sign with the text spring forward by a clock on a wooden background reprensing vision and sleep

Daylight Saving Time & Your Eyes: How the Time Change Affects Vision and Sleep

by ArticlesBlog

Who doesn’t love longer daylight hours in the spring? Every spring, we move our clocks forward an hour for Daylight Saving Time (DST)—gaining more daylight in the evening but losing an hour of sleep. While this adjustment may seem minor, it can disrupt sleep patterns, impact overall well-being, and even affect your eye health.

If you’ve ever noticed your eyes feeling dry, irritated, or strained after a time change, you’re not alone. The shift in our internal clocks can lead to fatigue, poor focus, and even increased risk for certain eye conditions. Let’s explore how the time change affects your vision and what you can do to keep your eyes healthy.

Disrupted Sleep Leads to Eye Strain & Fatigue

Your eyes need adequate rest to function properly. Losing an hour of sleep can throw off your circadian rhythm, leading to:

  • Tired, strained eyes – Less sleep can cause the eye muscles to fatigue more quickly, making tasks like reading or using digital screens more difficult.
  • Blurred vision – Sleep deprivation can reduce tear production, leading to dryness and fluctuating vision.
  • Increased sensitivity to light – A lack of rest can make your eyes more sensitive to bright screens and sunlight.

Poor Sleep Quality Can Worsen Dry Eye Syndrome

People who already suffer from dry eye syndrome may experience worsening symptoms after the time change. Sleep deprivation can reduce tear production and cause the eyes to feel gritty, red, and irritated. This is especially true for individuals who:

  • Spend long hours in front of screens
  • Wear contact lenses
  • Have a history of dry eye disease

Blue Light Exposure at Night Disrupts Sleep & Eye Health

Many people struggle to adjust to the new time change and may use phones, tablets, or TVs before bed to wind down. However, blue light exposure from these screens can:

  • Suppress melatonin production – Making it harder to fall asleep.
  • Disrupt circadian rhythms – Leading to restless nights and tired eyes in the morning.
  • Increase digital eye strain – Causing discomfort, headaches, and blurred vision.

Increased Risk of Eye-Related Health Issues

Sleep deprivation—even from a one-hour change—can increase the risk of serious eye conditions, including:

  • Glaucoma – Poor sleep is linked to higher intraocular pressure, a major risk factor for glaucoma.
  • Retinal Damage – A lack of rest may reduce oxygen flow to the eyes, leading to long-term issues.
  • Migraines & Light Sensitivity – Poor sleep can trigger migraines, which often come with visual disturbances.

Tips to Protect Your Eyes During the Time Change

  • Adjust Your Sleep Schedule Early – Start going to bed 15-30 minutes earlier a few days before the time change to help your body adjust gradually.
  • Limit Blue Light Exposure Before Bed – Avoid screens at least an hour before bedtime or use blue light-blocking glasses.
  • Practice the 20-20-20 Rule – If you’re experiencing eye strain, take a break every 20 minutes by looking 20 feet away for 20 seconds.
  • Keep Your Eyes Hydrated – Drink plenty of water and use lubricating eye drops if you experience dryness.
  • Wear Sunglasses Outdoors – Protect your eyes from glare and UV rays, especially in the mornings when your eyes may be more sensitive.
  • Create a Sleep-Friendly Environment – Keep your bedroom cool, dark, and quiet to encourage deep, restful sleep.

Daylight Savings Time

Daylight Saving Time may only shift the clock by an hour, but its effects on sleep and vision can last for days or even weeks. By practicing healthy eye habits and prioritizing good sleep hygiene, you can minimize eye strain, dryness, and fatigue during this transition.

If you’re experiencing persistent vision problems, eye discomfort, or difficulty adjusting to the time change, schedule an eye exam. The doctors at Bissell Eye Care can check for underlying issues and recommend solutions to keep your vision sharp and comfortable.

About Bissell Eye Care: John D. Bissell, OD owns and operates Bissell Eye Care servicing Northern Pittsburgh and Alle-Kiski Valley regions. With two locations to treat patients, we offer evening appointments. Bissell Eye Care provides comprehensive eye examinations for the entire family beginning as early as 6 months, ocular disease detection and treatment, eyeglasses, sunglasses, activewear, contact lenses, and low vision examinations for those with significant vision loss. We accept most types of vision and health insurance plans. For more information, visit bisselleyecare.com or call our Bakerstown Office at 724-443-6767 or Natrona Heights office at 724-226-0444.

