Book or e book?
Right I agree! There’s a lot on “eye strain” on the net. And yes everyone knows the 20-20-20 rule. This eye stain which I am having, though I don’t work with or on a computer, is making me wonder how this happens? Is there anything more than the 20-20-20? And why do I experience this eye strain now when I didn’t experience it when I read books for 12-13hrs a day for NEET PG! And now – 2 hrs of watching a movie – makes me feel tired, get headaches and heavy eyes and blurring!
Ok here’s some basics: you can skip this section if not specially interested in mechanism.
If you sleep for, let’s say 9hrs, the remaining 15hrs of a day, your eyes are constantly active, moving, taking part in head and body balancing and focusing, grasping and not missing out the wonders which life provides. So many things by those tiny muscles in and around the eyes.! Isn’t it a wonder?
What makes the eyes move? What makes the eyes to focus? The muscles outside the eye and in the eye respectively. The muscles around the eyes are the most active muscles in human body! Not just the muscles around eyes; but the eyelids, which keep blinking (15-20 blinks per minute) is one of the active muscles. There’s a mechanism where eyes move when the head moves -to adjust the posture and body balancing. These are all the macro movements which can detect easily, is what I am speaking about.
There’s a micro when there is a macro. Yes there are some micro muscles inside the eyeball. If the macro muscles help you out in your day to day activities, these micro muscles ( muscles of accommodation) are the ones which help you remain intellectual being – for reading. 1 hour of reading = 10,000 co-ordinated movements of the eye!!!!!!! (From the science reference section of Library of Congress)
All this to keep our vision clear while reading. Phewww!
This mechanism that these micro muscles have for reading a printed book is different from that while reading an e-book
Printed books
- The print letter acts as a defined object of focus
- Defined objects are easily focused by eye
- Clear image
- Less adjustments by the micro and macro muscles
- Less strain
E- books/ screen work
- The object of focus is pixels and it’s not as well defined as print letters
- Difficult focusing by eyes
- Blurred image
- More adjustments needed by eye muscles
- More strain
Hmmm! But we cant get rid of the “screens”. How to get a relief then?
20-20-20 rule is not sufficient for sure.
International Standards Organization (ISO,1992)
Distance from screen: Atleast 40 cm, and is dependent upon size of characters and increase font size
Extremely bright ambient light strains eye. Always place screens such that windows are on the side of the screen not behind or front of the screen. If not able to adjust to this add window blinds/curtains.
0 to 60 degrees downward from horizontal, eyelevel gaze; “preferred” is 20 to 22 degrees
Notice the reduced blink rate specially if wearing contact lens. Take adequate screen breaks. 20 min work in the 20 -20-20 doesn’t slightly fit well for me. I rather keep a 45 min timer for screen work, 5 min for break and during this break I make sure I look at a distance of 20 feet. And if you have dry eyes you can use lubricant eye drops.
https://amzn.to/49h6zGFPost open for questions and comments.. 🙂
Leave a Reply to 6 Reasons to Know About Myopia and Tips to Combat the MenaceCancel reply