About two-thirds of U.S. adults spend five or more hours every day on some type of digital device, and the average American worker spends upwards of seven hours each workday looking at a computer screen. If you suffer from headaches, blurry vision, dry eyes, neck pain, shoulder pain, burning eyes, or tearing, you may have eye strain from extended digital screen usage. Digital devices and computer screens are major causes of eye strain because the angles and viewing distances of the screen may cause us to sit in uncomfortable ways or focus at uncomfortable distances. In addition, reading screens is often more difficult for our eyes than reading a printed page.

It's estimated that roughly half of all regular computer users report some level of eye strain. Luckily, eye strain is easily treatable. There are even a handful of vision therapy exercises you can do from the comfort of your own home that have been shown to reduce symptoms. Read on to discover professional techniques from the North Carolina eye doctors of eyecarecenter for treating eye strain with vision therapy.

Eye Exercises to Try at Home

Vision therapy exercises are believed to help improve several vision problems and visual skills. There is some evidence that exercises can help improve visual accuracy and reaction times. If you’ve been diagnosed with eye strain, consider doing the following for symptom relief.

Take a Break

Vision rest can give your eyes a break from screens and provide an opportunity for movement and refocusing. Many experts recommend the “20/20/20 rule”: after every 20 minutes of screen time, look at something at least 20 feet away from you for 20 seconds.

Refocus Your Eyes

When you spend a lot of time focusing on one object, taking some time to focus on an object in another area — particularly one at a different distance or angle — is helpful to reduce eye strain. Follow the steps below for a simple refocusing exercise.

1. Hold a finger a few inches away from your eye and focus your gaze on it.

2. Slowly move your finger away.

3. Move your focus far into the distance beyond your finger, and then return your gaze to your finger.

4. Move your finger slowly back to within a few inches of your eye.

5. Move your focus to something more than eight feet away.

6. Repeat this exercise three times.

Exercises to Increase Eye Comfort

If you’ve been staring at a screen for a while, you can give your eyes a much-needed break with some simple exercises. There are several ways you can take a minute to improve your eye comfort, such as:

• Blinking or yawning to produce tears and moisten eyes.

• Looking away from your digital screen toward a source of natural light.

Moving Your Eyes

Moving your eyes may not seem like exercise, but if you spend a lot of time focusing on one point — especially a digital screen — simple movements in another direction can do a lot for your eyes. Here is an example of an eye movement exercise to try.

1. Close your eyes.

2. Move your eyes slowly upward toward the ceiling and then down toward the floor.

3. Repeat step two, three times.

4. Close your eyes again.

5. Slowly move your gaze to the left and then to the right.

6. Repeat step five, three times.

These vision therapy exercises may help you reduce your eye strain symptoms, but they are not a cure-all for your vision problems. To find out if vision therapy may be right for you, talk to your doctor.