As anyone that works on a computer for a long period will tell you, your eyes will get tired quickly if your eyes get strained. Symptoms of eyestrain, are redness, fatigue, dryness, twitching, and headaches. This is caused from staring at your computer screen for too long. It can also decrease your productivity and cause you to make errors. But there are some ways that you can avoid this if you take these suggestions to help reduce it.
How To Reduce Eye Strain
Get an eye exam. Getting an exam is one of the best ways that you can treat eye strain and prevent it. Your eye doctor can tell you what you can do to avoid it or give you glasses that can help with it.
Choose the right lighting. Eyestrain can be caused if the lighting is too much; you want to have an ambient light by your computer. Bright lights from a window or overhead lights can strain your eyes. You want to close the blinds or curtains and turn off unnecessary lights. Use things like a desk lamp to reduce the light on your computer.
Minimize the glare off of surfaces. The reflection on your computer screen off of walls, windows, or other surfaces can strain your eyes. You want to reduce that by getting an anti glare screen for your computer screen and if you can paint your walls a darker color to reduce glare. As well as closing all windows near your computer.
Replace your screen from one of the CRT one to a LCD one. LCD screens have been shown to be easier on the eyes because they have an anti reflective surface.
Adjust the settings for the display on your computer. Adjusting the display on your computer can reduce eyestrain. Adjust the brightness to your computer to the same as your surroundings. This will make it easier to see and makes your eyes focus better. Adjust the text size and contrast to a comfortable medium. Black print on a white background is the easiest to read. You can also adjust the color temperature of your screen; blue light causes more eyestrain than red and orange.
When your eyes are dry, they are strained so make sure you blink more when you are working on your computer. If you have to you can see your doctor and get some artificial tears if dryness is a major problem.
Use the 20-20-20 rule to reduce eyestrain. Every twenty minutes look away from the computer and focus on an object that is at least twenty feet away for twenty seconds. This will give your eyes a rest from the computer screen and will make them less fatigue.
Take breaks from your computer. Most people only step away from their computer for lunch and a smoke break but if you take more breaks then you will have less eyestrain. Even if it is only five or ten minutes every hour, you will reduce your eyestrain.
