How to Say “Eye Love You”
I love this statement of gratitude: “This morning I opened two gifts—my eyes.” If asked, I’m sure you’d agree that your eyesight is truly a precious gift. But with that said, how often do you think about how best to take care of your “double blessing?”
Eyes are amazing anatomical masterpieces, crafted with the ability to see adequately in different lighting conditions, to take in the nuances of color (for most people), to judge distance (depth perception), and to even “fill in” visual information where our visual field may be lacking.
Some of us are born with, or develop, eye problems which require prescription eyeglasses, contact lenses, or LASIK surgery to bring our blurry vision into focus. Even if you’ve been blessed with sharp vision for the first four decades of your life, by the time you reach the ripe, “young” age of 50 or so, you will likely find yourself squinting to read small print. This problem of presbyopia, an age-related eye condition, is remedied by a quick trip to the drug store for a pair, or two, or three, of reading glasses—a “fix” I have become well acquainted with!
Today I want to talk about an eye issue which can’t be fixed by a passive change in your eyeglass prescription. This problem will require you to actively DO SOMETHING different in order to make peace with your eyes. The matter is one of eye strain, or eye fatigue. If you happen to suffer from eye strain, you may be experiencing one or more of these eye symptoms:
- Tired
- Burning
- Soreness
- Itchy
- Dry eyes
- Watery eyes
- Increased sensitivity to light
- Difficulty focusing
- Blurry vision
- Double vision
The good news is you and I can be proactive and squash eye strain before it has a chance to set up. Enter The 20-20-20 Rule, an extraordinarily effective way of saying “Eye Love You!”
Here’s how it goes: After 20 minutes of close up reading or screen time, take a 20 second pause and focus on something at least 20 feet away.
While eye strain won’t cause permanent damage to your eyes, it can make your eyeballs quite weary, rendering them a bit troublesome to live with. So, I suggest you add a new slogan to your Get Healthy for Heaven’s Sake pursuit, “I Break for Eyeballs!”