If you are a gamer, you probably spend most of your time staring at a screen (a bigger one in your case).
While you are only concerned about the screen time effects on your physical health, you must undermine the catastrophic effects it can have on your eye health.
There’s a condition called ‘computer vision syndrome’ that evolves from using screens for prolonged hours. This problem has become increasingly common among adults and children as we see an upsurge in digital media usage in our daily lives.
But, there are glasses that eye experts believe can reduce screen time effects on your eye health and improve your visual performance when you are gaming.
How to protect vision when gaming?
Digital screens are loaded with artificial blue light which is anything but good for your vision. When you put hours into playing your favourite video games, you are hurting your eyes with loads of blue light.
Thus, your eyes start to show effects such as eye pain and blurry vision after a long gaming session. But, you can avoid these discomforts by using gaming glasses. These glasses are specifically meant to optimise your vision and protect your eyes from screen time harm.
What are gaming glasses?
As many gamers play online games for hours in a dark room, they are more likely to experience visual discomforts that might get in the way of their performance.
Blue light reduces contrast levels and makes it difficult for your eyes to focus on the screen. Thus, when you are playing action video games, your eyes struggle to focus on the moving objects which defer your reaction times.
The low contrast between the darkroom and bright screen makes it even harder for your eyes to pay attention to small details. It affects your gaming performance.
Gamer or not, whenever people spend time on digital devices, they need eye protection to guard their eyes against blue light. Continuous exposure to blue waves can cause temporary vision problems or computer vision syndrome.
How do gaming glasses work?
Gaming glasses have the following functionalities that aid your vision when you are playing online or offline video games.
Anti-reflective coating
Light reflections on your screen can hamper your field of vision. Thus, gaming glasses have an anti-reflective coating. This makes focusing easier and offers a better colour contrast. It improves your reaction time to give you an upper hand over your competitor.
If you are sensitive to bright lights, having an anti-reflective filter on your glasses is a smart choice. Even when you don’t need an eye prescription, you can get fake glasses and add this filter to the lenses.
Magnification
Gaming glasses are not all about blocking the blue light. They also offer a slight magnification to give you an enhanced view of the screen. The objects will seem bigger and thus clearer to your eyes.
This small magnification can reduce the likelihood of eye pain or strain from squinting to see the little details on the screen.
Blue light protection
Whether computer glasses, blue light glasses or gaming glasses, all of them have one thing in common – blue light protection.
Prolonged exposure to blue light is linked with low melatonin levels in the body and poor sleep quality. Gaming glasses have active blue light filters on the lenses that keep your melatonin levels in check and ensure better sleep quality.
Wearing these glasses, especially when engaging in screen time in the evening or night will improve your circadian rhythm and lead to better and sufficient sleep.
Do gaming glasses work?
With so many gaming glasses out there, you may doubt if these glasses even work or if they are just another hype created by the eyewear companies.
To tell you the truth, these glasses do work but only when you choose wisely. There are so many cheaper options available in the market, but they may not offer you the best visual performance.
However, when you buy online, you can find high-quality gaming glasses marketed by reputable brands at affordable prices. Don’t forget to get a free home trial on glasses to determine the quality of the lenses and how useful they are for you.
Apart from using these glasses, you can take additional precautions to avoid digital eye strain. For instance:
- Take breaks from your device. Take the focus away for 20 seconds every 20 minutes and look away at something 20 feet away.
- Drink water to stay hydrated and avoid the chance of developing dry eyes.
- Use eye drops or artificial tears after consulting with your doctor.
- Blink more to avoid dry eyes.
- Adjust the blue light setting on your computer or laptop.
Gaming glasses can reduce eye strain and improve your visual performance only when the quality is good. If you don’t want to lose matches to bad eye health, incorporate these glasses in your gaming arsenal.