Guide · body · 3 min read
Tired eyes after a long day of screens, without the usual advice, when you are not in the mood
Eye strain is mostly about distance and blinking, not about blue light glasses.
Start here
None of this is glamorous. All of it is doable, which matters more.
Not being in the mood is a normal starting point.
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
Use a bigger font instead of leaning closer. Most people scale the font down to fit more on screen, then pay for it.
If your eyes feel gritty every day, get them tested. An uncorrected small prescription causes more strain than any screen.
You blink about a third as often when reading on a screen. Deliberately blinking a few times re-wets the surface.
What to do when it does not work
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.
Warm, dim light in the evening is more comfortable than bright overhead light, regardless of what it does to your sleep.
Move the screen slightly further away and lower than eye level. Both reduce the work your eyes are doing.
A note on effort
Let the physical world hold your attention.
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 Preparing for a conversation you are dreading — an honest guide, if you are sceptical about all of this, Why anxiety shows up in your body first, step by step, when you want something simple or How to stop scrolling in bed — the essentials, when you have been meaning to start.