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ens. However, Dr. Kimberly Yen, assistant professor of ophthalmology at<\/em> Baylor College of Medicine states:<\/p>\n\u00a0\u201cDespite popular belief, sitting too close to the television, or in this case the computer, won\u2019t cause blindness or other permanent damage, what it can do is cause eye strain symptoms.\u201d<\/em><\/p>\n When eyes are focused on one item for a long period of time, whether it\u2019s a computer screen, television or even a book, the blink rate slows. That could lead to eyes feeling dry or uncomfortable. Vision could even begin to blur or double. One common side effect of eye strain is headache.<\/em><\/p>\n source: <\/em>Baylor College of Medicine<\/em><\/a><\/p>\n There is an interesting article in Eye Magazine<\/a> that breaks down specific stressful conditions for one\u2019s eyes:<\/p>\n \u201cSmall text sizes, low contrast, glare and refractive stress all resulted in increased activity in the orbicularis oculi, while convergence stress and accommodative stress did not, though after reading in these two conditions, readers are more likely to report headaches and pain coming from behind the eye. Stressors such as small text size and glare are reported as irritation on the front of the eye.\u201d<\/em><\/p>\n They conclude that the blink rate is a key factor in eye stress. Difficult-to-read text (e.g. small text) causes a lower blink rate.\u00a0 They go on to add:<\/p>\n \u201cLight grey text on a white background and small text size both lead to an increased orbicularis oculi activity and decreased blinking. These two conditions are related to text quality, and we would expect to find similar indicators of eye fatigue with poor font quality or condensed letter spacing. To reduce this type of eye strain, we need text of the highest possible quality.<\/em><\/p>\n \u2026other studies found that we blink far more often under relaxed conditions than while reading: 22 blinks per minute while relaxed, versus ten blinks per minute while reading a book. A recent study at Pacific University illuminated why blinking is suppressed during reading. Tai and Sheedy found that the eye movement following a blink was far more likely to be a regressive or backward corrective eye movement than one that did not follow a blink.\u201d<\/em><\/p>\n My advice is to bump up the size of the font that you are reading anytime you start to feels the symptoms of eye strain. Since it is not a permanent condition, you should experience relief in a short amount of time.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" \u201cHow many blinks are enough to keep your eyes moist and prevent eye strain?\u201d\u00a0 This is a question I get fairly often in my practice.\u00a0 A low blink rate can cause irritated eyes (\u201ceye strain\u201d). Small fonts and poor type … Continue reading \n