Eye twitching: why your eyelid jumps on long screen days

An eyelid that twitches on a long screen day is almost always a harmless flicker of the muscle in the lid, usually the lower one, that comes and goes for a few days. The common triggers are tiredness, caffeine, stress and tired or dry eyes, and the twitch tends to settle by itself once you sleep more, drink less coffee and give your eyes regular breaks from the screen.

A busy week at the Mac happens to line up most of those triggers at once. Below: why that is, what tends to help, how long a twitch usually lasts, and the signs that mean it is worth showing a doctor rather than waiting it out.

What an eyelid twitch actually is

The twitch most people get is a fine, repeated flicker in one eyelid. From the inside it feels dramatic, as if the lid is jumping. In a mirror it is often barely visible, and the person across the table usually can't see it at all. It comes in bursts, stops for a while, then starts again.

The muscle involved is the ring of muscle around the eye that closes the lid. In this everyday kind of twitch, a small part of it fires on its own. It doesn't close the eye, it doesn't change your vision, and by itself it is not a sign of anything serious. Doctors call it eyelid myokymia, and it is very common.

Why does my eye twitch on long screen days?

Nobody knows exactly why the muscle starts to fire. What is well known is the list of things that tend to set it off, and a long day at a screen happens to bring most of them together.

• Tiredness. Short or broken sleep is the trigger people mention most. A late night followed by an early start is the classic setup.
• Caffeine. On a busy day the second coffee quietly becomes the fourth, and many people notice the twitch when they drink more than usual.
• Stress. Deadlines, a tense meeting, a long run of difficult email. The twitch often turns up in the most stressful week of the month.
• Eye strain. Hours of focusing up close tire the eyes, and an out-of-date glasses prescription, or none where you need one, adds to it.
• Dry eyes. Concentrating on a screen slows your blinking, and the front of the eye gets drier between blinks. Air conditioning and heating add to it.
• Alcohol. Some people notice a twitch the day after drinking.

You don't need all of them at once. But a week of late nights, extra coffee and long sessions at the Mac comes close to a recipe, which is why so many people notice the twitch exactly when work is busiest.

What tends to help

There is no switch that stops a twitch on the spot. What helps is easing the triggers behind it, and the twitch usually fades as they do. Start with the ones that match your week.

Sleep first

If your sleep has been short, this is the change most likely to help. A few nights of going to bed on time often does more than anything else on this list. Pick a time to stop working in the evening and close the laptop then, rather than leaving it open for one more thing.

Ease off the caffeine

You don't have to give it up. Try one cup fewer a day, and none after early afternoon, for a week. If the twitch fades, you have learned something useful about yourself. When to stop drinking coffee for sleep helps with the timing, which helps the sleep half as well.

Rest your eyes during the day

Every 20 minutes or so, look away from the screen at something about 20 feet off for 20 seconds. That is the 20-20-20 rule, and it lets the focusing muscles inside your eyes relax. While you are looking away, add a few slow, full blinks.

Look after dry eyes

Slow blinks, a room that isn't too dry, and a screen set slightly below eye level all help, because looking a little down leaves less of the eye exposed to the air. If your eyes feel gritty or burn, a pharmacist or optometrist can suggest lubricating drops that suit you. Dry eyes at the computer covers the rest.

Check your glasses

If you haven't had an eye test in a couple of years, or you catch yourself squinting or leaning in to read, book one with an optometrist. A small change in prescription can make screen work much less tiring, and no amount of rest makes up for eyes that are working too hard to focus.

Take some pressure off

Knowing the twitch is harmless takes away some of the worry, which helps on its own. Beyond that, the usual things for a tense week apply: a walk at lunch, a few minutes of slow breathing, and an honest look at how much you have packed into the days.

How long does eye twitching last?

For most people, an everyday twitch comes and goes over a few days. Sometimes it hangs around on and off for a couple of weeks, especially if the tiredness or stress behind it hasn't changed. It almost always fades in the end, and people often don't notice exactly when it stopped.

Paying close attention to it can make it feel worse. Many people find the twitch is most noticeable when they are waiting for it, so once you have made the changes above, try to get on with your day and let it go quiet on its own.

When is a twitching eye worth showing a doctor?

Most twitches need nothing more than time and a bit more sleep. See a doctor or an optometrist if:

• the twitch carries on for more than a few weeks,
• the eyelid closes fully with each twitch, or you find it hard to open the eye,
• other parts of your face start to twitch as well, such as the cheek or the corner of the mouth,
• the eyelid droops,
• the eye is red, swollen, painful or has a discharge,
• your vision changes in any way.

None of these is common, and they often turn out to have ordinary explanations. They are still reasons to have someone look rather than waiting. Twitches that close the eye, or spread across one side of the face, can come from rarer conditions that a doctor can recognize and treat.

Making the screen day gentler

A twitching eyelid is a fairly honest signal. When it starts, the days have usually been too long, too caffeinated or too short on sleep, and the fixes are the unexciting ones: rest for your eyes during the day, and an earlier night.

Both are easy to agree with and easy to forget halfway through a task. A crew of Notchpals characters, living in your Mac's notch, can carry some of that remembering. Its Eyes character drops by a few times a day with an eye break or a blink break. If that character is Blush, a shy chameleon, these are about as polite as reminders get:

BlushUm, you haven't blinked much. I noticed. Sorry. Could you, slowly? Thanks.

For the earlier night, add a Sleep character such as Nod, a koala with firm views on rest. Nod suggests wrapping up some time in the last hour before your chosen bedtime, and visits again if that time comes and goes with you still at work:

NodMm. It's past bedtime. Lid down, lights off. I'll walk you to the door.

The eye and blink breaks draw on the same daily budget as your other repeating reminders, and each bedtime visit comes once a night at most. A reminder can't calm an eyelid, but on the third late night in a row, a koala at the top of the screen is harder to ignore than your own good intentions.