It’s been a strange week for me movement-wise. I’ve been a stay-at-home-mama for 4 years, and haven’t consumed a lot of tech in super-concentrated amounts. Especially lately with my almost 2 year old completely obsessed with needing the phone every time it comes out. And the computer? Forget it! I only use the computer when she’s sleeping. Which isn’t actually all that often. The sleep I mean. Zzzz.
So this week. I had a study group with a deadline, and I took 2 hours to dive in without distractions. I locked myself in a room while my hubby and the kids played outside. It was only a pina colada short of feeling like a vacation. So quiet! I had a LOT to get done, and I needed to focus. So I did what I’ll tell everyone not to do! I sat in one position with my eyes glued to the screen and didn’t move until my it’s-been-two-hours-time-to-rejoin-society timer rang and I had to head back downstairs.
It hit me the next morning. I opened my eyes, and looked at my phone to check the time. And weather. And probably Facebook. But ouch, my eyes!!! What on Earth??
I dusted off my anatomy knowledge and began to dig in.
The trouble with wanting to always know the “why” is that there is a whole lot out there waiting to be learned. I have been down a lot of rabbit holes, and this one is a biggie.
I refreshed my understanding of how vision works, the parts of the eyeball, and the pathway in the brain. I started reading studies on corneal shape changes in accommodation (does it happen? depends on which studies you read… How does it happen, if it does in fact happen? Jury’s out). I revisited some resources on how you might be able to improve your eyesight enough to reduce your glasses prescription!!! (Bolded and italicized for emphasis. This is fascinating material: check out this podcast, read this book, or this one, read this study, and check out this website… then please report back and tell me everything you learned because I want to learn it all!)
Some day I will really dive deeply into this, and write an awesome post (or series of posts…this is a big BIG topic) because I think it is really very important, but today? Today my eyes hurt. So I’ll tell you a little about that, and then go out for a walk.
Today’s blog post is brought to you by my sore ciliary muscles.
In a nutshell, our eyes are incredible. Light enters our eyes and is focused first by the cornea, and then by the lens. The focused light hits receptors on the retina which sends a message to the brain which figures out what we’re looking at. Incredible. The lens changes shape, it gets thicker to focus on objects that are close, and thinner for objects that are far away. The ciliary muscles control the lens thickness. My ciliary muscles are sore, because, get this… to thicken the lens (to focus close-up), the ciliary muscles contract. I contracted the heck out of my tiny little muscles, and now I’m paying for it (and taking notice).
My eyes were sore from staring at the screen, close up, for 2 hours straight. My teeny intra-ocular muscles got such a workout (they were contracted strongly for 2 hours) that the next day they were sore. Four days later, still sore, actually.
It makes sense, if you think about it. If you picked up a dumbbell and did a biceps curl, and held it for TWO hours, your biceps would be sore! Try holding a squat for TWO hours. Bet you’ll regret that in the morning.
Are you familiar with muscles being sore the day after the workout but even more sore the second day? That second day always gets you. Yup, even teeny-tiny intra-ocular muscles.
They’re small and mighty, but really not that much different in structure/mechanism than the big muscles that we’re more used to complaining about. They get worked, they get sore. When they’re sore and they get worked some more, it’s noticeable. They need time to recover.
What do you do if you hit the gym too hard and your biceps are sore from their two hour curl? You move them gently to help maintain good blood flow to clear out the lactic acid and other byproducts. You don’t do any more two hour curls until they’re recovered. And then, maybe, you do a few curls that last not nearly so long. It’s the same with the eyes.
I need to move those little muscles gently, through their entire range. This means looking near and far and everywhere in between. I need to rest them. The most restful positions for ciliary muscles are when you’re looking at something far far away, or at the inside of your eyelids. Since I don’t get much sleep (see above!), my best option right now is to be outside and look far, far away. I can feel my little ciliary muscles breathe a sigh of relief as I scan the horizon trying to find the tree that is furthest away. In fact, as I’m typing this, I’m looking out the window. Ahhhhh, so good.
Many of us work harder and longer on screens than we would prefer. Our lives, livelihoods, and credit card payments depend on it.
If this is you, here are a few things to consider trying.
If you have to look at screens a lot, consider:
- Try touch typing while you look out the window. No window in your office? Get a doctor’s note requiring you to have one (and then let me know the name of your doctor so I can refer people to them! Joking, not joking.) If that doesn’t work… touch type and look as far away as you can–as long as it’s farther than your computer screen, it’s an improvement.
- Set a timer for 30 minutes and get up from your computer to walk to a window (or better yet, walk outside!). Don’t spend the time talking with your co-worker face-to-face (screen distance apart!), stand side-by-side and see who can see the furthest tree/building/tower/airplane/bird. Five minutes every 30 minutes will do a lot for your eye health, overall health, AND productivity1.
- Close your eyes at your desk when you can. Now, I’m not recommending going to sleep, here, that’s on you. What I’m suggesting is that if you’re on a call, or waiting for a file to load, just close your eyes! Give those little muscles a break.
- Minimize looking at your phone or screen in your downtime.
- Sit further away from your monitor, and hold your phone in your opposite hand and farther away than is socially acceptable. When people comment, tell them you’re cross-training your ciliary muscles. They’ll be envious and want to know more, so send them the link to this post!
The very best way to help those overworked eyes? Walk away from the screen, out the door, and look to the horizon. Enjoy.