Common Eye Problems during Exam Prep

Have you been dreaming about getting into your dream college? Have you been working hard and making sure you study each and every topic for the entrance exams that are approaching? We know, and we also know that the constant reading and looking at screens while you study must be making your eyes tired and strained. While it is important to study hard for your entrances, it is equally important to look after your health and wellness. In this article we are going to talk about the eye issues and problems individuals face while preparing for exams, and also try to give some tips which will help you rest your eyes while you study!

When we look at something for an extended period of time, it causes what is medically termed as an Eye Strain. The cause of such strain could be due to many other non-reading related issues as well, for eg, from driving for too long, or wearing incorrectly powered glasses, or being in a badly-lit room, etc. Although it is not considered a serious medical issue, if something bothers us and hinders our working capacity, especially in young individuals, we should try to take special care towards the issue, and try to eradicate it. Given below are some are some eye-strain symptoms that you might be facing while studying:

• Tiresome, sore or itchy eyes 
• Headache 
• Sensitivity towards lights, and screens
• Pain and stiffness in neck and shoulders
• Feeling that your eyes are dry, or getting too watery 
• Unable to concentrate due to tiredness, or sleepiness 

These are some of the issues that you might be facing when you study for too long from books, or even from screens. Eye strains which are caused from working at or looking at or using digital items like laptops, computers, mobiles, tablets,etc are known as Digital Eye Strain. To help you in this situation, we have compiled a list of Dos and Don’ts that you can apply to your daily work or study routines to solve the issue of eye-strains. 

Dos to avoid Eye-Strain

These are some of the important and easy tips for you to follow in order to lower the chances of straining your eyes while you study for your most important exams!

1. Study in a well-lit room 

We cannot emphasise this point enough, but it is very, in fact very vital to always make sure that the room we study in is nicely lit. It shouldn’t be too dim, or dark as this forces our eyes to put extra efforts in concentrating on the text, and this extra effort by the eye over a prolonged period of time makes the eye strained and tired. Being tired affects our productivity and makes us feel lethargic and sleepy. Therefore, to avoid such situations always make sure to study in a well-lit room. Also, if you are reading offline, make sure your study table is in the position that the light source is illuminating your book pages.

2. Take breaks in between 

We know you want to complete the syllabus of your exams in a stipulated period of time, and you need to finish some topics soon, but, you need to slow down and keep taking breaks in the middle. For every 20 minutes that you look at texts, on screen or on paper, you should spend the next 10 minutes looking elsewhere. This helps our eye muscles relax and stay at ease. Continuously concentrating on one thing puts a lot of strain on our eye muscles and tends to give to headaches and watery eyes. Hence, keep taking small breaks while you study.

3. Take good care of your diet

It is no secret that our diet has a big influence on our health. The better the diet, the better our body functions. Antioxidants, vitamin rich fruits and vegetables like carrots, green leaves, etc provide antioxidants and help protect the eyes from a lot of sources of damage as well as  ensure overall wellness. Eating fresh fruits and vegetables provides a lot of helpful nutrients like Vitamin C and E which are known to be beneficial. 

4. Sit in a good posture 

A lot of time when we are deep into studying, we tend to slouch or sit with a very bad posture. Doing this has not one, but two big drawbacks. Firstly, it puts strain on our back muscles, which in turn get sore and ache. Secondly, having a bad posture changes the angle at which we view our screens and notebooks. Looking at things from a bad angle strains our eyes and causes a lot of issues which hinder our focusing abilities. Make sure you sit with your back straight, and your screen at least one arm’s distance away from you.

Don’ts that give rise to Eye-Strain

The most important point of this article is to make you aware about the ways in which doing certain things can trigger an eye-strain, and we have listed some of them below:

1. Wearing incorrectly powered opticals

It is always suggested that we should get regular health and eye check-ups in order to improve on any conditions or problems that we might have. If you have power in your eyes, then it is necessary to wear opticals suited to your needs as it acts as a corrective measure. Wearing wrongly powered glasses can strain the eyes, which in turn gives rise to tiredness and frequent headaches.

2. Sitting too close to screens with glare/reflection 

We should always maintain at least one arm distance from our computer screens, and make sure that we are always sitting in a well-lit room where we are not constantly facing the reflections or glares from the screen. Being exposed to such digital glares can harm our eyes and cause many issues. Our angle, posture and distance matters more than we think it does.

3. Not blinking enough 

This may come across as a strange point, but blinking is an important activity. Our brain directs our eyes to blink, and this blinking moisturises our eyes, which tends to get dry and irritated when concentrating on something for a long period of time. Blinking of eyes is a very simple yet powerful function of our body which keeps our eyes moist and free from any irritations. Always remember to blink your eyes every minute or so to avoid having dry and strained eyes.

It is our responsibility to take care of our body and its physical as well as mental well-being. Exam time adds a lot of stress in our lives, but we should never forget that we owe a responsibility towards ourselves as well. Taking good care of our eyes is a very important activity that we need to do, no matter how busy or stressed we are. We hope you find this article helpful and apply these useful tips in your life!