As cars become ever more efficient and the individuals become ever more mobile, it’s become a fact of life that many of us spend far too much time keeping our eyes on the road for prolonged periods of time. A job that involves driving around all day has got to beat a job sitting in front of a PC, but lets face it’s not that much kinder on the eyes.
I’m not a doom merchant; I spend as many hours on the road as any other person for home driving is a major part of their living. After a particularly long session hunched over my steering wheel, I do occasionally imagine the distant echo of my mother's disapproving voice nagging about taking regular breaks. And if I'm honest it is a bit of a concern - can it really be healthy for one's eyes to be looking at a fixed point on the road for hours on end? Well, as much as there are unlikely to be any long term negative problems, driving related eye-strain is an increasingly regular complaint.
The symptoms will doubtless be recognisable to many of you: sore, tired, burning eyes, blurred vision, headache, after images when you look away for the road, light sensitivity and dry eyes. The frustration is that however much your eyes are suffering, stopping work and giving your eyes a sustained rest might not be an option, particularly if you're on a time critical delivery run.
There are, however, a few of things you can do to reduce the strain:
Give your eyes an occasional break - Over the course of a day on the road give your eyes something to focus on other than the car in front. Focus on something in the distance or some scenery at a time when it is not dangerous to do so.
Blink - Many people blink less when driving and this can cause dry eyes, which in turn might develop into other concerns. Consciously blinking helps the eyes to stay moist. One more option is to use artificial teardrops (you can find these at Vision Direct Online Contact Lenses for example.)
Make sure your lenses are correct - If you wear glasses or contact lenses. Check they aren't contributing to your discomfort. A large number of contact lens wearers in particular find dry eyes can become an issue when spending increasingly long periods on the road. Try more hydrating one day lenses, there are contact lenses available with added moisture-rich ingredients that should help keep your eyes moist and comfortable (1 day Acuvue Moist are often recommended - again you can find them at Vision Direct Contact Lenses). You can also get glasses specifically for computer work (find out more at All About Vision)
The bottom line is that as someone who spends a lot of time on the open road or even driving around town, it is important that you do not overstrain your eyes. They are critical to every part of live and when it comes to driving, keeping your eyes on the road for too long a period of time is dangerous.
