Dry eyes during finals week

Dry eyes during finals week usually come from the way people study: hours staring at laptops and notes, blinking less while concentrating, late nights and heated December air in libraries and dorms. Break study into blocks with real pauses, keep vents and fans off your face, get what sleep you can, and if you’re 18 or older, a lubricating drop used as labeled can help with ordinary dryness.

Why your eyes give out by the third exam

Concentrating on a screen or a page lowers your blink rate, and the blinks you do make are often partial. Each full blink spreads a fresh layer of tears across the eye, so fewer of them means more of the surface drying out between blinks. Add a heated library in December, a dorm radiator that won’t turn down and a sleep schedule that’s fallen apart, and your eyes feel gritty, tired and heavy by the second day of exams.

None of that means anything is wrong. It means your eyes are doing a lot of work in dry air with little rest. The fixes are mostly about how you set up your study time.

Plan study blocks with eye breaks built in

A study plan that works for your eyes also tends to work for memory. Try this pattern for each subject:

• Study in blocks of 25 to 50 minutes, timed on your phone so you don’t skip breaks.
• At the end of each block, stand up and look out a window or down a long hallway for a minute.
• Close your eyes and take a few slow, full blinks before sitting back down.
• Switch formats between blocks: from laptop slides to paper flashcards to saying answers out loud.
• Every two hours, take a longer break with a short walk outside, even in the cold.

Our guide to dry eyes while studying goes deeper into study habits through the whole semester; this page is about getting through the crunch.

Picking a spot in the library

During finals, every seat fills up, and people grab whatever’s open. If you can choose, a few details make a difference over a ten-hour day:

• Avoid seats directly under ceiling vents or next to floor heaters; moving warm air dries eyes fastest.
• Pick a spot with even overhead light, so your screen isn’t much brighter than the room.
• Set your laptop so the top of the screen sits near eye level; propping it on a stack of textbooks works.
• Bring a water bottle, since you’ll drink less than you think when you’re cramming.

Your dorm room in December

Older dorms often run hot, with radiators that students can’t control, and newer ones circulate dry, forced air. Either way, a December dorm room can feel parched. Turn a desk fan away from your face, crack the window for a few minutes if the room is stuffy, and keep the heater from blowing straight at your bed. A small humidifier helps if your housing allows one; check the rules first.

All-nighters, caffeine and screens in bed

Late nights are the part of finals week your eyes like least. Tired eyes feel drier, and eyes kept open for 20 hours have simply had more time to lose moisture. A few habits help when you can’t avoid a late night:

• Stop studying on your phone in bed; switch to paper notes for the last half hour.
• Dim the room and screen brightness together, not just one of them.
• Keep water next to the coffee, and drink both.
• Sleep even three or four hours rather than none; closed eyes aren’t losing moisture to the room.
• Skip rubbing your eyes when they feel heavy; rubbing irritates them more.

Using eye drops during exams

Quell is designed to reinforce the tear film’s oil layer to help reduce moisture loss. The label’s Uses line reads: For use as a protectant against further irritation or to relieve dryness of the eye. The directions are: Apply 1 drop 3 times per day in each eye. That works out to a drop in the morning, one mid-afternoon and one at night during a study day. More drops don’t mean more studying stamina, and the label doesn’t direct more than that. Wash your hands first, and follow the handling line: Do not touch tip of bottle to any surface to avoid contamination.

Before an exam, put in a drop a few minutes early so any brief blur settles before the test starts. Don’t share a bottle with a roommate. The carton’s storage line reads: Store between 15° to 30°C (59° to 86°F), so keep it in your bag or desk, not on a radiator or a cold windowsill. Read the full Drug Facts panel, including the egg and bird allergy caution, before the first use.

Ordering to campus, and the 18+ rule

You must be 18 or older to buy from Quell. A student who’s under 18 can’t place an order, so a parent or guardian would need to decide and order instead. Students 18 and older can check out as guests and ship straight to campus.

If finals are close, keep timing in mind: we don’t promise a delivery date, and packages that reach a mailroom after you’ve left for winter break may sit there until January. Our guide to shipping eye drops to a college dorm explains addressing and mailroom timing. Shipping is $10.00, and 3 or more bottles ship free.

When it’s not just finals

If your eyes still feel dry, sore or blurry a week after exams end, or if they hurt, see an eye doctor, including the one at student health if your campus has one. A drop is for ordinary dryness. The label says: Stop use and ask a doctor if you feel eye pain or changes in your vision, if irritation or redness continues, or if the condition worsens or persists for 72 hours.