It’s fun to play with your phone while lying down. I loved it before I became blind.

Science and technology are the languages ​​we use to communicate with the world.

Lying down and playing with mobile phones before going to bed has become an important part of the daily routine for young people. After all, from getting up to getting off work, we are busy with work. If we don’t lie down and play with mobile phones at night, won’t the whole day be given to the boss?

Image: pixabay

A media survey found that more than 80% of respondents have the habit of playing with their mobile phones before going to bed; even if they feel sleepy, more than 80% of people will "toughly" continue to play with their mobile phones [1].

Your spirit can bear it, but your eyes can't! If your spirit is exhausted, you can recover, but if your eyes are damaged, it's not so easy to recover!

Lying down and playing with mobile phone is a sin: lying down, lying down

When playing with mobile phone while lying down, the first thing to criticize is “lying down”!

When we are in bed at night, we usually curl up with our phones in front of us. Have you ever thought about how close our eyes are to the screen? If you were a kid watching TV, your parents would just pick up a bench and throw it at you!

When we sit upright and play with our phones during the day, our eyes are about 30 to 40 centimeters away from the phone; while when we lie down in bed (especially those with myopia who take off their glasses), whether we lie flat, prone or sideways, our eyes are probably only 20 centimeters away from the screen or even less. The closer the distance, the more adjustment the eyes need to make, and the greater the pressure on the eyes, which makes the eyes more easily tired.

Lying down to play with the phone, the eyes are very close to the screen, and the shoulders and back are prone to soreness丨pixabay

This tiredness is not the tiredness you get after running 800 meters, and it cannot be cured by taking a short rest. This is video terminal syndrome. What you feel is that your eyes are tired, but what you can hardly feel is that many eye dysfunctions (eyes focus slower, and it is easy to be dizzy when looking at close objects) are also accumulating.

Side lying should be particularly criticized here.

When lying on your side, the distance between your eyes and the screen is different, and it is very likely that one eye will be pressed on the pillow and cannot be opened, so you can only use one eye to see the screen. At this time, your eyes will be more tired and the vision of one eye will decrease.

But do you care about eye fatigue? You only care about whether your phone is fun.

Two deadly sins of lying down and playing with your phone: Turn off the lights

The size of our pupils is related to the light intensity: they shrink when the light is strong and expand when the light is weak.

When you lie down and play with your phone in the dark, it is pitch black around you, so your pupils choose to dilate to let in more light; but when the phone screen is bright, your pupils choose to shrink to reduce the amount of light entering your eyes. Will your pupils shrink a little while dilating? No, they can only keep adjusting their size, which is very tiring.

But do you care about eye fatigue? You only care about whether your phone is fun.

Image: pixabay

In addition, playing with your phone in a dim environment can also cause very subtle changes in the function of the eye, which may affect the balance of fluid in and out of the eyeball and even cause increased intraocular pressure. If you are born with hyperopia, or have an abnormal eye structure, or have a family history of glaucoma, it may induce acute glaucoma, which is a disease that can cause blindness!

Looking at the screen in the dark is very bad for your eyes! 丨pixabay

Don’t you want to take a look at this beautiful world?!

The three deadly sins of lying down and playing with mobile phones: too long

Why didn't your parents allow you to watch TV all afternoon when you were a kid? It will dry out your eyes! It will hurt your eyes!

Every time we blink, tears are evenly spread on the cornea to keep it moist and functioning properly. But this tear film can only last for a while and will soon break. Therefore, we have to blink 10 to 20 times a minute to keep the eye surface from drying out.

When we are so attracted by the content on our mobile phones that we cannot take our eyes off them, we blink less often (if you don’t believe me, count the number of times others blink when they are playing with their mobile phones). The ocular surface lacks tear film protection, which may cause stinging and dryness. Over time, it can lead to abnormal tear secretion, reduce the stability of the tear film, cause dry eyes, and aggravate eye fatigue.

But you... never mind.

Cry! Crying will make your eyes less dry! 丨pixabay

Eye-friendly tips for lying down and playing with your phone

You start to care about whether your eyes are tired, but you can't give up the joy of playing with your phone before going to bed. I have some suggestions for everyone, so that you can play with your phone while lying down in a relatively healthy way.

Turn on the desk lamp!

Playing with your phone while turning off the lights is harmful to your eyes, while turning on the ceiling light is too bright and affects your sleep. So the compromise is to turn on the small lamp next to your bed and don't let your phone light up alone in the dark.

In addition, please be sure to adjust the brightness of your phone screen to a lower level, or set the screen brightness to the built-in night mode.

Sit up and play!

Since lying down to play with the phone is too close, then we can sit up and play! Maintain a similar sitting posture and phone holding posture as during the day, and try to avoid being too close.

If you use your phone just to watch videos, I recommend that you use a bedside phone stand and move the stand farther away.

Or you can use a device with a larger screen, such as a tablet, which is more suitable for viewing from a distance.

If you must play while lying down, then... hold the phone higher and farther away. This can protect your eyes, exercise your body, and also develop your face's ability to withstand being smashed.

Blink! Blink!

In order to avoid dry eyes, the first thing you need to remind yourself is to blink more, blink more, and blink more!

If you still have dry eyes, you can pay attention to the indoor humidity. Is it too dry? If so, use a humidifier!

If you still have dry eyes despite blinking and using a humidifier, please take some time to see an ophthalmologist. I'm serious.

Demining glaucoma!

Ask your family members if they have a history of glaucoma, and check whether your previous medical examination reports say that your intraocular pressure is high. If the answer is yes, please check your intraocular pressure and fundus promptly and regularly.

2020 Rules!

Remember the 2020 rule: every 20 minutes of screen time, take a 20-second break. This is an eye protection rule for daytime reading, and it also applies to nighttime reading.

I don't need to tell you that the best way is to not play with your phone while lying down (although I can't do it either), but you must have the concept of loving and protecting your eyes. At worst, you can sit and play until you vomit before going to bed.

References

[1] “84.1% of young people interviewed will continue to check their phones even when they feel sleepy”, China Youth Daily, March 24, 2022, p. 10

END

Author: Jin Xin

Editor: Li Xiaokui

This article comes from Guokr and may not be reproduced without permission.

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