Guide · body · 3 min read
Tired eyes after a long day of screens — a gentle, practical guide, when you need something unremarkable
Eye strain is mostly about distance and blinking, not about blue light glasses.
Start here
A short explanation first, because knowing why makes the doing easier.
Nothing dramatic happens here, and that is deliberate.
If you only do one thing from this page, do the first point below. It is first because it removes the most friction for the least effort.
What helps
You blink about a third as often when reading on a screen. Deliberately blinking a few times re-wets the surface.
Move the screen slightly further away and lower than eye level. Both reduce the work your eyes are doing.
If your eyes feel gritty every day, get them tested. An uncorrected small prescription causes more strain than any screen.
What to do when it does not work
Warm, dim light in the evening is more comfortable than bright overhead light, regardless of what it does to your sleep.
Your eyes focus at one distance all day. Look at something far away for twenty seconds every twenty minutes — out of a window, not across the room.
Use a bigger font instead of leaning closer. Most people scale the font down to fit more on screen, then pay for it.
Questions people ask
Are eye exercises useful?
The "look far away" break is. Most other eye exercises have very little evidence behind them.
Written for people who want the practical version. No accounts, no tracking, no newsletter wall.
If this is not the angle you need, try Tired eyes after a long day of screens — an honest guide, when the house is busy, Ten minutes outside is not a wellness cliché — what to expect, when you are not sure this will work or Preparing for a conversation you are dreading, in plain terms, when you are somewhere unfamiliar.