SACRAMENTO, Calif. — Research is showing that our constant screen time is radically changing our eyes.
Myopia, which makes distant objects look blurred, affects 30% of the population and one of the causes is staring at screens too long.
Earlier this week, I talked about foods that help improve eye health, and I'm sharing four things you can do to help keep your eyes healthy.
Keep screens at least two feet away
Getting away from screens completely is hard to do, especially when so many of us have jobs that require us to work on a screen. Viewing things two feet or closer has been shown to increase the risk of myopia so viewing things from farther distances can help.
Also the bigger the screen the less strain is put on our eyes.
Practice the 20-20 20 rule
The CDC recommends doing the 20-20-20 rule which is every 20 minutes taking a break from the screen and viewing something else at least 20 feet away from you for 20 seconds.
They say this helps to give your eyes a rest since staring at screens for too long puts a strain on them.
Wear blue light-blocking glasses
Wearing blue light-blocking glasses can help block or reduce some of the blue light from screens.
By wearing them constantly, when using your phone, computer, or watching TV, can help reduce eye damage, eye strain, and even sleep disturbance that screen time causes.
Get outside more
The American Optometric Association recommends one to three hours of outdoor activities to help protect eyesight.
Research has shown that spending time outdoors does help reduce the chances of myopia. This is also important for children as this study showed that children who had additional hours outdoors had a lower rate of developing myopia.
