The holiday season is well and truly over and everyone has returned to the office - often sitting and staring at computers for hours a day. It is, therefore, not surprising that many people suffer from eye strain as they get adjusted to their old environment once more.
The use of modern equipment and VDU’s,coupled with the frequent use of Kindles and iPads, have arguably overtaken reading and writing in bad light as the main cause of eye strain.
Eye strain mostly occurs when you over-use your eye muscles by concentrating on visually intense tasks for any length of time. If any muscle is held in one particular position for too long it will cause the muscle to strain and in the case of the eye, the ciliary muscle begins to tighten.
This can cause the eyes to become irritated and uncomfortable some times leading to non-specific symptoms including headaches, fatigue, itchy or a burning sensation around the eyes, blurred vision and, occasionally, double vision.
To prevent eye strain, try avoiding tedious visual tasks and doing close-up work for too long, such as reading a book, needlework or computer activities on a VDU. In addition, it is important to allow the eyes to focus on distant objects at least once an hour. If, however, you continue to suffer from any of the above symptoms, you can try the remedies listed below, which may bring relief. If your symptoms persist, do have your eyes checked by your GP (for general eye health) or an optician (for problems with vision).
Useful Homeopathy Remedies
ß Euphrasia – this may be useful for tired eyes which water and burn. It is suggested to use this externally as an eyewash, in diluted tincture form available from a homeopathic pharmacy. It can also be taken in tablet form.
ß Ruta – this may be advantageous for sore eyes with dim vision, which has resulted from too much concentrated, close work
(Homeopathy for Common Ailments by Robin Hayfield & www.avoideyestrain.com)
This article was first published by the ARH in the Septemeber 2011 issue 16 of 'Homeopathy Healthy Medicine'.
The ARH regularly publish these newsletters to provide information about homeopathy to the public that is not usually available through our mainstream media. ARH makes them available to everyone as free downloads (go to www.a-r-h.org), and they can be used for information, marketing and publicity purposes.
