Guide · body · 3 min read
Tired eyes after a long day of screens — a plain-language guide, when nothing else has worked today
Eye strain is mostly about distance and blinking, not about blue light glasses.
Start here
Every point here is written so that a bad week is still enough to manage it.
Nothing else has worked today. That is not a reason to skip this.
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
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.
Move the screen slightly further away and lower than eye level. Both reduce the work your eyes are doing.
What to do when it does not work
If your eyes feel gritty every day, get them tested. An uncorrected small prescription causes more strain than any screen.
Use a bigger font instead of leaning closer. Most people scale the font down to fit more on screen, then pay for it.
You blink about a third as often when reading on a screen. Deliberately blinking a few times re-wets the surface.
Questions people ask
Do blue light glasses work?
Evidence is weak. They are not harmful, but the bigger wins are distance, blinking and a decent font size.
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 Why your weekend does not feel like rest — the short version, when you are not sure this will work, Releasing tension you did not notice you were holding — a practical guide, when you feel fine and want to stay that way or Tired eyes after a long day of screens — a straightforward guide, when you have been putting it off.