With the big game just days away, we are ready to have our eyes glued to the TV, tablet or phone screens to cheer on our favorite football team. However, if we look at these screens for too long or sit too close to them, can it harm our eyesight? Dr. Masih Ahmed, an ophthalmologist at Baylor College of Medicine, explains how we can protect our eyes on the big day.
“If you stare at a screen for prolonged periods, especially at a close distance, you can get eye strain,” said Ahmed, assistant professor of ophthalmology at Baylor. “It doesn’t cause any permanent damage, but it can be uncomfortable and cause headaches and blurred vision.”
While Ahmed says that the length of the game should not cause any eye damage, you can try the 20-20-20 rule. This means that when looking at a screen, for every 20 minutes, take a 20 second break and look at something 20 feet away.
“If you’re watching the game on your laptop, every 20 minutes, you can look off and look at something to un-focus your eyes, let those muscles relax a bit for 20 seconds, and then you can focus again,” Ahmed said.
Sitting or standing too close to the TV for the game should also not be an issue for your eyes, but if you notice children getting really close to the screen, this could be a sign that they need glasses.
Ahmed adds that if your eyes feel like they are getting dry, use eye drops. Whenever we are so engrossed in something on a screen or even a book, we tend not to blink, and dry eyes can lead to chronic problems that can cause blurred vision, double vision and irritated red eyes.
“When I have patients who come in for dry eye for spending a lot of time using screens for their career, I tell them to use eye drops before they sit down at the computer or other screens and then remember to put them in every 20 or 30 minutes,” he said.
If you plan to watch the game in a dark or dimly lit room, it will not harm your eyes, but it also can cause eye strain. When focusing on a bright light with darkness all around, the screen is getting all of your attention because you are focusing on it for an extended period of time. If this will be your setup, Ahmed suggests having your screen backlit so that there is a softer light around it that can pull your attention away every now and then.
