Guide · body · 3 min read
Tired eyes after a long day of screens — a straightforward guide, when you have been putting it off
Eye strain is mostly about distance and blinking, not about blue light glasses.
Start here
This is not complicated. It is inconvenient, which is why most people skip it.
You have been putting this off. Starting is the only step that matters.
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.
If your eyes feel gritty every day, get them tested. An uncorrected small prescription causes more strain than any screen.
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
You blink about a third as often when reading on a screen. Deliberately blinking a few times re-wets the surface.
Use a bigger font instead of leaning closer. Most people scale the font down to fit more on screen, then pay for it.
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.
Questions people ask
Are eye exercises useful?
The "look far away" break is. Most other eye exercises have very little evidence behind them.
Do blue light glasses work?
Evidence is weak. They are not harmful, but the bigger wins are distance, blinking and a decent font size.
Written for people who want the practical version. No accounts, no tracking, no newsletter wall.
If this is not the angle you need, try When to be careful with breathing exercises — a calm, practical approach, after a long day, Waking up anxious for no obvious reason — a straightforward guide, after a long day or Using the commute as a boundary between work and home — a plain-language guide, when you have tried everything else.