There are many explanations as to why we sleep. For instance, we sleep to allow the brain to sort through and get rid of unnecessary information that has accumulated throughout the day. We sleep to give our body a chance to rest and recuperate from things such as muscle strain and illness. But there may be another reason why we sleep and that reason is eyestrain.
We may sleep to reduce eyestrain and to keep our eyes from wearing out as fast. You could think of eyestrain as stress on the eye muscles, cornea, pupil, lens, retina, tissue and each and every thing that makes up the eye. Eyestrain is exercise from constant movement and pressure, adjustment for amount of light, from constant light entering the eye. Basically, our eyes are just overworked.
What causes eyestrain?
Causes can be from low light, bright light, sunlight exposure, prolonged reading and prolonged television watching and viewing the computer monitor for an extended length of time.
Symptoms of eyestrain can manifest in many forms.
Symptoms can be headache, mild to migraine, followed by nausea or vomiting or both. It can appear as dizziness or light-headedness and possible fainting, lack of coordination and lack of concentration. Still more symptoms can show as poor sight, blurred vision, eye pain or tired achy eyes, eye fatigue, burst blood vessels and the appearance of bright white orbs of light While more symptoms could be more subtle such as a not hungry feeling or loss of appetite. Facial indicators that eyestrain is occurring could emerge as facial twitching or a spasm of a lower or upper eyelid or both.
If you develop any eyestrain symptoms you may need to stop whatever you are doing and take a break. This isn’t always so easy to do since often times a person may be at work and cannot take a break until a specified time but if you are at work go ahead and take a few seconds to close and relax your eyes. Don’t ever rub your eyes. Repeat closing your eyes for a few seconds, if you can take a minute or two at a time that’s even better, to just allow them to close. Repeat throughout the day. This helps to take some of the stress off of the eyes. If you don’t have eyestrain you can do this throughout the day. It will help you to take a few seconds, a time out, to put your thoughts together and rest the eyes.
If you feel eyestrain coming on or are having eyestrain if you can go lie down, with your eyes closed; in the dark for awhile then do this. You can dampen a washcloth or paper towel with warm water, or cold if you prefer, and place it over closed eyes while lying down to help feel better. Take some aspirin to alleviate some of the tension and pressure that your eyes are feeling. Use some lubricant eye drops to make your eyes feel better and to put some moisture back in.
It’s important to take care of your eyes so that they’ll be healthy for many years to come.
