Are you a parent with a child gearing up for their first year of college? Or are you a student ready to embark on the excitement of university life?

As you navigate the transition between the carefree days of childhood and full-on adulting, it’s easy to overlook some essential details. That’s why now is the ideal time for you and your college-bound student to have a vital conversation with your optometrist.

Before you pack up the minivan with “Go State” pennants, clothes, furniture, sports gear, and every sort of technology — don’t forget those chargers! – talk with your soon-to-be college student about a key to their academic success: maintaining good eye health.

You’ve always been there to caution, cajole, and monitor your child to keep them safe and healthy. You’ve been the one who scheduled their annual eye exam and was quick to notice the signs of an eye infection. But now that they will be on their own, making decisions about their health, they need some basic tips about how to protect and care for their eyes.

College kids have been known to push the limits of a healthy lifestyle by overeating junk food, not getting enough sleep, or spending too much time looking at screens. Let’s address some of those potential challenges.

Here are 5 things to share with college students to help them maintain healthy eyes and keep their vision the very best that it can be.

1. Beware Digital Eye Strain

Technology is a threat to your student’s eye health. While the average American spends 6-8 hours a day looking at screens, college students spend 10 hours or more (yikes!) gazing into their laptops, cell phones, and monitors.

According to the National Eye Institute, nearsightedness is on the rise – 42% of Americans are now nearsighted, up from 25% in 1971 – and the increase correlates strongly with the rise in screen use.

Plain and simple: Too much time spent staring at screens can contribute to nearsightedness and cause Computer Vision Syndrome (CVS) due to the prolonged use of near focus and exposure to blue LED light. Help your student recognize the symptoms of CVS:

• Dry, gritty-feeling eyes
• Red, watery eyes
• Headaches
• Neck and shoulder pain due to poor posture
• Stinging or burning eyes

There are two main ways to help protect their eyes from digital eye strain: Proper computer workstation set-up and taking frequent breaks from staring at the screen.

• A. Set up computer workstations to promote visual ease.
• Use a desk or table and sit in a chair with back support (don’t hunch over your screen on the coffee table).
• Position yourself an arm’s length away from the monitor.
• Tilt the screen slightly upward and keep your feet on the floor to reduce strain on the neck and shoulders.
• Adjust screen brightness down and color to be more yellow than blue.
• Make the font size larger.
• Reduce screen glare by working in rooms with lots of natural light – try not to work in a darkened room at night.

• B. Take frequent breaks during extended periods of looking at a screen.
• Make the 20-20-20 rule a mantra: For every 20 minutes you look at a screen, look away for 20 seconds at something 20 feet away. And remember to blink!
• For every hour on the computer, take a 10-minute break. Stand up, stretch your legs, clear your mind, get a snack, or do some deep breathing exercises. Short breaks increase productivity, so it’s a win-win!

2. Wear prescription computer glasses. Spending hours each day at a computer screen can make your eyes feel exhausted and cause trouble focusing. Counteract that with prescription computer glasses made especially for focusing on that screen an arm’s length away. In addition, consider a blue-light protective coating on computer glasses, because some studies have found that long-term exposure to blue light can cause chronic eye damage. While the evidence isn’t definitive, wearing blue light glasses won’t cause any harm and could keep eyes from tiring out so quickly.
3. Study Outside. Encourage your student to take every opportunity to get outside in natural light. Being outside provides a multitude of positive benefits – lower levels of depression and anxiety, boosted immunity, and a greater degree of happiness. Plus, being outside is good for your eyes! As your student adjusts to their crazy college schedule, encourage them to find a quiet bench or sit on a blanket under a tree. Soak up some fresh air and natural light to make their work more enjoyable and give their eyes a break.
4. Wear Protective Eyewear. Protective goggles for chemistry, biology, and science labs are a must! The National Institutes of Health states that 45% of lab workers have had accidents in a lab, and you don’t want your student to be one of them! Wearing proper eye protection in the form of safety goggles, glasses, face shields, or side shields will help protect their eyes from dangerous fumes, chemical droplets, or potential projectiles such as shattering glass.

And sports are no different! Whether they play team or individual sports, wearing protective eyewear is simply part of the gear. According to Prevent Blindness, more than 32,000 sports-related eye injuries were treated in U.S. emergency rooms in 2022, and 90% could have been prevented with protective eyewear.

5. Schedule an Annual Eye Exam. Because prolonged and excessive use of technology can age the eyes prematurely and increase the risks of developing age-related eye disease later in life, younger patients need to be examined annually to monitor their eye health. When your young adult comes home for the holidays or summer break, schedule their annual comprehensive eye exam.

There are relatively few things you can control in your college kid’s life, so have a conversation about healthy eyes before they leave — and the next time they roll their eyes at you, you can be confident in the knowledge that those are healthy eyes!