As exam season sets in, with students preparing tough for their final examinations, it could be excessively tiring and stressful for the eyes — a generally neglected aspect.

Among the commonly faced exam problems, reduced focus and eye tiredness (leading to poor retention) top the list for many. This may result in unexpected exam results.

However, these problems can be overcome, if proper and equal inclusion of study time and physical health, good eye care is borne.

Eye Care Tips

Some of the eye care tips that may help students cope with those weary eyes during examinations are the following:

• 
  
  Short Breaks For Better Efficiency: Studying continuously at a stretch of 8 hours may lead to intense pressure on eye muscles, leading to eye pain, eye strain and spasms, poor eyesight (in the long run), headaches and difficulty focusing. Take a short break (look at distant objects for 10 seconds) every 30 minutes to revitalize your eye muscles.
• 
  
  Watch out for your Posture: Poor posture may also affect your eye muscle balance, neck and back, especially among students with visual problems and astigmatism (irregularly shaped cornea/lens). Hence, practice sitting erect with arms and shoulders well supported, feet resting on the ground and books placed at 60 degrees and 20 inches from the eye.
• 
  
  Blink Frequently: Starring continuously while studying especially with digital resources may cause dryness of the eyes with reduced blink rates (normal blink rate approximately 20 times per minute). Accordingly, ensure blinking (at least 20 times) during every short break.
• 
  
  Simultaneously, use an anti-glare screen/matte screen to protect your eyes from harmful digital blue light.
• 
  When using digital resources for studying, zoom/magnify the texts/fonts to elude strain on the eyes.
• 
  
  Practice frequent eye-muscle exercise (eyeball rotations — clockwise and anti-clockwise) to strengthen your vision.
• 
  
  Palming : Rubbing your palms together and placing them on your eyes (ensure they are fully covered) also helps overcome eye strain during exams.
• 
  
  Eat Balanced Diet: Students often tend to miss meals in the haste of exam preparation and rather end up junking in fast foods that lead to nutritional deficiencies, eye fatigue, dry eyes and poor attention. Thus to score your expectations in exams, eat balanced foods loaded with vitamins and minerals.
• 
  
  Frequent Water for Attention: Drinking lesser water during the intensity of studies may cause dehydration, tired eyes, difficulty in focusing and frequent headaches. It is thereby recommended to drink a minimum of 3 to 3.75 liters of fluids every day to overcome exam stress and improve attention.
• 
  
  Get Sound Sleep: Although it is natural and reinforcing sometimes to skip sleep time for extra study. However, sleeping less than 7 hours per night (average) may leave your eyes, mind and body tiring with poor concentration and focus. Therefore, it is vital to ensure a proper sleep schedule during exam time.
• 
  
  Seek your ophthalmologist for help if you face constant blurring of vision or other alarming eye signs.

Source: Medindia