TECHNOLOGY ADDICTION

by ArticlesBlog
Group of young hipster friends playing with smartphone with mutual disinterest towards each other – Modern situation of technology interaction in alienated lifestyle – Internet wifi connection

Are you a compulsive phone checker? Did you know the average person checks their phone 27 times a day? Couple that with time spent at work or school on the computer and you could be headed for overload. Let’s not forget to add time spent on a variety of social media channels such as Facebook and Pinterest. Did you know, according to Business Insider, Facebook CEO, Mark Zuckerberg states, “the average Facebook user spends about 40 minutes a day?” It’s no wonder we have headaches and our eyes hurt.

Have you ever felt discomfort in your eyes after using you smart phone computer or tablet? This is a growing trend that is being seen as the popularity of these devices rise. While there is no link to long term effect on the eyes with the use of these devices, overuse can lead to short term eye discomfort, tension headaches, dry eye and eye strain.

While these devices have helped to make everyday life easier, they can also cause discomfort and eye pain through their usage. Staring at a small bright screen for long periods of time can have negative short term effects on your eyes. It is especially important to try and limit technology use in young children.

Tension headaches are one of the leading complaints that patients experience when they spend large amounts of time looking at screens close up with high contrast differences. In other words reading dark print on a bright background can cause the muscles in your eyes to spasm. These muscles are located near your temples (the soft spot in between your eye and ear). Many devices developed for reading such as the Kindle or Noble Nook display black text on a gray background. These colors are shown to have less of a strain on the eye causing less irritation to the reader. When using your smart devices, turning down the brightness can help to reduce the strain as well, as your eyes are not forced to focus on bright light with vast differences in colors.

When you look at objects in the distance, your eyes automatically blink more keeping them moist. As you start to focus on objects that are close to you, the eyes blink less and become dry. Your eyes blink less because they are working harder to pick up all of the detail of what you are focusing on.

As you focus on objects closer to you, your eyes not only blink less but have to work harder. The pupils become smaller, and the muscles in the eyes adjust which forces them to work harder. When you spend hours on a hand held device, your eye muscles are forced to work harder which causes stain on your eye muscles. One way to overcome this is by looking away from the screen every so often and allowing your eyes to focus on an object far away. This will cause the eye muscles to relax and reduce the strain that constant focus on objects close up can cause.

Enjoy your technology, but be smart about overuse and long-term effects of eye strain. Monitor young children and be attune if they complain of dry eyes or headaches. Be sure to give your eyes a break every now and lower your brightness on mobile devices. Happy web surfing!

About the author: John D. Bissell, owner of Bissell Eye Care and Tri-State Low Vision Services, offers comprehensive eye examinations for the entire family, ocular disease detection and treatment, eye glasses, sun glasses, active wear, contact lenses, and low vision examinations for those with significant vision loss. He has undergone specialized training for treatment of low vision by the International Academy of Low Vision Specialists utilizing customized telescopic eyeglasses, prisms and telescopic implants for patients who qualify. The practice accepts most types of vision and health insurance plans.

RELIEF FROM COMPUTER EYE STRAIN

by ArticlesBlog

Are your eyes tired from working too long at your computer? Do you see your kids rubbing their eyes after staring at a tablet or laptop too long? Additional health problems such as physical fatigue, decreased productivity and increased numbers of work errors, to minor annoyances like eye twitching and red eyes can occur from eye strain.

Eye strain isn’t limited to those in the workforce. With advanced placement classes at school and time spent playing games on the computer, many children suffer from eye strain too. Take these steps to help alleviate the problem.

