These days, everyone is staring at either a computer, phone or some other digital device. And it’s not doing a whole lot of good for our eyes.
Do you have eye computer vision syndrome? Some symptoms include: eye fatigue and discomfort, dry eyes, headaches, blurred vision, neck and shoulder pain, eye twitching and red eyes.
Well, if you have some of those symptoms, you’re not alone. Since our digital devices play a big part in peoples careers and life – many are experiencing these side effects of the screen. Here are X easy steps you can take to reduce your eye strain.
1. Use proper lighting
Eye strain is caused by a lot of bright light, whether that be from outdoor sunlight or harsh interior lighting. When using a computer, check to make sure your ambient lighting is half as bright as the typical office. When in doubt, turn the lights down.
Try closing drapes and blocking extra light out, and use soft lamps, or “soft white” LED lighting instead. If you reduce the amount of fluorescent lights installed above your workspace, you’ll experience less bother from lighting.
2. Get rid of glare.
Glare can reflect off of walls, finished surfaces and your computer screen. Going as far as painting your office workspace a darker color with a matte finish will show improvements to glare.
If you wear glasses, purchase lenses with anti-reflective coating. This will reduce glare by minimizing the amount of light reflecting off the front and back surfaces of your eyeglass lenses.
3. Adjust your computer settings.
Almost all computers have the ability to adjust the display settings to help reduce eye strain. Check out these adjustments:
Brightness: Adjust your brightness to the similar brightness as your surrounding workstation. You don’t want it too dark that you are squinting to read the words, but you don’t want it brighter than your surroundings.
Color temperature: Blue light is a short-wavelength visible light that causes more eye strain than longer wavelengths like orange or red. Reducing the color temperature of your display lowers the amount of blue light emitted by a color display for being long-term viewing.
4. Blink.
This seems like a no brainer, but the longer we look at the screen, the less we tend to blink. Blinking will moisten your eyes to prevent dryness and irritation.
You may want to consider artificial tears to use during the day. This will keep your eyes wet and less irritated. Make it a habit to remember to blink. And every 20 minutes, blink 10 times to make sure your eyes aren’t dried out.
5. Take breaks.
Taking breaks can be hugely beneficial when it comes to making sure your back, neck and shoulders aren’t suffering. Try taking a 10 minute break every hour and get away from the screen and stretch your body.
6. Consider computer glasses.
Talk to your eye doctor about modifying your eyeglass prescription to create computer glasses. This is beneficial, especially if you wear contact lenses, which become dry and irritated after long periods at the screen. There’s also glasses that reduce your exposure to blue light emitted by digital devices.
