Do you, like so many others, spend hours on end on your laptop/tablet/phone etc.? Do you find your eyes growing tired, your ears hurting at the end of the day from your earphones, your shoulders touching your ears after an intense study session, with no way of preventing or alleviating these symptoms?
Now, in this day and age, it makes no sense to tell you to stop your six-hour study/reading/social media spree. We all know that the minute we have to stand around waiting for something we will inevitably reach for our phones—hunched over, neck tucked into our shoulders, thumb on the screen.
So, instead of telling you to stop spending hours upon hours on some sort of screen or other, here are some tips and tricks to keep your body from hating you too much after one of these screen-sprees.
I can guarantee that you have some sort of timer on 95% of the devices you spend your time on. Use it! Set it for every 20-25 minutes, and make sure when that timer goes off to move. Move anything, everything. Just move! If you can’t get up, make sure to stretch as much as you can.
What you might not really think about, but is equally important to your screen habits, is the fact that your eyes also work with muscles. Just like you stretch your neck out in the middle of an Amazon Prime session, your eyes need it too. Make sure to look up from whatever screen you’re staring at and force your eyes to focus on something as far away as possible. Closing your eyes for a couple of seconds will also help while doing this, as most people forget to blink when working on technology. [1]
Next, after you have successfully located something far away that you can identify, try ‘stretching’ those eye muscles by moving your gaze as far as it can go left to right, and then up and down. Now, this is all subject to your own common sense, so if you ‘stretch’ your eyes all the way to left or right and you experience any pain, don’t go that far. Instead, keep looking side to side and up and down until you feel only slight discomfort.
Try using some eye drops for extended periods in front of a screen. Again, since we don’t blink as much, dry eyes can be a problem. If you are wearing makeup, there are plenty of refreshing face mists that can also be used to rehydrate the face and eyes that won’t make your eyeliner or mascara run.
Never underestimate the importance of deep breathing. Bad posture has been the subject of several studies [2], so there can be no arguing that it is an issue. This means that when you’re hunched over your phone or laptop, you are compressing (squishing) your lungs, making you take shallower breaths. If you are so absorbed in your work that you blink less, chances are you’re not actively thinking about your breathing, either. Change this by using that same timer from tip 1. Focus on your breathing when you’re doing your other stretches, but don’t wait for 20-25 minutes to breathe deeper. Make it a habit to take a deep breath whenever you think about it, or whenever you take a drink. Link it to something that you’re going to do periodically and practice your awareness of it.
No surprise that the next tip is about your posture. Make sure your working environment helps you with this. This can mean elevating your laptop or tablet, or it can mean using a secondary screen that sits higher on your desk. Try experimenting with cushions behind your back or on your chair. The height of your chair can also help; make sure both feet are on the floor and not hanging. Your knees should be at a comfortable almost-90-degree angle, not too much higher than your hips. When you are on your phone, make a conscious effort to pull your shoulders back and bring your phone to your face instead of bending your neck to your phone.
No matter how good your posture, you can’t always escape the stiffness. A good stretch for your neck and shoulders is to place your left hand over your head on your right ear, and very gently pull your left ear toward your left shoulder. Hold this position for 20 seconds before repeating on the opposite side. Repeat the entire sequence 6 times. Now repeat the sequence, but instead of pulling your ear toward your shoulder, you pull your nose into your armpit with your hand on the back of your head and your forehead in the crook of your elbow. Make sure that you focus on your breathing and keeping your shoulder down while doing this.
Drink Lots of Water. I cannot stress this enough.
Drinking water can help keep your eyes hydrated, your brain sharp and has the bonus of forcing you to get up occasionally.
I suggest you always keep a water bottle within reach. You’d be surprised at how much you reach for it without thinking. If you’re not a big fan of water, there are plenty of different ways to flavour water and keep it healthy. Cucumber, lemon, berries, honey, the list is endless and so are the possibilities.
In conclusion: move frequently, don’t be afraid to stretch wherever you are, drink lots of water, blink, and breathe!
References
[1] W. Seltman, “Web MD,” WebMD, LLC., 17 August 2019. [Online]. Available: https://www.webmd.com/eye-health/computer-vision-syndrome#1. [Accessed February 2020].
[2] S. O. Sigurdsson, B. M. Ring, M. Needham, J. H. Boscoe and K. Silverman, “Wiley Online Library,” 1999-2019. [Online]. Available: https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/full/10.1901/jaba.2011.44-157?sid=vendor%3Adatabase. [Accessed February 2020].
[3] L. Soltan, “Digital Responsibility. Technology and Vision Problems,” 2019. [Online]. Available: http://www.digitalresponsibility.org/technology-and-vision-problems. [Accessed February 2020].
[4] “Digital Responsibility. Learn More,” 2019. [Online]. Available: http://www.digitalresponsibility.org/learn-more. [Accessed February 2020].
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