    1. Schedule a comprehensive eye exam and share with your doctor how much you use the computer at work and at home.
    2. Use proper lighting to help minimize eye strain which can often be caused by excessively bright light either from outdoor sunlight coming in through a window or from harsh interior lighting. The use of drapes or blinds can help to eliminate exterior light and using fewer light bulbs, a desk lamp, floor lamp or fluorescent tubes can help minimize interior lighting.
    3. Minimize glare by installing an anti-glare screen on your monitor and, if possible, paint bright white walls a darker color with a matte finish.
    4. Upgrade your screen by replacing your old tube-style monitor with a flat-panel liquid crystal display (LCD), like those on laptop computers. When choosing a new flat panel display, select a screen with the highest resolution possible. Resolution is related to the “dot pitch” of the display. Generally, displays with a lower dot pitch have sharper images. Choose a display with a dot pitch of .28 mm or smaller.
    5. Adjust your computer display settings for brightness, text size, contrast and color temperature. For Microsoft Windows operating system display settings are found in the Control Panel. Apple users can find them in the Systems Preferences.
    6. Blink more often to moisten your eyes and prevent dryness.
    7. Avoid fatigue by exercising your eyes and looking at a distant object to refocus eye muscles.
    8. Take frequent breaks to not only rest your eyes, but your neck, back and shoulders as well.
    9. Using ergonomic furniture or a stand to hold papers can help to modify your workstation and avoid eye strain.
    10. Consider computer eyewear for extensive computer work. Individuals might benefit from having your eye care professional modify your eyeglasses prescription to create customized computer glasses. This is especially true if you normally wear contact lenses, which may become dry and uncomfortable during sustained computer work.

Experiencing regular eye strain isn’t normal. If you or your family suffer from eye strain, take steps to modify your environment, avoid extensive time infront of a computer screen without taking a break and be sure to have regular eye exams.

About the author: John D. Bissell, owner of Bissell Eye Care and Tri-State Low Vision Services, offers comprehensive eye examinations for the entire family, ocular disease detection and treatment, eye glasses, sun glasses, active wear, contact lenses, and low vision examinations for those with significant vision loss. He has undergone specialized training for treatment of low vision by the International Academy of Low Vision Specialists utilizing customized telescopic eyeglasses, prisms and telescopic implants for patients who qualify. The practice accepts most types of vision and health insurance plans.

DIGITAL EYE STRAIN

by Articles

Do your eyes hurt after a day at the office?

Think about all the screens you use every day – desktop, laptop, tablets, ipads, and smart phones.  “Digital Eye Strain” is the level of eye discomfort that occurs for many users.

Symptoms included are dry eyes, blurry vision, fatigue and neck and shoulder cramping. In a recent survey released by the Vision Council, a trade group for makers of eye care products, warned of serious long-term eye risk, including macular degeneration and cataracts.

Because of intense staring, we don’t blink as much when using screens and therefore don’t spread tears across the eyes, causing dryness.  A solution is to blink every 10 seconds or so.  People using a computer daily could stare at the screen 6-10 hours a day.

Here are some prevention tips from organizations such as Prevent Blindness, the National Eye Institute, and Get Eye Smart:

Make changes to your computer screen, such as:

  • Place the screen 20-26 inches away from your eyes and a little below eye level.
  • Regularly clean off dust and fingerprints from the screen. Smudges on the screen can reduce contrast and increase problems with glare and reflections.
  • Choose screens that tilt and swivel.
  • Consider using a glare filter over your screen.

In addition to promoting cardiovascular health, stepping away from computer screens periodically will help prevent digital eye strain.

Glasses can be tinted and regular eye exams should be done to determine if you may need a prescription change, or if the amount of time you’re spending at your desk is leading to tired or dry eyes.

About the author:  John D. Bissell, OD is the owner of Bissell Eye Care and Tri-State Low Vision Services.    Bissell Eye Care offers comprehensive eye examinations for the entire family, ocular disease detection and treatment, eye glasses, sun glasses, active wear, contact lenses, and low vision examinations for those with significant vision loss. The practice accepts most types of vision and health insurance plans.

About the author:  John D.  Bissell, owner of Bissell Eye Care and Tri-State Low Vision Services, offers comprehensive eye examinations for the entire family, ocular disease detection and treatment, eye glasses, sun glasses, active wear, contact lenses, and low vision examinations for those with significant vision loss. He has undergone specialized training for treatment of low vision by the International Academy of Low Vision Specialists utilizing customized telescopic eyeglasses, prisms and telescopic implants for patients who qualify.  The practice accepts most types of vision and health insurance plans.