Gaming & Eye Health: How To Perform & Protect Your Eyes

Team Gullit revolves around gaming. It's at our core. To achieve our goals, we need to play FIFA a lot. Every day we practice, and at the weekends, we play FUT Champions or compete in international qualifiers. Long days, all spent behind a screen. Ever since partnering with Seiko Vision in 2021, we have been aware of the risks of gaming on eye health. Our talents have an eye test every year to ensure that their eyes are doing fine. During our yearly eye test, Giovanni and Timo first concluded that they needed glasses. They now wear them every single time they play FIFA.

In this article, we will go in-depth on how you can make sure that you limit the risk of your eyes being damaged.

What are the effects of spending hours behind a screen?

If you spend most of your days behind a laptop, monitor or phone, you have most likely noticed the influence it has on your eyes. Multiple hours of gaming lead to tired eyes because your eyes have to focus and refocus continuously. This often results in headaches, irritability and concentration problems. If it's more extreme, you may also experience pain in or around the eyes.

Another potential consequence is nearsightedness. Nearsightedness is partly hereditary, but it is also related to a lifestyle. Spending a lot of time indoors, reading and sitting behind screens increases the risk.

What is a healthy way to enjoy gaming?

A Dutch professor mentions that the best way to keep your eyes healthy while gaming is to use the 20:20:2 method. After gaming for 20 minutes, take a short break and look into the distance, away from the nearby screen. Afterwards, see natural daylight for two hours. This way, the eye can relax for a while, and the alternation of looking close and far ensures that the eye does not grow excessively. Obviously, it's hard for us to fully live by the rule, but we make sure that we use the 20:20 part of the rule. Besides, we encourage our talents to see daylight for at least two hours a day.

If you are really serious about keeping your eyes in good shape, you should consider buying glasses that limit the blue light exposure to the eye by reflection. Eye strain reduces, and the contrast is increased due to the reduction of blue light. Due to the reflection of the blue light spectrum, the lens colour is also pleasant.

Seiko Vision's tips for maintaining good vision

If you want tips to maintain your eye health, we have asked our partner Seiko Vision to give you a list of the most important ones. Make sure to practice as many of them as possible to benefit the most.

• Mute the light from your screen. It shouldn't be brighter or darker than your surroundings.

• Place your screen an arm's length away.

• Limit your screen time to 4 hours a day.

• Wear blue filter glasses when using a screen.

• Schedule an annual eye test.

• Eat healthily and drink enough water.

• Use the 20:20 method and other eye exercises.

• Use artificial tears when your eyes feel dry.

• Lower the colour temperature of your screen. That means it will give off less blue light.

• Use high-resolution screens. The higher, the better.

When should you test your eyes?

Our partner Seiko Vision strongly advises everyone to have regular eye tests. These tests help you keep your eye health in check and ensure the problems you encounter aren't worse than normal eye strain. It also gives you the chance to speak to an expert about the state of your eyes.

Periodic eye checks are nothing more than taking good care of yourself, just like that visit to the dentist or hairdresser.

How often should you have an eye test?

Experts advise that the average adult should have their eyes measured every two years and more frequently if they have an eye problem. Children should have annual tests. Even if you wear glasses or contact lenses, you should go at least once every two years. Your vision can deteriorate further, so it's essential to have a regular check.

What does Team Gullit do to perform well and protect eye health?

As we mentioned before, players must perform well - even after a long day. Multiple hours of gaming may lead to tired eyes, but that's something we have to deal with. We practice the 20:20 method, drink a lot of water, and make sure that the talents wear glasses or contact lenses if their eyes require that. Seiko Vision assists us with that.

Besides all of that, we have a partnership with BenQ. Their monitors use Eye-Care technology. BenQ's tech reduces eye strain, headaches, and fatigue while improving viewer comfort. The technology features Brightness Intelligence Plus, which adjusts display brightness and colour temperature for the most comfortable viewing experience. The monitors also have low blue light technology filters and feature Flicker-free technology, eliminating flicker.