There are several methods to give relief to tired, red and burning eyes. In the previous post we’ve seen the benefits of the herbal natural remedy Swedish bitter and particular eye exercises. Today we’ll see other remedies that may be helpful for tired eyes.
Blue light blocking lens
What we call light is in fact a mix of electromagnetic waves characterized by different frequencies. Among the components of light blue light is raising many concerns because of its potentially harmful effect on the health of the eyes, let’s try to explain better. Light in all its components is beneficial for humans, in particular, blue light, that has a wave length between 380 and 500 nm (you should consider the electromagnetic wave like the sea waves and the wave length is the distance between two adjacent peaks. Different component of light, such as red, blue, green, yellow light are characterized by different distances between the peaks), acts on the circadian rhythm, in particular on the sleep patterns by stimulating a protein of the retina, the melanopsin, that informs the brain whether it is night or day. However, because of laptops and artificial lights, our eyes are invested continuously by blue light, and this may compromise sleep patterns or even may damage the retina if this component of light arrives in high quantity (Tosini et al, Mol Vis, Jan 2014 - Ratnayake et al, Scientific Reports, 2018). Spending several hours in front of a laptop screen may cause eye strain, because our eyesight is focused on words at the same distance but also as a consequence of blue light. For this reason, if you spend many hours working at the laptop or reading books with your tablet a good choice may be to have blue light blocking glasses, also if your eyesight is perfect. Scientific studies have observed indeed that lens of this type are able to protect the retina and don’t modify the quality of rest (Leung et al, PLoS One, Jan 2017). In alternative, different modern devices give you the possibility to block the blue component of light from their screens.
Cosmetics
Also natural cosmetics may be helpful in case of red eyes and to soothe eye strain. You can try to soak two cotton pads in rose water, put these pads in the fridge for a while in order to cool them and then place them on closed eyes. Rose water results indeed particularly soothing, calming and decongestant and will promote the circulation around the eyes. Suffice is to say that rose extracts are inserted in preparations of eye drops for their soothing and anti-inflammatory action with the aim to counteract conjunctivitis and dry eyes (Boskabady et al, Iran J Basic Med Sci, Jul-Aug 2011).
Ocular exercises
When we strain the eyes reading for hours in conditions of poor light or on the laptop screen, it may happen that we stare words or objects at the same distance for hours. As a consequence, the eye muscles may become weak, or, on the contrary, rigid. This may cause poor ocular mobility, tired and dry eyes. A good way to counteract eye strain and help eyes work in optimal conditions is to do little exercises for the muscles of the eyes according to the American physician William Bates, who wrote at the beginning of the last century the book Perfect Sight Without Glasses. During the day or in the evening move the eyes up and down, then left and right, start slowly then increase the rhythm. Then rotate the eyes with circular movements, in a direction and then in the other, close the eyes and with the closed eyelids move the eyes in a figure 8, horizontally and then vertically, then change the shape, you can make with eyes a square and a triangle. Open then eyes wide and close them, don’t rub the eyes and at the end if this sequence you can do some palming, the relaxing technique for both body and mind described in a previous post.
