20 20 20 SCREEN BREAK

Our eyes are calling for a change to the screen routine.

Half of UK adults now look at screens for 11 hours or more a day¹ and that is terrible news for the health of our eyes. Another survey² by Rohto, the world’s number one eye care brand³, found that a staggering 62% of Brits say they have been using screen devices more thanks to the pandemic.

Optician Francesca Marchetti explains that this screen time is playing havoc with our delicate eyes.

“They are such an intricate organ and they are being used for the vast majority of the day with very little rest.”

She adds,

“Every time we blink, a film of tears spreads over the eye which helps to keep the eye smooth and moist. If you were to stop now and hold your eyes closed for five seconds, you may notice they become a little damp. That’s those tears ensuring our eyes stay damp! When we blink less frequently, like when looking at a screen, the tear glands don’t produce enough tears, which when normally produced spread over the tear film. Dry spots can appear on the surface of the eye and this can lead to irritation and discomfort.”

There is a strong body of evidence⁴ to suggest we should try to limit our screen time but how realistic is it?

According to USwitch⁵, we spend 241 minutes watching TV a day, 109 minutes on social media, 75 minutes listening to music and 386 minutes on the internet. That doesn’t even include the time many of us spend in front of a screen for work.

When did you last have a 20 20 20 screen break?

The 20 20 20 screen break rule might help for some - take a screen break of 20 seconds, look at an object 20 feet away, every 20 minutes you are looking at a screen.

Taking frequent breaks from your screen encourages your eyes to blink more, helping to avoid dry or tired eyes and headaches. Whether you manage to cut down on your screen time or not, leaving symptoms of dry eye untreated can lead to further complications down the line. If your eyes feel itchy, sore, gritty and maybe even feel more watery than normal, you may have dry eyes.

Rohto Dry Aid relieves EIGHT symptoms of dry eye and provides fast soothing relief to your eyes for up to 12 hours. Rohto Dry Aid's Tearshield Technology® has been designed to not only hydrate the eyes but also tackle the root cause of dry eyes helping to restore the natural tear film.

To see if you might need Rohto Dry Aid, take our dry eye test.

Or complete this quick questionnaire to measure severity of dry eyes.

Remember that screen time is just one cause of dry eye. See other common causes of dry eye.

¹  https://www.leedstrinity.ac.uk/media/site-assets/documents/key-documents/pdfs/british-families-in-lockdown-report.pdf 
² Global Prospectus, Spring 2021; 1,109 consumers questioned
³ Euromonitor International Limited; Consumer Health Eye Care definition, retail value share, 2021 data
⁴ Hill et al. 2016, Madhav et al. 2017, Davies et al. 2019, Foster et al. 2020
⁵ How much of your time is Screen Time? (uswitch.com)