If you're like me, you're sitting at your computer for hours and hours on an everyday basis. Doing so can cause some major damage to the eyes unless you take the necessary steps to make sure that you're getting some good break time and breaking the cycle.

You never get your eyes back. They're sort of like your teeth. Once they go bad, there's really no natural recovery. You can eat carrots all day long, but if you're staring directly at your monitor for hours each day it won't really matter. (I'm not an eye doctor, but hey, I'm almost certain I'm correct.) EyeLeo strives to make sure that we keep our eyes healthy.

On the more technical side, here's an excerpt directly from the EyeLeo website:

Eye strain or asthenopia is a real problem for those who sit at a computer. It is caused by decreased blinking while working long hours focusing on computer screens. EyeLeo reminds to take breaks regularly, shows you simple eye exercises and prevents you from using computer at break times. Following EyeLeo's regulations will result in less physical fatigue.

EyeLeo was designed by engineers who have been using different analogues for quite a while, but were not satisfied with them. We took into consideration their flaws and made a well thought out product.

EyeLeo supports the following features that ought to improve the health of your eyes:

  • You can set an interval for when to take a long break every 30, 40, 50, 60 and 90 minutes for 2, 3, 4, 5 and 7 minutes.
  • You can set an interval for when to take a short break, which comes with a 10-second eye exercise proven to improve the health of your eyes.
  • You are notified when a long break is coming so that you can come to a stopping point in your work.

Here is a screenshot of all configurable settings and options:

eye strain

There are several different short eye exercises that won't leave you bored. Different exercises offer a different effect to your vision. After a while, you'll probably even learn most of the exercises yourself and begin doing them more instinctively, maybe even without the help of EyeLeo.

computer eye strain
computer eye strain
eye strain information

Long breaks are unavoidable and actually dim your entire screen, preventing you from doing whatever it was you were doing and practically forcing you to relax your eyes for a bit. You can argue that this is a productivity killer, but your health is pretty important. Better a productivity killer than a person killer.

eye strain

Using EyeLeo along with another eye-helping solution, like f.lux, could really do wonders for your vision and the overall health of your eyes. According to some statistics I've pulled up, 66% of the United States of America wears either glasses or contacts. That's more than 100 million people. If you're one of the lucky ones, stay ahead of the curb and do everything you can to protect those precious beady eyes of yours from the dangers of long computer usage. I wish I'd have done it!

This application works on Windows XP, Windows Vista, and both Windows 7 and 8. It works on 32-bit and 64-bit systems.

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