Headaches and eye strain: possible causes and what to do
Headaches and tired eyes that follow sustained near work. Often a focusing or uncorrected prescription issue, and often improved by changing how the work is done rather than by surgery.
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Quick answer
Headaches and tired eyes that follow sustained near work. Often a focusing or uncorrected prescription issue, and often improved by changing how the work is done rather than by surgery.
General educational information about a subject, not an assessment of your own eyes. Suitability and treatment decisions are made by a qualified ophthalmologist who has examined you.
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Headaches and eye strain
Headaches and tired eyes that follow sustained near work. Often a focusing or uncorrected prescription issue, and often improved by changing how the work is done rather than by surgery.
Also known as headache, headaches, eye strain, eyestrain, tired eyes, aching eyes after screens
Questions about Headaches and eye strain
Each answer below is the short version; the question links to the page that carries it in full, with sources.
- Why do my eyes feel tired and strained?
Eye strain usually comes from sustained effort at a close task, often with an uncorrected or changed prescription, an unstable tear film, or prolonged focus without breaks. It is uncomfortable rather than damaging.
- Can computers cause eye strain?
Yes. Digital eye strain is a recognised pattern of symptoms including aching eyes, headache, dry or gritty eyes and blurred vision after prolonged screen work.
- How can I reduce digital eye strain?
The measures that help most are taking regular breaks that involve looking at something distant, positioning the screen slightly below eye level at roughly arm’s length, increasing the text size so you are not straining, and treating any underlying dryness.
- Why does my child complain of headaches after reading?
Headaches with close work in a child often occur with an uncorrected refractive error or with a focusing or alignment problem, since the eyes are working harder than they should.
- Can phones cause blurry vision?
Phone use can cause temporary blur, largely from dryness and from sustained near focus, and it does not cause permanent refractive error in adults on its own.
- Can long sightedness cause headaches or eye strain?
It can, because the eye is doing continuous work to compensate. The usual pattern is discomfort after sustained near tasks, such as reading or screen work, rather than a headache on waking. Blur is not always present, which is what makes this easy to attribute to something else.
- Can astigmatism cause headaches?
Uncorrected astigmatism can cause eye strain and headaches, particularly after sustained reading or screen work, because the eye works harder to find a clear image. The symptom is not specific to astigmatism, so an examination is what distinguishes it from an uncorrected prescription or dry eye.
All 47 Symptoms & warning signs questions, searchable
Related subjects
- Hyperopia (long sightedness)
The eye focuses light behind the retina. Younger eyes often compensate without noticing, which is why it tends to present later than short sightedness and is assessed more cautiously for surgery.
- Astigmatism
The cornea is curved unevenly, so light is focused differently across different axes and the blur is not the same in every direction. It commonly occurs alongside short or long sightedness.
- Presbyopia
The natural lens stiffens with age and can no longer change focus enough for close work. It is a change in the lens, not in the cornea, which is why corneal laser treatment alone does not remove it.
- Blurred vision
Vision that is soft or unclear. It has many causes, from an uncorrected prescription to a change inside the eye, and only an examination can say which one applies.
- LASIK
Flap-based laser vision correction: a thin surface layer of the cornea is lifted, the tissue beneath it is reshaped, and the layer is replaced without stitches.
This page describes what is generally true about headaches and eye strain. It is not a diagnosis, and it cannot say whether a treatment is suitable for you, because suitability depends on measurements taken during an examination.
Sources & further reading
We prefer primary sources. Where a claim comes from a manufacturer, a single study or a regulator, it is labelled as such below.
- EyeSmart: eye health information for the public Patient information American Academy of Ophthalmology
Patient-facing material from the largest ophthalmology professional body, covering conditions, tests and treatments outside refractive surgery.
Used for Cross-checking patient-facing explanations of non-refractive eye conditions; Describing what tests such as dilation and OCT involve.
Link checked 23 September 2026
- American Academy of Ophthalmology Professional body American Academy of Ophthalmology
A large professional body publishing both clinical guidance and plain-language patient education on refractive surgery.
Used for Cross-checking patient-facing explanations of refractive surgery.
Link checked 22 September 2026