TL;DR
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In a Tiny Buddha essay, Ayurvedic medical student Joey Dua recounts developing burning eyes while studying on screens for 12 to 13 hours a day. He says brief pauses and looking at distant objects changed how he approached attention, while cautioning that he cannot claim the practices are proven therapies.
Ayurvedic medical student Joey Dua says recurring burning eyes during long study sessions led him to take breaks from screens and reconsider what he calls attention. In a personal essay published by Tiny Buddha, Dua describes studying on digital devices for 12 to 13 hours a day and says the experience made him notice how often he was overlooking his surroundings and other parts of daily life.
Dua writes that the burning began around nine o’clock each night during his second year of Ayurvedic medical school, as exams approached. Lecture slides, reference texts and practice questions were all on screens. He initially rubbed his eyes, blinked and returned to studying, treating the discomfort as something to tolerate while he worked.
He connects the routine to material he was studying in Shalakya Tantra, an Ayurvedic field concerning the eyes and head. As he recounts it, his coursework described close focus, insufficient rest, dryness and staying awake late as factors that aggravate the eyes. Dua says he recognized only gradually that his own study habits resembled several of those conditions.
One winter evening, after a power flicker drew his gaze away from his laptop, he briefly struggled to focus on the far wall. He says his vision sharpened again within seconds and describes the episode as not medically dramatic. What stayed with him was the realization that he could not remember the last time he had looked at the view outside his window. He began taking short pauses, looking at distant rooftops, closing his eyes fully and trying other practices taught by his professors.
How Screen Habits Reshaped His Focus
Dua’s account describes a personal response to a familiar study pattern: sustained near work on screens, with few breaks. Its significance is the connection he draws between physical discomfort and narrowed attention. He says the strain became a prompt to notice other habits, including eating without much awareness, skimming friends’ messages and scrolling while his mother spoke on the phone.
He does not present the practices he tried as established medical treatment. Instead, he writes that brief pauses and distance gazing helped him become more aware of tension, shallow breathing and the pace of his day. The essay offers readers an account of how one student interpreted his own experience; it does not establish that the same routine will have the same effects for others.
From Exam Screens to the Window
The essay begins during a demanding stretch of medical school. Dua says he spent much of the day reading on a laptop or phone, while preparing for exams in a subject that included instruction about eye care. He recalls knowing the relevant teachings in class but failing to apply them to his own routine.
After the brief focusing difficulty, he noticed a neem tree, a water tank and rooftops beyond his desk. He says the sunset’s pink light lasted about ten minutes each evening, yet he had not looked at the view for weeks. He describes this as part of a broader pattern of giving his attention to screens in small increments.
Dua tried palming, distance gazing, splashing his eyes with cool water in the morning and fully closing his eyes several times an hour. These are practices he says he learned from professors. He explicitly cautions that he cannot say they are proven therapies and that some have been studied very little.
“I was not paying attention. I was narrowing it.”
— Joey Dua, in his Tiny Buddha essay
What the Essay Cannot Establish
The essay does not provide a clinical assessment of Dua’s eye symptoms, identify a diagnosis or report an independent evaluation of the practices he tried. It also gives no study results showing that palming, distance gazing, cool water or scheduled eye closure treat eye strain. Dua says some practices have received little study and does not claim that his experience proves they work as therapies.
The account does not specify when it was published, how long the symptoms continued, or whether he sought professional care. His brief difficulty focusing on a distant wall is described as resolving within seconds; the essay does not establish its cause.
A Pause When the Burning Starts
Dua says his studies and screen use continue, and that his eyes still get tired. His reported change is to stop pushing through the burning: he closes his eyes for a while or goes to look at the neem tree. The essay does not announce a research project, treatment plan or other formal next step. It closes with his description of being at the window for the evening light more often.
Key Questions
Who wrote the essay?
Joey Dua, an Ayurvedic medical student, wrote the personal essay published by Tiny Buddha. The source describes him as a BAMS student who runs Darakhtveda, an Indian Ayurvedic brand.
What prompted Dua to change his routine?
He says his eyes began burning during long sessions of screen-based study. A brief episode when he could not immediately focus on a distant wall also made him notice how long he had been looking only at nearby screens.
Does the essay say these practices are proven treatments?
No. Dua says he cannot claim that the practices are proven therapies and notes that some have been studied very little. He reports his own experience rather than presenting evidence of medical effectiveness.
What practices did he try?
He describes palming, looking at distant objects, splashing his eyes with cool water in the morning and fully closing his eyes during the day. He says these were practices his professors had described.
Source: rss
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