What are gaming glasses?
Gaming glasses are said to look after your eyes and improve performance when playing video games. Spending too long staring at a screen when gaming can cause eye strain, dry eyes and headaches. Glasses for gaming are said to prevent and reduce these symptoms.
Staring at a screen when gaming, whether it’s a computer monitor or TV screen, can expose your eyes to blue light, which is said to cause digital eye strain. Gamers glasses are said to protect our eyes from blue light, similarly to how sunglasses protect our eyes from the sun and UV rays.
What is being said about gaming glasses
There are many claims about how gaming glasses benefit the wearer when playing video games. Most of these are to do with eye health, although they are also said to improve the gamer’s performance.
In terms of eye health, gaming glasses are said to limit your eyes’ exposure to blue light, to help reduce or prevent eye strain. To reduce exposure to blue light, gaming glasses are often coloured yellow or a blue tint. This is because are effective at blocking blue light.
Digital eye strain can also cause or aggravate other symptoms with our eyes and general health. These include blurred vision and headaches. Gaming glasses are also claimed to reduce these symptoms and even improve sleep.
As well as improving eye health, gaming glasses are also said to help improve the gamer’s performance and enhance the gaming experience. The lenses on gaming glasses are said to reduce glare from the TV or computer monitor. They can also enhance depth perception and the contrast of colours, allowing the wearer to see details more vividly and clearly. This is said to improve reactions, which is especially useful for fast-paced games.
Do gaming glasses work?
As there aren’t many studies on blue light, or the affects overexposure to blue light can have on your eyes, it’s unclear how much gaming glasses benefit your eye health when gaming.
The yellow & blue tint lenses in gaming glasses do counter and block blue light, reducing exposure to the eyes. Playing video games for too long can cause eye strain, however, this could be due to staring at a screen for too long, rather than blue light. When we look at screens, whether for gaming, reading or watching, we tend to blink less frequently than usual. This reduces our eyes’ moisture, causing dry eyes and irritation. Gaming glasses may block blue light; however, digital eye strain may be caused due to infrequent blinking, rather than exposure to blue light.
Gaming glasses can also reduce glare and improve depth perception, as well as the contrast of colours. This can help the wearer to see what is happening more clearly. Yet whether this enhances performance remains to be seen.
How to look after your eyes when gaming
There are some ways you can look after your eyes when playing video games.
As mentioned, when you spend too much time staring at screens, you tend to blink less often than you should. As blinking lubricates your eyes, this can cause them to become dry and irritated. Overexerting your eyes can also cause eye strain and headaches.
Following the 20-20-20 rule when playing video games can help look after your eyes. Every 20 minutes, you should take 20 seconds to look at something which is 20 feet away. This gives your eyes a break from staring a screen, which can help to prevent digital eye strain. This also gives you a chance to blink and lubricate your eyes.
It is also important to ensure the room is well lighted. Staring at a bright screen in the dark can make your eyes work too hard from adjusting to the bright screen from the dark room. Proper lighting can also reduce glare, helping to prevent eye strain.
Sitting too close, or far away, from the TV or computer screen can also cause eye strain. The bigger the screen, the further away you should sit. As a general rule, you should try to sit between 1.5-2.5 the diagonal length of the screen away. So, if the screen is 40”, you should aim to sit between 5-8 feet away.
If you do suffer from digital eye strain, lubricating eye drops can help to relive the symptoms. If your eye strain is due to not blinking frequently enough, eye drops can moisten your eyes, reducing irritation.
Gaming glasses can block blue light, however more research is needed to confirm if they prevent digital eye strain. Often, digital eye strain when gaming is due to the gamer not blinking enough, making their eyes become dry. Taking regular breaks gives your eyes a rest, helping to reduce eye strain. If you suffer from eye strain or are worried about your eyes, you can book an eye test with us, or talk to somebody in store.