living tissues.
Studies performed in laboratories has shown that continuous exposure to HEV can damage the tissues of the retina and it initiates retinal changes that are similar to macular degeneration, which is one of the primary causes behind complete loss of vision. So, yes, staring at the mobile screen can be actually harmful for your eyes.
However, at this point of time, no one knows for sure, if prolonged use of mobiles can cause permanent damage to the vision.
Blue light is also emitted by the LED bulbs and also the sun, but we do not really continue staring at them for long, which we essentially do in case of our pretty mobile devices.
While it might not be possible for us to stay away from mobiles because their radiation might harm our eyes, but we can certainly undertake precautions to ensure that the damage is minimized.
Studies have shown using the mobile in certain ways can be actually helpful to minimize any negative effects of the blue light radiation of the mobile screens on the tissues of the retina.
Check out the next section of this article to know how you can protect your eyes from mobiles by implementing some small changes in your habit.
Reducing your mobile time can be a ready solution to ensure that your eyes are not harmed due to the HEVs emitted by mobile screens, but reducing mobile time can be a big challenge not only for the busy professionals of today but even for the teens of this century.
However, you can always implement the next changes easily, and can ensure better protection for your eyes.
Blink frequently
Blinking is a natural process of the body designed to minimize the strain on the eyes. Frequent blinking can be the easiest and most effective way to reduce irritability or dryness of the eyes caused due to the HEV rays.
According to studies, when we stare at the smartphone screen, we just forget to blink. We become so attentive to the device that our normal blinking frequency is reduced to 1/3rd.
If you are serious about saving your eyes from the mobile screen radiation continue blinking more often and do not get absorbed so much in your mobile device that you forget to blink.
Blinking as frequently as you can while you are on the mobile is surely the best and easiest way to minimize the harmful effects of the mobile screen radiation.
Divide your mobile time
Staring continuously at your mobile screen for hours together just multiplies the risk of eye damage.
If you cannot reduce the mobile time, make it a point to divide your mobile time into smaller sections. Try to make your mobile time not more than 20 minutes at a stretch.
Take a break at every 20 minutes and take a look at something at a distance, or just close your eyes and relax for a minute or two before getting back to your mobile.
This helps in relaxing your eye muscles and can be highly effective in reducing the strain on your eyes. Even if you are taking breaks every 20 minutes, try to bind your each mobile session within 1.5 hours and take a break of at least 10 minutes from your mobile, before getting back at it again.
Maintain the right distance
Our moms where actually right when they used to tell us to sit away from the TV, and if today you are enjoying a good vision, it might be due to all that preaching and screaming.
Maintaining the right distance between your eyes and the screen of the mobile can reduce the strain on the eyes to a significant level. This rule is applicable not only for mobiles but also for books and every other thing at which you stare for long
. Most of the people tend to hold their smartphones as close as possible, so that they do not happen to miss a single thing or may be just to enjoy things better.
A distance of 8 inches or even less between your eyes and the mobile screen can multiply the harmful effects of the blue light radiation on your eyes. You should hold the device at least 16 to 18 inches away from your eyes.
This might take a little time to get into a habit but you should start practicing from today and ensure that you do not break the rule even when you are playing that zombie killing game.
Splash your eyes with normal water frequently
Do you know one of the easiest and most effective ways of caring for your eyes is to simply splash normal water on them frequently? Water splashes help in warding off any dryness or irritation in the eyes.
It helps the eyes to focus better and can be the best way to reduce problems like blurred vision.
When you are staring for too long at your mobile screen, make it a point to splash your eyes with normal water at frequent intervals, it can be highly helpful for your eyes and can be one of the easiest ways to protect them from the blue ray radiations of the mobile screen.
Minimize the glare
While using your mobile in the right way can help in protecting your eyes from the radiation involved, ensuring that your mobile screen has minimum glare will also help immensely in reducing any chance of damage to your eyes.
The latest and sophisticated smartphones are coming with special anti-glare glasses that ensures minimum glare for your eyes and can be helpful to offer better eye protection. In case your mobile does not come with an anti-glare screen, it is easy to opt for an anti-reflective coating for your mobile screen.
These protector films are easy to get, cheap and can be applied on the screen with ease without altering the look or feel of the device. So, if your device screen does not offer you protection from glare, take the right step today and get an anti-reflective film for the mobile screen.
Adjust the brightness and contrast of the screen
The brightness of the screen has a major impact on how the things displayed on it look to your eyes. Having too high or too low screen brightness can strain your eyes even more.
In the same way, the contrast of the screen also has a major impact on how things are displayed on the device, and though high contrast might make things more crispy, it is not certainly very comfortable for your eyes.
Changing the brightness and contrast of the smartphones is a matter of seconds and you can easily do that by going to the settings of the device.
The right brightness and proper contrast settings can reduce the eye strain to a great extent. So, check these features and adjust them accordingly without delay to ensure that you are not overstraining your eyes meaninglessly.
Take the best care to keep your mobile screen clean
Keeping your mobile screen clean is vital not only for hygienic reasons but also to ensure minimum stress on your eyes. When there is dust, grim, finger prints, sweat or even makeup on the screen of your mobile it simply obstructs your vision and makes it more straining for your eyes to watch the screen for long.
Cleaning your smartphone screen is an easy thing, just use a soft dry cloth to rub the screen everyday and it will not only reduce strain on your eyes but will also add to the look of your device.
Set the right text size
If you are reading on your smartphone, even theWhatsapp messages or the Facebook comments make it a point to set the text size properly. Too small texts can be more straining for your eyes to grasp and there is no meaning to let your eyes do that extra task.
You can easily adjust the size of the text to be displayed in your device depending on what is most comfortable for your eyes. Once you get the right text size, it will surely reduce the strain on your eyes.
The above suggestions are simple to implement in your mobile using habits. Following them accurately might be bothering at first, but once they turn into your habits you will see that these minimal changes are actually easy to follow and in return they can give you a lot of benefits.
These simple changes will not only protect your eyes, but will also save you from the related problems like, headache, dark circles and others.
