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In a Tiny Buddha essay, Ayurvedic medical student Joey Dua describes experiencing burning eyes after long days studying on screens and realizing he had stopped looking beyond his desk. He says taking brief pauses, closing his eyes and gazing into the distance changed how he approached attention, while cautioning that he cannot claim the practices are proven therapies.
Ayurvedic medical student Joey Dua says recurring eye burning during long study sessions prompted him to reconsider what he called focus: hours of looking at nearby screens while overlooking the world around him. In a personal essay published by Tiny Buddha, Dua describes trying brief pauses and distance gazing, while stressing that he cannot establish those practices as proven treatments.
Dua writes that during his second year of Ayurvedic medical school he spent 12 or 13 hours a day reading lecture slides, reference texts and practice questions on screens. His eyes began burning around nine each night. He initially rubbed them, blinked and returned to studying, even as his coursework covered eye health and factors including close focus and insufficient rest.
One evening, after a brief power flicker, he looked up and found that the far wall remained blurry for a few seconds before his focus returned. He says the episode was not medically dramatic, but it made him realize he could not remember the last time he had looked at something far away. A window beside his desk looked out toward a neem tree, a water tank and rooftops, but he had barely noticed the view.
Dua says he tried several practices described by his professors: warming and cupping his hands over closed eyes, gazing at distant objects, splashing his eyes with cool water and closing his eyes fully during the day. He reports that pauses helped him notice tension and shallow breathing, and that looking toward the rooftops seemed to loosen his thinking. Those are personal observations; he explicitly says he cannot tell readers the practices are proven therapies.
How Screen Habits Narrowed His Attention
Dua’s account links an ordinary complaint—tired eyes after prolonged near work—to a broader change in daily attention. He says the screen-heavy routine also affected meals, messages from friends and calls with his mother: he would eat without tasting much, skim messages and keep scrolling while listening. These details show how, in his experience, sustained screen focus extended beyond study.
The essay offers a first-person account rather than research evidence or a clinical finding. Its significance lies in the question Dua raises for readers who spend long stretches at screens: whether concentration has become so fixed on one task that rest, surroundings and conversations receive less attention. His experience does not establish that eye breaks will have the same effect for others.
A Student Studying Eye Health
Dua says he was studying Shalakya Tantra, the branch of Ayurveda concerned with the eyes and head, while relying on a laptop, PDFs and a phone for his own education. He describes recognizing in his coursework several habits he associated with eye strain, including prolonged close focus, limited rest and staying up late, but not changing his own routine at first.
The essay describes a personal shift, not a clinical trial, diagnosis or measured change in eyesight. Dua identifies himself as a BAMS student and says he runs Darakhtveda, an Indian Ayurvedic brand whose first product is I-Care Eye Drops. The source provides no independent assessment of the product or evidence connecting it to the experiences he recounts.
“I was not paying attention. I was narrowing it.”
— Joey Dua, in his Tiny Buddha essay
What His Account Cannot Establish
The essay does not give a publication date, medical examination results or a formal diagnosis for Dua’s eye discomfort. It also does not report research testing whether palming, distance gazing, cool-water splashing or deliberate blinking improve eye symptoms or attention. The brief difficulty focusing on the far wall resolved within seconds, according to Dua; the source does not establish its cause.
His account cannot show whether the practices would help other people, or whether any change he noticed came from the practices, taking breaks or other factors. Readers with persistent or concerning eye symptoms would need advice from a qualified health professional rather than relying on this personal narrative.
Dua’s Ongoing Screen Routine
Dua says he remains a student and continues to use screens. He writes that when his eyes begin burning, he now pauses or goes to the window to look toward the neem tree and rooftops. The essay gives no schedule for future reporting, follow-up findings or further evaluation of the practices.
For now, the reported outcome is a change in how Dua responds to discomfort: he says he no longer automatically pushes through it. Whether that approach changes his eye symptoms over time, or has effects beyond his own experience, remains unreported.
Key Questions
What happened to Joey Dua’s eyes?
Dua says his eyes began burning around nine each night while he was studying on screens for 12 or 13 hours a day. The essay does not provide a diagnosis.
What did he change in response?
He says he began taking pauses, closing his eyes, gazing at distant objects and sometimes going to a window. He describes these as practices he tried, not established treatments.
Does the essay show that the practices treat eye strain?
No. Dua explicitly says he cannot claim the practices are proven therapies. The essay reports his personal experience and does not present clinical evidence.
What remains unknown about the brief blurry vision?
Dua says his focus on a far wall stayed soft for a few seconds after a power flicker, then sharpened. The source does not identify a cause or report a medical assessment.
Source: rss
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