Incessant cups of tea and coffee, numerous all-nighters, never- ending queues at the photocopier are some of the signs of the upcoming end of semester and examinations. Exams call for a lot of stress and tension and a student is buried under textbooks and PDFs that not only adds to the cloud of stress, but also affects the eyes a lot. It is essential to take care of your eyes to prevent further damage and bad headaches. To help you resolve this, we have come up with a list of few tips to relieve and reduce eye strain and fatigue during exam times. 1. Workout for your eyes: Commonly known as the “20-20-20” rule, in this all you have to do is look at a distant object for at least 20 seconds in every 20 minutes when you are doing a job that requires a lot of attention such as reading or using a computer. Looking far away helps in relaxing the focusing muscles and reduces eye fatigue. 2. Whip up an eye mask: This can help in rejuvenating tired eyes. Take a small washcloth or towel and run it under cold water, wring it and put it over your eyes for 2-7 minutes. Ice cold compresses and tea bags are also beneficial in relieving puffy eye bags. For a home-spa effect, add a few drops of lavender oil or rose water to your eye mask. 3. Blink-blink: It is very important to blink a lot while reading or using the computer as it helps in preventing dryness and irritation by spreading the moist tear film over the eye, thus moisturizing it. The coating of tears around the eyes evaporates more quickly if we don’t blink often and, therefore blinking is essential to prevent dry eyes. 4. Focus more: Try focusing on objects at different distances to reduce eyestrain. Focus on the tip of the pen and bring it closer to your nose at a steady pace. Do 5-10 repetitions. Focusing helps in improving vision and can also help a twitch caused by tired eyes. Try and avoid squinting constantly as it can develop headaches and more eyestrain. 5. Fortify your eyelids: Close your eyes halfway down, paying attention to the constant trembling of your upper lids. Concentrate your efforts on stopping this trembling for about 5 seconds.Lowering your eyelids halfway and focusing on stopping the trembling will make you squint, which can actually help to relieve eyestrain.Keep taking breaks every 20-30 minutes and practice these tips to get relief from the strain developed by constant reading and working. This will help you focus more and aid in acing all your tests and exams.If eye strain or dry eyes are a persisting problem for you even after taking breaks and relaxing your eyes, you can get your eyes checked by an eye specialist to rule out any refractive errors or any other eye disorder. *The views expressed here are solely those of the author in his private capacity and do not in any way represent the views of Centre for Sight.
