The pain caused by eyestrain headaches is mild compared to other chronic and severe types of headaches, making them easier to treat and manage. While knowing how to relieve a headache caused by eyestrain can be a big help, preventing these headaches is still the better solution.
How to Avoid Eyestrain Headaches
There are a number of ways to prevent eyestrain and keep annoying headaches to a minimum. Here are some ways to do this.
- Correcting vision problems or errors. People with errors and problems with their vision are more susceptible to eyestrain headaches due to the fact that their conditions make it easier for the eyes to get tired and irritated. Consulting an eye doctor about the proper treatment for these vision problems can help a lot in the prevention of eyestrain and the headaches that come with it. Treatment for vision problems includes prescription glasses and contact lenses or eye surgery.
- Soothing your eyes. Most people forget to take a break when working in front of the computer or when reading for a long period of time. It’s important to give your eyes a break to prevent straining them and experiencing headaches that may disrupt the work you are doing. Close your eyes and rest them every now and then or focus on something else other than what you’re working on. The best ratio for an eye break would be 20 seconds of rest for every 20 minutes of focused, concentrated work.
- Exercising your eyes. Eyestrain is actually a repetitive stress injury that brings pain and discomfort, and the best way to prevent this injury is to exercise the eye muscles and train them to withstand repetitive activities. You can do exercises to relax the eyes and prevent the onset of eyestrain headaches. You can also perform strengthening exercises to keep your eyes from tiring when performing the activities that usually trigger eyestrain.
- Reducing or eliminating glare. Direct or reflected glare can cause a person to squint just to be able to focus their eyes on an object. Squinting actually strains the eyes more and if you squint too much, you’ll most probably develop a headache. By reducing or eliminating glare, you can focus your eyes better and prevent headaches related to eye strain.
- Making sure you have proper lighting. Dim lighting is not suitable for reading as the eyes have to exert more effort in order to read the words printed on the book. Ambient lighting while watching television or working in front of a computer screen should be 50 to 100 percent of the brightness of the screen.
- Getting rid of bad habits. A lot of times, people don’t perform the same task in the same way, and sometimes our work habits can cause eyestrain. If you’ve developed bad working habits and experience headaches because of them, then it is best to correct these harmful habits and make sure you follow the tips to prevent eyestrain and headaches.
Prevention Indeed is Better Than Cure
Not having to deal with the pain and discomfort of eyestrain related headaches makes our work so much easier and more pleasant to do. Preventing something from happening is always better than finding a cure or a way to treat the problem, which is why it is important to keep these simple tips in mind in order to prevent eyestrain headaches from occurring.
