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In a Tiny Buddha essay, Ayurvedic medical student Joey Dua recounts burning eyes after long days studying from screens and reflects on how sustained close focus affected his attention. He describes trying simple eye practices, while cautioning that he cannot say they are proven therapies.
Joey Dua, an Ayurvedic medical student, describes burning eyes during a period when he studied from screens for 12 or 13 hours a day, and says the discomfort made him notice how little he was looking beyond his desk. In a first-person essay published by Tiny Buddha, Dua reflects on trying brief eye practices and taking breaks; he cautions that he cannot say those practices are proven therapies.
Dua says the burning typically began around nine o’clock at night during his second year of Ayurvedic medical school. He was preparing for exams with lecture slides, PDF reference books and practice questions on a phone. Although he was studying Shalakya Tantra, the Ayurvedic branch he describes as dealing with the eyes and head, he says he was staying up late and continuing close screen work despite learning about factors associated with eye strain.
One winter evening, a power flicker prompted him to look up from his laptop. He recalls that the far wall remained blurry for a few seconds after the light returned, then came back into focus. He describes the episode as frightening, while saying it was not medically dramatic. What stayed with him was that he could not remember the last time he had looked at something far away, including the view from the window beside his desk.
He writes that the effects of his concentration reached beyond his eyes: he ate without paying much attention to the food, skimmed friends’ messages and sometimes kept scrolling while his mother spoke on the phone. He tried palming, distance gazing, rinsing his eyes with cool water and fully closing them several times an hour. Dua presents these as personal practices, not treatments whose effectiveness he has established.
Screen Study and Narrowed Attention
Dua’s account links a common study routine—long stretches of close screen work—with his own experience of discomfort and reduced awareness of what was happening around him. The essay’s central point is personal: he had mistaken hours of uninterrupted work for attention, while missing ordinary moments such as meals, conversations and the evening view outside.
That distinction matters to readers who rely on screens for study or work, but the essay does not establish how often this experience occurs or what causes eye symptoms in other people. Its contribution is a first-person description of how Dua responded to his discomfort. He says short pauses and looking toward the rooftops helped him notice tension in his body and slow his thoughts. Those are reported impressions, not measured health outcomes.
A Student’s Screen-Heavy Routine
Dua places the experience during exam preparation in his second year of medical school. His study materials had moved onto a laptop and phone, and he describes reading them for much of the day. He also notes that his coursework covered eye care within Ayurveda, which made the gap between what he was studying and his own habits apparent to him.
The essay names practices he says his professors had described: warming and cupping the hands over closed eyes, resting the gaze on a distant object, splashing the eyes with plain cool water in the morning, and fully closing the eyes during screen work. Dua says he tried these practices after the burning began. The source gives no study results, clinical assessment or independent evidence about their effects.
“I was not paying attention. I was narrowing it.”
— Joey Dua, in his Tiny Buddha essay
Limits of the Personal Account
The essay does not identify a medical diagnosis for Dua’s burning eyes or the brief difficulty focusing on the far wall. It provides no examination findings, symptom measurements or comparison with other students. The source also does not establish whether screen use caused his symptoms or whether the practices he tried changed them.
Dua explicitly says some of the practices have been studied little and that he cannot describe them as proven therapies. His account supports what he says he experienced and how he interpreted it; it does not answer whether the same routine or practices would have the same effect for another person.
Dua’s Ongoing Study Routine
Dua says he remains a student and continues to use screens. When his eyes begin to burn, he now pauses, closes them for a while or goes to the window to look toward a neem tree and the rooftops. He says he often watches the pink evening light, which he describes as lasting about ten minutes.
The essay does not announce a study, treatment plan or institutional change, and it gives no schedule for further reporting. Its next development is personal: Dua says he intends to treat eye discomfort as a cue to pause and notice where his attention has been.
Key Questions
Who wrote the essay?
Joey Dua, whom the source identifies as a BAMS student, wrote the first-person account for Tiny Buddha. The source also says he runs Darakhtveda, an Indian Ayurvedic brand.
What happened to Dua’s eyes?
He says his eyes began burning around nine at night during exam preparation and that he once had a few seconds of blurry distance vision after looking up from his laptop. He does not report a diagnosis.
Does the essay show that the practices treat eye strain?
No. Dua says he tried palming, distance gazing, cool water and fully closing his eyes, but cautions that he cannot say these are proven therapies. The essay reports his experience rather than clinical evidence.
What does Dua say he changed?
He says he now pauses when his eyes burn, closes them for a while or looks out at the neem tree and rooftops. He describes this as a change in how he responds to discomfort, not a cure.
Source: rss
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