What My Tired Eyes Taught Me About Paying Attention
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In a Tiny Buddha essay, Ayurvedic medical student Joey Dua recounts experiencing nightly eye burning while studying for 12 to 13 hours a day on screens. He says taking pauses to close his eyes and look into the distance changed how he thought about attention, while stressing 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 step away from screens and rethink what he called attention. In a personal essay published by Tiny Buddha, Dua describes studying on digital devices for 12 to 13 hours a day and adopting brief pauses, while making clear that he cannot say the practices he tried are proven treatments.

Dua writes that his eyes began burning at about 9 p.m. each night during his second year of Ayurvedic medical school. He had lecture slides and reference books on his laptop and practice questions on his phone, and says he spent much of the day reading from screens. At first, he rubbed his eyes, blinked, and returned to studying, treating the discomfort as something to work through.

One evening, after a power flicker, he looked up and found that the far wall appeared out of focus for a few seconds. He says his vision sharpened again quickly and describes the episode as not medically dramatic. What stayed with him was the realization that he could not remember when he had last looked at the view beyond his desk, including a neem tree and rooftops visible from his window.

Dua then tried practices he had encountered in his Ayurvedic studies: resting his closed eyes beneath his warmed palms, gazing at distant objects, splashing his eyes with cool water, and closing his eyes fully during the day. He describes the pauses as drawing his attention to tension in his jaw and shoulders and to shallow breathing. These are his personal observations, not evidence that the practices treat eye strain or improve vision.

At a glance
reportWhen: Personal essay; the source does not giv…
The developmentJoey Dua’s personal essay describes how recurring eye discomfort during screen-heavy study led him to change his routines and reconsider the difference between sustained screen focus and broader attention.

Screen Focus and Everyday Attention

Dua’s account is relevant to readers who spend long stretches working or studying on screens because it connects a common experience—tired, burning eyes—with the routines surrounding it. His essay describes how concentrating on one near object crowded out other parts of daily life: meals became less attentive, messages received hurried replies, and he says he continued scrolling while speaking with his mother.

That connection is presented as reflection, not a clinical finding. Dua argues that what he had understood as intense focus had become a narrow form of looking. His story offers readers a personal account of noticing that pattern and interrupting it, while avoiding a claim that brief eye practices will prevent or resolve eye problems.

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A Student’s Screen-Heavy Routine

The essay is grounded in Dua’s own training as an Ayurvedic medical student. He writes that he was studying Shalakya Tantra, a branch of Ayurveda dealing with the eyes and head, while spending many hours reading digital material. He reflects on the contrast between what he was learning about eye strain and the habits he maintained during exam preparation.

The source identifies Dua as a BAMS student who runs Darakhtveda, an Indian Ayurvedic brand whose first product is I-Care Eye Drops. That background provides context for his discussion of Ayurvedic practices, but it does not establish that the methods he describes have been clinically tested or that the product treats eye conditions. The essay is a first-person account rather than a medical study.

“I was not paying attention. I was narrowing it.”

— Joey Dua, in his Tiny Buddha essay

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What the Essay Cannot Establish

The account does not identify a medical diagnosis for Dua’s eye discomfort, provide clinical measurements, or establish what caused the brief difficulty focusing on the far wall. He says his vision sharpened again within seconds, but does not report a medical assessment of that episode.

It is also unclear whether the practices he describes changed his eye symptoms over time. Dua says his eyes still get tired and stresses that he cannot present the routines as proven therapies. The essay provides no study data on their effectiveness and does not establish that they prevent or treat eye conditions. Readers experiencing persistent or concerning symptoms cannot use this personal account as a substitute for professional care.

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Pauses Within a Screen-Filled Day

Dua says screens remain part of his studies and that his eyes still become tired. His stated change is to respond differently: when burning starts, he closes his eyes for a while or looks toward the neem tree and rooftops outside his window instead of automatically pushing on.

The essay does not announce a research project, a formal treatment plan, or a forthcoming medical finding. Its next step is a personal routine: taking breaks and noticing when attention has become fixed on a nearby screen. Any broader conclusions about the practices would require evidence beyond the account described here.

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Key Questions

What happened to Joey Dua’s eyes?

Dua says his eyes began burning around 9 p.m. during a period when he was studying on screens for 12 to 13 hours a day. He also recounts a few seconds of blurred focus after looking up from his laptop during a power flicker; he says his vision quickly sharpened.

What practices did Dua try?

He describes covering his closed eyes with warmed palms, looking at distant objects, splashing his eyes with cool water, and closing his eyes fully during the day. These are practices in his personal account, not treatments shown by the essay to be effective.

Does the essay show that these practices treat eye strain?

No. Dua says he cannot call them proven therapies and notes that some have been little studied. The essay reports his experience and does not provide clinical evidence that the practices treat eye strain or improve vision.

What does Dua mean by attention becoming narrow?

He describes concentrating on a screen while paying less attention to his surroundings and daily interactions. His point is a personal reflection on his habits, not a general scientific finding about how attention works.

What does Dua do when his eyes feel tired now?

He says he takes a pause, closes his eyes, or looks toward the view outside his window rather than automatically continuing to study. He also says his eyes still get tired and does not describe this change as a cure.

Source: rss

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