Meghan Markle recently confessed that she ‘spent a lot of time in front of the TV growing up’ and would ‘eat her dinner on a tray in front of the screen.’ With the weather turning colder and enticing programmes such as The Crown and the forthcoming World Cup, the temptation to binge TV watch is definitely there.

Binge-watching TV, sometimes defined as viewing between two and six episodes of a programme in one sitting, has been on the increase since lockdown. The rise of streaming and catch-up services has meant that the concept of waiting for the next episode of your favourite programme is obsolete. But what is binge-watching TV (on increasingly bigger screens) doing to your eye health? Alastair Lockwood, eye health specialist and ophthalmologist at Feel Good Contacts explains:

As we get settled into our winter routines, we now have ample time to catch up on some must-see shows and movies. Movie and box set marathons coupled with working on your computer during the day means that you could be spending far too much time in front of a screen.

Early morning starts and late evenings spent in front of a screen can have a negative impact on your eyes. In fact, extensive screen time can lead to computer vision syndrome (CVS), where eyes become dry, tired and even strained.
While not causing any permanent damage, common symptoms of CVS (including eye fatigue, physical tiredness, eye twitching and red eyes) can cause a lot of discomfort and irritation in the short term. In addition, use of digital screens often reduces how much we blink, therefore denying our eyes the hydration they need to stay moist and healthy. Dry eye syndrome is when our eyes have become dried out, as a result of tear ducts no longer producing adequate natural tears that our eyes need.

Here are some tips on how to avoid CVS and dry eye syndrome and keep your eyes in mint condition:

Blink regularly
When you’re deeply focused on the screen, you tend to blink less, even if you don’t realise it. If you’re not blinking enough, your eyes are not receiving regular hydration and moisture from your tears. As a result, your eyes will begin to feel dry and irritated. Get into the habit ‘resting your eyes’ looking away and closing them purposefully, the eyelids are great protectors with lots of moisturising glands on the inside. I always follow the 20-20-20 rule: Every 20 minutes, take a 20 second break and look at something 20 feet away.

Take a break
Give both yourself and your eyes a rest from your screen. Aside from that, simply just looking away from your screen for a minute or so every now and again can give your eyes a much-needed break.

Keep your distance
People are binge-watching on increasingly bigger screens, although the room that they watch them in remains the same size. It is therefore important that you don’t sit too close or too far from the screen. Your overall set-up plays a role in your eye health. So being too close or far will cause eye strain. If you’re watching a programme on a computer then I recommend positioning monitors at least 50cm from eyes with the centre of the screen about 10-15 degrees below the eyes. That way, the light won’t be so intense, and you won’t be craning your neck.

Watch the brightness of your screen
Before watching movies on a laptop or monitor, remember to check the brightness of your screen. If it’s set to the highest setting, turn it down slightly and see if it makes any difference to how your eyes feel. An incredibly bright screen can be very harsh on the eyes, so you can minimise glare by dusting your computer monitor and investing in an anti-reflection cover. Also take note of the lighting around your computer. Try to create equal brightness in your space so there’s no shadowy areas or glare from lamps.

Lighting
It’s important to have the right level of lighting in your room. I appreciate that it’s a fine line between good lighting that provides enough illumination and bright lighting that borders on glare.

Blue light

LED screens emit blue light which can be harmful to the eyes. In fact, watching too much TV (especially late at night) can suppress melatonin production, and melatonin is needed to make us feel ready for sleep. It’s worth investing in a pair of blue light blocking glasses. These have been specially designed with lenses to filter out and block the unwanted blue light given off by digital screens. Don’t worry if you wear prescription glasses. You can get blue light blocking lenses for your prescription glasses.

Biography
Alastair Lockwood is an eye health specialist and ophthalmologist at Feel Good Contacts, a doctor and surgeon who is passionate about trying to stop people going blind from glaucoma – a leading cause of irreversible blindness. His research specialises in how to treat those patients who are unresponsive to conventional treatment, and he is in the stages of developing new models for surgery to treat glaucoma. His interest in research stems from undergraduate training at Cambridge University and clinical training at Oxford University. He completed an MRC funded PhD at the UCL Institute of Ophthalmology and Moorfields Eye Hospital.