Keeping an “Eye” on your eyes during Work from Home
- The working pattern of our country has been greatly impacted by the pandemic, and a great majority of our workforce is now working from home, which has resulted in prolonged hours of work in front of computers. Prolonged screen time in front of computers and phones can have an impact on the eye health adults and also on the eye health of children, causing redness, itching, watering, blurring of vision, and tiredness of the eyes.
Here are some health tips which can help in reducing eye strain.
- Sitting upright on a chair is important to give full spine and shoulder support. The armrest of the chair should be close to the body. Ensure you have lower back support when you are seated at the monitor. The leg should not be folded behind the base of the chair. If the chair height is right for your leg to reach the floor, a leg rest is not required.
- The monitor should be a few inches below your eye level so that you are looking down at the screen. The average font size should be kept above 12 to enable comfortable reading.
- Lighting is extremely important to reduce eye strain. Indirect lighting is the best for computer workrooms as glare is minimal. Tube lights overhead cause glare due to reflections off the screen and on the eye. Angle the monitor away from the light reflections or use an anti-reflection screen. Secondly, if there is a window behind your monitor or in front of it this only results in increased contrast and glare. So when at the monitor, let the windows be fully draped.
- Eye Hygiene: Keeping your eyes open for a long duration to watch the screen can cause increased evaporation of the tears and cause dryness and irritation. So please use the 20-20-20 rule. Take a break from any near work for 20 seconds for every 20 minutes of computer work by looking 20 feet away and blink several times. This enables better tear film stability. The use of eye lubricant drops every few hours can also help alleviate symptoms.
- Increased blue light exposure from computers can cause disturbances in the sleep cycle. The use of Blue filter glasses can be helpful. It’s also advisable to stay away from computers a few hours before going to bed to provide a sound sleep.
If you have complaints of more itching, eye strain, or blurring of vision, it may be due to an undetected refractive error or any weakness of eye muscles. A quick check-up with an ophthalmologist can help solve this problem.
It’s our endeavor that while you continue to perform all work from home during this pandemic, you should be able to do so with the greatest ease and comfort.
