What You Should Know about Eye Strain Headaches
If you’re working at a computer all day or focusing on any task for too long, you may notice your eyes starting to hurt—in other words, you may have eye strain. If you ignore the pain and keep working, you may develop an eye strain headache.
Can eye strain really lead to headaches? Yes—and this type of headache is becoming more common. The good news is that if you’ve been having problems with eye strain and headaches, there are ways to relieve and even eliminate them.
Keep reading to learn what leads to eye strain and how you can alleviate and prevent eye strain headaches.
What Leads to Eye Strain?
Several factors lead to eye strain and eye strain headaches. Luckily, eye strain, no matter how chronic, does not cause permanent damage to your eyes. However, if symptoms become chronic, an eye strain headache could signal an underlying condition for which you should see your eye doctor.
Intense Focus
A significant precursor of eye strain is intense focus. Whether it’s a screen or a page, intense focus can result in eye strain. Driving, reading and other focus-intensive tasks can all lead to eye strain.
Digital Screens
Digital screens are a frequent culprit in eye strain. There's even a special term for this: digital eye strain or computer vision syndrome. A significant contributor to digital eye strain is that we humans tend to blink less when we look at screens, which can lead to dry eyes and irritation. Other aspects of digital technology that can bring on eye strain and headaches are:
- Screen glare or reflection
- Bad posture
- Low contrast between text and background
Dry Eyes
Dry eyes can often contribute to eye strain. You can develop dry eyes from the lack of tear production, leading to inflammation and pain. Eyes can become dry due to a variety circumstances, including not blinking enough, being in an air-conditioned environment, aging, dehydration, and certain medical conditions such as rheumatoid arthritis, diabetes and thyroid disease.
Poor Lighting
Being in the right light is essential for good vision and eye comfort. Whether you’re in a place that’s bright or dark—and everything in between—your eyes adapt to the environment by enlarging or narrowing your pupils. Extremely light or dark situations require more work for your eyes, making them tired.
Uncorrected Vision
Inability to see well due to uncorrected vision can worsen eye strain, because your eyes must work harder in their attempt to create a clear image. If you’re experiencing lack of visual clarity, it’s time to visit your eye doctor, even if it’s not yet time for your annual checkup.
How is an eye strain headache different from other headaches?
Eye strain leads to headaches that share a lot of common symptoms with other types of headaches. Knowing what kind of headache you have is important for getting faster relief.
Migraine
Migraines can share many symptoms of an eye strain headache but last much longer, usually all day. They also don’t get better with eye rest.
People with migraines also can experience nausea, vomiting and sensitivity to certain smells, which are not typical symptoms in eye strain headaches.
Tension Headache
You can feel eye pain with tension headaches, but that’s due to pressure in your forehead and the back of your head.
You can relieve this type of headache with aspirin, but it won’t help with the eye strain itself.
Cluster
A cluster headache is recurring and typically accompanied by burning and pain around the eyes. Other symptoms include pain in the neck and shoulders, teary eyes, running nose and changes in pupil size.
Unlike eye strain headaches, a cluster headache can happen daily over long periods of time—with no apparent trigger.
Dehydration
Inadequate hydration can contribute to various illness symptoms, one of which is a headache. These headaches can be mild or as painful as a typical migraine.
The fastest way to cure a dehydration headache is to deal with the pain and get rehydrated as fast as possible. While trying to rehydrate, avoid alcohol and caffeine, because these are both dehydrating. Chronic dehydration should be not be ignored, because it can lead to more serious health problems including urinary tract infections, kidney stones and even kidney failure.
Common Symptoms of Eye Strain
Headaches
Blurred vision
Dry eyes
Neck and shoulder pain
Sore eyes
Watery eyes
Sensitivity to light
Trouble concentrating
Can eye strain be diagnosed?
Most of the time, eye strain goes away after a few hours of rest. If it continues, see your eye doctor to learn whether it’s eye strain or something else—and get diagnosis and treatment. When you visit your eye doctor, ask questions and get recommendations on how best to relieve and prevent eye strain.
How to Relieve Eye Strain Headaches
You can relieve the pain of your headache from eye strain through various methods at home or at your work desk.
Warm Compress
Heat tends to relax your muscles, including around your eyes. Your headache can lessen or disappear after a few minutes of using a warm compress.
Rest
Resting is a good way to alleviate an eye strain headache. Even taking a 20-minute nap should help you feel better.
Close Your Eyes
As silly as it sounds, close your eyes for a few minutes and let your eyes relax. You may be surprised at how quickly your headache starts to feel better.
Blink
As we mentioned, we tend to blink less when working on a digital device, which leads to irritation. Remind yourself to blink frequently while working at your computer to help moisturize your eyes.
Eye Drops
If you’ve been diagnosed with eye problems like being near- or far-sighted and have glasses, make sure to wear them!
How to Prevent Eye Strain
Preventing eye strain is your best bet—and yes, there ways to prevent eye strain from happening in the first place.
Yearly Eye Doctor Check-Ins
Schedule annual checkups with your eye doctor to help prevent eye strain and other general eye problems. The doctor verifies that your vision is sharp or that it could be improved with a new eyewear prescription. A thorough exam, which includes digital retinal imaging, not only gives a window into your eye health, it can also spot the earliest signs of systemic health conditions like diabetes, high cholesterol and high blood pressure.
Blue Light Filtering Glasses
Along with visiting your doctor, ask about blue light filtering glasses. Blue light is a range of the light spectrum that contains the highest amount of energy, close to ultraviolet (UV) light. Blue light comes from the sun, digital device screens and TV screens. If you’re troubled with digital eye strain and headaches, it’s a good idea to reduce your exposure to blue light. Sunglasses block blue light from the sun. Adding Visionworks’ Smart Screen lenses to the glasses you wear indoors filters a portion of blue light in the 400–455 nm range.
Visionworks can add Smart Screen to any glasses style you choose. If you spend a lot of time peering at screens, do your eyes a favor and get a non-prescription pair of glasses with Smart Screen blue light filtering.
Fix Lighting in Your Workspace
If you feel your workspace is too bright or too dark, try adjusting the light to reduce eye strain. The light from your computer screen should be about the same brightness as that in the rest of the room.
Important tip: Make sure your lighting is not pointed right at your eyes.
20-20-20
You’ve probably heard the 20-20-20 rule: take a break every 20 minutes to look at something 20 feet away for 20 seconds before returning to your task. Taking periodic breaks allows your eyes to rest, refocus and rehydrate, reducing the likelihood of digital eye strain and headaches.
Get Your Eyes Checked at Visionworks
If you’re noticing continual eye strain or pain, it’s time to get your eyes checked. Use our location page to find the nearest Visionworks and set up an appointment.
Visionworks makes it easy to schedule an eye exam at a time that works for you. Our Associates are happy to help you find glasses that suit you and your lifestyle—and can help you get the most for your money or insurance benefits. And—if you change your mind about your glasses for any reason, we’ll exchange them for up to 100 days from your purchase. Just ask one of our Associates about our 100-day guarantee.
Information received through Visionworks® content is for informational purposes only and does not constitute medical advice, medical recommendations, diagnosis, or treatment. Always seek the advice of your eye doctor, physician, or other qualified health provider with any questions you may have regarding a medical condition.
Claims regarding blue light efficiency are supported by manufacturer-provided test results.
