Around the world people are spending increasingly more time on computers in both their personal and professional lives and all of that time on screen is doing long term damage to our eyes and our vision. When I first began working freelance this was something that I was very conscious of and so I went to my local opticians to get some help and some guidance. The team at Fort Myers eye center have always been great with me and this was no exception. I wanted to share therefore some tips on how to protect your eyes if you are spending a lot of time staring at a computer screen, let’s take a look.
Computer Glasses
If you look online then you are bound to see many computer glasses which claim that they protect your eyes from the damage of the display on the screen. We are not saying that these glasses don’t work but as yet there is only anecdotal evidence that they can help to reduce the damage which is done to the eyes, for this reason they are not yet recommended by eye professionals.
Breaks
It is crucial that you are taking regular breaks, every 20 minutes or so, to help your eyes to readjust to the light and break the focus. The longer that you stare at the screen the more damage that you are likely to do and these short breaks can help you to maintain healthier eyes and better vision. All you need to do is set an alarm on your phone or clock, and make sure that you step away from the computer for at least 5 minutes.
Blinking
Amazingly some people become so engrossed in what they are doing online that they will spend long amounts of time without blinking, which greatly dries out the eye. As simple as it sounds, you have to ensure that you are blinking regularly which will help your eyes to stay moist.
Reduce Brightness
It is the sharp brightness of the computer screen which does the damage rather than any kind of jiggery pokery going on behind the scenes, which is why you should always look to tweak the brightness in settings. At first when you reduce the brightness you’ll find that it is difficult or that you have to squint to see, leave it for at least half an hour and see if your eyes adapt, you will soon find that your reduced brightness is in fact sufficient, at first there is just that readjustment process to go through.
The final point here is to take regular eye exams, in doing this you will be able to assess any damage which you are doing to your eyes and take action before it becomes a larger problem Look to get an eye check up at least once every 6 months in order to stay on top of your eye health.
Leave a Reply