Vision deteriorates? Light Hygiene for Dry Eye Syndrome

In this article you will find the answer to the question: why or because of what vision deteriorates. Articles written by other authors will be about how to deal with it, and not why it happens. Naturally, we are not talking about the banal acquisition of myopia from long work at close range or genetic disposition.

To clearly indicate the phenomenon that we all encountered, let’s define what is the main fundamental difference between a screen and a sheet of paper with a similar size and image. A sheet of paper reflects light from an external light source. The screen emits light that mimics the reflection of light from a sheet of paper through its own source in the form of LEDs*. This light is characterized by a spectrum between 420 and 720 nm – i.e. only the visible area corresponding to the emitting LEDs and the spectral sensitivity range of the human eye. Now let’s pay attention to the approximate date of the onset of the problem of “dry eye syndrome”. It will be approximately 2015-2018. We used to look at monitors a lot before, but there was no such acute problem. She was, but not at all on such a scale. Why exactly since 2018 has the problem of increased eye strain turned into an epidemic of myopia? At this time, there was a massive transition from fluorescent and incandescent lamps to energy efficient LEDs. How do they differ from the light sources used earlier? Energy efficiency, i.e. the absence of radiation into the invisible region of the infrared and ultraviolet spectrum, and therefore, the loss of precious electricity for radiation to “nowhere”. All other light sources, whether kerosene, fluorescent or incandescent, emit ultraviolet and infrared. Everything is more or less clear with screens and lighting, but what about the eyes? Why did dry eye syndrome suddenly appear and what is it? Considering the frequent misunderstanding of this name, we will give a reference:

Symptoms that are combined by the term “dry eye syndrome” are a feeling of discomfort, such as: dryness, burning, feeling of sand in the eyes, redness, watery eyes, desire to rub the eyes, sensation of a foreign body, clouding, pressure in the eyes, etc. which may increase over the course of the day. That is, there is no dry eye, this is the general name for the sensations of patients.

There are about 8 million cones in the human eye that perceive a color image with sufficient illumination and about 120 ml. sticks that are connected to the work of the eye in low or low light conditions. Accordingly, the mode of sufficient illumination is called photopic, transitional – mesopic and scotopic – night vision for low light. The last two modes involve sticks, which reduces the color perception of the image (the image becomes dimmer or gray). At the same time, 120 million rods begin to actively consume the light-receptive protein – rhodopsin, since they have a light sensitivity about 100 times higher than cones. We will return to rhodopsin a little later.

According to our observations, the transition to the mesopic regime under LED illumination begins much earlier than under any other illumination, other conditions being equal (illuminance, type of surfaces under consideration, etc.). This is because the eyes have a sensitivity to the invisible spectrum, which is probably determined by the eyes as daylight, including factors typical of daylight – there is ultraviolet, there is infrared – that means it’s day. Here we note that it is officially considered that the main and only factor is a certain level of illumination. As soon as the eye has passed from the daytime photopic to the mesopic regime, a large number of highly sensitive rods are involved, which, in our opinion, were previously blocked by invisible radiation in the ultraviolet range. Which is what usually happens when you sit at a monitor, especially under LED lighting conditions. We won’t talk about how the process of blocking them happens now, because. This is material for a separate article. For those who do not believe in the existence of this phenomenon, we recommend referring to the material.

The highly sensitive rods of the human eye have been previously reported to be powered by rhodopsin. This protein “knows how” to use the energy of radiation invisible to the eye to change its shape. Official medicine believes that rhodopsin works once, after which it must be replaced with a new one, and the old one must be thrown away. But this is only the official version. The fact proved at the level of biochemistry suggests the opposite. Rhodopsin returns to its original state under the influence of ultraviolet radiation. This is well shown in the work of German biochemists, which was made back in 2004, we cited the link in the last article, but it turned out to be of no particular use to anyone. Their work is not something exceptional, perhaps, you can find a dozen more works of a similar nature, dating back to about 1995. An additional necessary measure is probably the presence of an infrared component, which is also much known thanks to the use of IR therapy for the restoration of eyes, including from dry eye syndrome.

In fact, with light perception only in the spectrum of LED lamps or screen matrices, the triggered rhodopsin cannot be restored to its original form due to the energy of the light source, since the restoration occurs due to radiation energy outside the visible range. Thus, the body has to synthesize new rhodopsin from retinol (vitamin A), simultaneously poisoning your eyes with its decay products (retinal). In the presence of the ultraviolet and infrared components, the eyes begin to work in their usual spectral-energy range.

By supplementing the spectral composition of the screen radiation with the sun or an incandescent lamp, you compensate for the missing part of the radiation and get rid of the main problem – dry eye syndrome, which probably occurs due to retinal poisoning from the work of twilight vision sticks. The stress of looking at a fixed focal length stays with you regardless of the quality of the light source, but the work of the eyes is greatly facilitated, especially if you throw short glances at distant, well-lit objects at least once every few minutes.
It is important that well-lit in our understanding is an object illuminated by a full-fledged light source, such as an incandescent lamp or a metal halo lamp, as well as natural daylight. LED light is not suitable for this. Illumination in the area of ​​​​objects that you use to relax the muscles of the lens is desirable to have more than 500 lux, especially considering that a person’s daytime vision is adapted to daylight lighting on average from 3,000 to 100,000 lux. Of course, this is a crutch and it would be better to have good lighting throughout the room, about 1000-500 lux, and especially the ceiling of the room in which you work behind the screen.

Here are some steps you can take to make your life easier. We have already recommended these measures in articles published earlier, they will reduce eye strain, reduce the risk of myopia and other eye diseases, and most importantly, eliminate the main obsessive problem – “dry eye syndrome”:
• Use an incandescent lamp near a monitor or screen. The more powerful, the better. There should be more light from the lamp than from the screen.
• Work behind the screen in daylightit has a lot of ultraviolet and infrared.
• Replace part of the LED lamps at home at least for fluorescent, but better for incandescent lamps, especially if you live in the north.
• Try to be more in the sun, from it the eyes are restored (it is not necessary to look directly at the Sun). Avoid sunglasses if you live in St. Petersburg and not in Dubai.
All of the above methods will increase your electricity bill. The only way to stay “on your own” is to use metal halide lamps to light your home. They are economical and some of them almost replace the Sun spectrally. You can read more about these lamps in the article.

Material prepared @UVA365And @atrost