Why Your Blink Rate Drops When Reading Screens and How to Fix It

Blinking spreads a fresh layer of tears across your eyes. When you concentrate on a screen, you blink much less often, and many blinks are incomplete. The surface of the eye dries out, which causes the burning, gritty, tired feeling many people get by mid-afternoon.

How much blinking drops

The American Academy of Ophthalmology says people normally blink about 15 times a minute, but only a half to a third as often while using screens.

Why it happens

• Concentration: focusing hard suppresses blinking, whether you're reading, gaming or driving.
• Screen height: looking straight ahead or up opens your eyes wider, so more of the eye's surface dries.
• Dry air: heating, air conditioning and fans speed up evaporation.
• Contact lenses make dryness worse for many people.

Simple fixes

1. Take regular breaks: every 20 minutes, look at something about 20 feet away for 20 seconds. See the 20-20-20 rule.
2. Do blink exercises: a few times an hour, close your eyes fully, pause, then squeeze gently. It helps restore complete blinks.
3. Lower the screen: the center about 15 to 20 degrees below eye level, so you look slightly down. See monitor distance and height.
4. Fix the air: move away from vents and fans, and use a humidifier in dry rooms.
5. Drink water through the day.
6. Use artificial tears if needed. Preservative-free drops are gentler if you use them several times a day.

Make the screen easier on your eyes

• Match screen brightness to the room; a screen much brighter than its surroundings is harder to look at.
• Increase text size so you don't squint, which also reduces blinking.
• Reduce glare from windows and lights. See reducing glare.

What blue light filters can and can't do

Blue light isn't what dries your eyes; reduced blinking is. A warm screen tint can feel more comfortable in the evening. Blue Light Filter adds an adjustable warm overlay to web pages on a schedule, but it won't replace breaks and blinking. See what eye doctors say about blue light.

When to see an eye doctor

See a professional if dryness lasts despite these changes, your vision blurs and doesn't clear when you blink, or your eyes are red or painful. Ongoing dry eye can have other causes, such as blocked oil glands in the eyelids, and treatments are available. See also computer vision syndrome.