Is Working from Home Damaging Your Eyes?居家办公伤眼睛吗？

From Netflix binges to Zoom meetings， the coronavirus pandemic significantly increased the amount of screen time in our daily lives. All that time on devices can be taxing on the eyes—so if you’ve experienced more headaches， eye fatigue， or blurred1 vision， since remote work began， you’re not alone. These are symptoms of digital eye strain， also known as “computer vision syndrome”.

从尽情刷网飞剧集到开Zoom会议，新冠疫情显著增加了我们日常生活中盯着屏幕的时间。花在电子设备上的时间可能会对眼睛造成负担。所以，自从开始远程办公以来，你可能更频繁地感到头痛、眼睛累或视力模糊，并非只有你如此。这些都是数字视疲劳（也被称为“计算机视觉综合征”）的症状。

Here’s the good news first： Despite its name， eye strain isn’t a physical injury and doesn’t carry any risk of long-term damage to the eyes. Still， it’s no fun， and can make life difficult in the digital age. Fortunately， there are simple steps you can take to prevent， or recover from， these symptoms.

先说一条好消息：尽管名叫视疲劳，但它并非物理性损伤，也没有对眼睛造成长期伤害的风险。尽管如此，视疲劳也不是闹着玩的，它可能会让数字时代的生活变得困难。好在采取一些简单的步骤，就可以预防或消除这些症状。

What causes digital eye strain？

数字视疲劳的原因

When we’re not looking at screens， humans blink about once every four， says Priyanka Kumar， an ophthalmologist at the Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia. Each blink squeezes out a layer of fresh tears， a mixture of oil， water， and mucus that lubricates and protects the eye. When we use screens， we blink about half that much， Kumar says. This can cause our eyes to feel dry or gritty. They might even sting， burn， or tear up. These tears are different from the ones our eyes would normally produce when blinking—they’re made when our brain realizes our eyes are too dry and because they’re mostly water， they tend to evapor-ate quickly. “Tearing is actually a nudge that the eyes are dry，” Kumar says.

费城儿童医院的眼科医生普里扬卡·库马尔说，不看屏幕的时候，人大约每四秒眨一次眼。每次眨眼都会新挤出一层眼泪，而这眼泪是油脂、水分和黏液的混合物，可以润滑和保护眼球。库马尔说，使用屏幕时，我们眨眼的次数会减少一半左右。这会导致我们的眼睛产生干涩感或沙砾感，甚至可能有刺痛感、灼烧感，或涌出泪水。这时的泪水不同于平常眨眼时分泌的泪水，是在大脑意识到眼睛太干时产生的。这种泪水的成分主要是水，所以往往很快就会蒸发。库马尔说：“流泪其实暗示了眼睛干涩。”

The headaches and blurred vision sometimes associated with digital eye strain have a different root cause. Spending hours on screens can cause the muscles that coordinate our eyes to tire from the constant motion of focusing our sight on the same distance for a long period of time. “It’s like running marathons all day long，” says Katherine Weise， a professor at the University of Alabama school of Optometry. Enough screen time can cause anyone to develop this particular set of symptoms， but people who have an underlying issue with eye coordination are especially vulnerable， Weise says. So if headaches and blurred vision are your problem， if you find it easier to focus on your screen when you cover one eye， it’s probably a good idea to get your eyes checked out， in case you do have an underlying problem with eye coordination， Weise says.

头痛和视力模糊有时与数字视疲劳相关，但它们的产生有另外的根本原因。花好几个小时看屏幕会导致负责协调双眼的肌肉感到疲劳，因为眼肌需要长时间不断地将我们的视线集中在相同的距离上。亚拉巴马大学视光学院教授凯瑟琳·魏泽说：“这就像一整天都在跑马拉松。”她还说，如果看屏幕的时间足够长，任何人都会出现这一系列特殊症状，但眼部协调方面有潜在问题的人尤其容易受影响。因此，如果你感到头痛和视力模糊，如果你发现遮住一只眼睛之后更容易将视线聚焦在屏幕上，那最好去检查一下眼睛，看看是否确实存在潜在的眼部协调问题，魏泽如是说。

When screen time causes harm

看屏幕太久会伤眼

For adults， eye strain can be painful and inconvenient， but it doesn’t cause actual damage to the eye. For children younger than eight-years old， though， it’s a different story， Kumar says. That’s because their eye muscles haven’t fully developed. There’s some evidence to suggest that lots of screen time can contribute to nearsightedness. Some studies suggest that nearsightedness has become more common in children during the COVID-19 pandemic， likely due to all that time spent learning virtually. One study， published in JAMA Ophthalmology， found that the increase was as much as three-fold. Usually， this condition is treatable with a prescription for glasses or contact lenses. But in extreme cases， nearsightedness can lead to retinal detachment， an injury that often results in blindness.

对于成年人来说，视疲劳可能会带来痛苦和不便，但不会对眼睛造成实际损害。然而，库马尔说，对于八岁以下的儿童来说，情况就不同了。这是因为他们的眼肌还没有发育完全。有证据显示，长时间看屏幕会导致近视。一些研究表明，在新冠疫情期间，近视在儿童中变得更加常见，这可能是因为他们花了大量时间进行线上学习。美国医学会专科杂志《眼科学纪要》刊载的一项研究发现，近视患病率提高了三倍之多。通常情况下，近视可以通过配眼镜或隐形眼镜来矫正。但在极端情况下，近视可能导致视网膜脱落，这种损伤通常会导致失明。

Preventing eye strain

预防视疲劳

Luckily， protecting the eyes from screen time isn’t hard and can seamlessly fit into your daily routine. The most important step is to take breaks， Kumar says. She encourages the 20-20-20-2 rule： Every 20 minutes， look at something 20 feet away for at least 20 seconds， and try to spend two hours of the day outside.

幸运的是，保护眼睛免受屏幕使用时间的影响并不难，而且相关措施可以和你的日常生活无缝融合。库马尔说，最重要的一步是休息。她提倡20—20—20—2法则：每隔20分钟，盯着20英尺外的东西至少20秒，并尝试一天花两个小时待在户外。

Placing your monitor in the proper location is also key. Set up your screen roughly two feet from your eyes and a few inches above where your sight naturally rests without tilting your head， Kumar says. Any closer， and your eyes will work harder than they need to.

将电脑显示器放在合适的位置也很重要。库马尔说，应该把屏幕放置在离眼睛大约两英尺的地方，比你不用倾斜头部时视线自然停留的地方高几英寸。如果比这个距离更近，你的眼睛就得付出额外的努力。

If you’re experiencing dryness or burning， artificial tears might help， Kumar says. And if you use contact lenses， try switching to glasses， at least while you’re working—contact lenses can actually exacerbate2 dry-eye.

库马尔说，如果你已经感觉到眼干或者眼睛有灼烧感，人工泪液可能会有所帮助。如果你戴的是隐形眼镜，至少在你工作的时候试着换成普通眼镜。隐形眼镜实际上会加重干眼症状。