Our eyes undergo tremendous stress. Whether it's reading, watching television or doing a variety of household and office chores and tasks, the result is endless use of our "near" vision.

  Human eyes were not designed for that much close-up work. When we focus our eyes for a long time at close range, eye muscles contract and eventually tire. The result: eyestrain.

  Here are some tips to help prevent eyestrain and possibly protect your vision:

• Eliminate glare. Uneven light from outside brightness or overhead lights forces your pupils to readjust constantly. 
• Have enough light. Don't read or do other close work under a single lamp in a dark room. Generally, the light illuminating your work should be three times brighter than the rest of the room.
• Take breaks. Give your eyes a rest by taking short breaks every two hours or so, especially when working at a computer monitor. Try to alternate time spent at the monitor with other work.
• View from the proper distance. When reading, writing or doing close-up work, keep the eye-to-task distance at about 13-16 inches. When watching television, view from a distance seven times the width of the screen (usually 8-10 feet).
• Change your "point of view." To relax lens muscles, look up often from your work and gaze into the distance. If you work at a computer monitor, try to position it so you don't face the wall. Take part in lots of outdoor activities that call for seeing at distances. This could be as simple as tossing a football. The important thing is that you change your focus to 20 feet or farther.
• Do simple relaxation exercises. Massage your temples with a circular motion. Try moving your eyes left to right or raising your eyebrows.