Eye Strain and Anxiety

Treatment

When other factors cause or aggravate this anxiety symptom, addressing the specific cause can reduce and eliminate anxiety eye strain.

When an active stress response causes this symptom, ending the active stress response will cause this acute anxiety symptom to subside.

Keep in mind that it can take up to 20 minutes or more for the body to recover from a major stress response. But this is normal and needn’t be a cause for concern.

When hyperstimulation (chronic stress) causes eye strain, eliminating hyperstimulation will end this anxiety symptom.

You can eliminate hyperstimulation by:

• Reducing stress.
• Containing anxious behavior (since anxiety creates stress).
• Regular deep relaxation.
• Avoiding stimulants.
• Regular light to moderate exercise.
• Eating a healthy diet of whole and natural foods.
• Passively accepting your symptoms until they subside.
• Being patient as your body recovers.

Visit our “60 Natural Ways To Reduce Stress” article for more ways to reduce stress.

Recovery Support members can view chapters 5, 6, 7, 14 and more for more detailed information about recovering from hyperstimulation and anxiety disorder.

As the body recovers from hyperstimulation, it stops sending symptoms, including this one.

Symptoms of chronic stress subside as the body regains its normal, non-hyperstimulated health.

However, eliminating hyperstimulation can take much longer than most people think, causing symptoms to linger longer than expected.

As long as the body is even slightly hyperstimulated, it can present symptoms of any type, number, intensity, duration, frequency, and at any time, including this one.

Since worrying and becoming upset about anxiety symptoms stress the body, these behaviors can interfere with recovery.

Passively accepting your symptoms – allowing them to persist without reacting to, resisting, worrying about, or fighting them – while doing your recovery work will cause their cessation in time.

Acceptance, practice, and patience are key to recovery.

Short-term strategies

Even though eliminating hyperstimulation will eliminate chronic anxiety symptoms, including eye strain, some people have found the following strategies helpful.

However, keep in mind that each person can have a unique symptom experience since each person is somewhat physically, chemically, psychologically, and emotionally unique. What might work for one person might not for another.

• Avoid long hours of electronic device usage – spending long hours using your electronic devices (TV, computer, cell phone, iPod, iPad/tablets, video games, computer games, etc.) is a common cause of eyestrain, especially because of the bright light electronic devices emit. Reducing your electronic device time can take the strain off of your eyes, which can help eliminate eye symptoms.
• Take frequent breaks from your computer - If your job requires you to look at a computer screen, take frequent rest breaks to rest your eyes. You can also take a few minutes and look at objects far off in the distance. This can help loosen strained eye muscles.
• Frequent mini deep relaxation breaks - You can also take frequent mini deep relaxation breaks to give your entire body a rest, including the eyes.
• Eye drops – Some people have found using eye drops can help alleviate this symptom. Talk with your eye specialist for more information.
• Wear sunglasses – If bright environments are contributing to this symptom, wearing sunglasses can help lessen the strain on the eyes.
• Regular good sleep – Getting good sleep each night not only reduces stress but can also help alleviate eye strain symptoms.

I (Jim Folk) had this symptom, too, when I was struggling with anxiety disorder. I also still get it from time to time when I let my stress get higher than I normally let it. It is a common symptom of stress, including anxiety-caused stress.

Therefore, it needn’t be a cause for concern. It will subside when your stress has been returned to a healthy level.

Therapy

Unidentified and unaddressed underlying factors cause issues with anxiety. As such, they are the primary reason why anxiety symptoms persist.

Addressing your underlying factors (Level Two recovery) is most important if you want lasting success.

Addressing Level Two recovery can help you:

• Contain anxious behavior.
• Become unafraid of anxiety symptoms and the strong feelings of anxiety.
• End anxiety symptoms.
• Successfully address the underlying factors that so often cause issues with anxiety.
• End what can feel like out-of-control worry.

All our recommended anxiety therapists have had anxiety disorder and overcame it. Their personal experience with anxiety disorder and their Master's Degree and above professional training give them insight other therapists don't have.

If you want to achieve lasting success over anxiety disorder, any one of our recommended therapists would be a good choice.

Working with an experienced anxiety disorder therapist is the most effective way to treat anxiety disorder, especially if you have persistent symptoms and difficulty containing anxious behavior, such as worry.[5][6][7]

In many cases, working with an experienced therapist is the only way to overcome stubborn anxiety.

Research has shown that therapy is the most effective treatment for anxiety disorder, and distance therapy (via phone or the Internet) is equally, if not more effective, than face-to-face in-person therapy.[8][9][10]