06/ 10/ 2004
by Jeffrey Moses
As your workday weaves its way toward afternoon and early evening, do your eyes invariably get red, itchy or sore? When working at the computer or at your normal work tasks, do you frequently develop tension headaches, neck pain or shoulder stiffness?
You’re not alone. Even a decade ago, the National Institute of Occupational Safety and Health reported that at least 60 million workers experienced symptoms of eyestrain while working at a computer more than three hours a day. Numerous articles report that a wide array of physical symptoms may be related to eye stress -- a phenomenon shared worldwide by computer users and other workers.
The following tips can help you reduce eyestrain.
- Have your eyes checked by a doctor. The root cause of many cases of eyestrain is inaccurate eyeglass prescription, infection or physical irritation.
- When working at your computer, increase the size of the font onscreen. Instead of working at 100 percent, increase to 150 or even 200 percent. Adjust the brightness and contrast of your monitor so text and graphics are clear and sharp. Usually, black text on a white background is the least stressful to read for extended periods, although some people prefer green on white. The most stressful is white or yellow text on a dark background.
- Adjust lighting in the room to reduce glare and clearly illuminate your screen and other reading material. Ideally, the lighting in a room should be slightly dimmer than your computer monitor. To achieve comfortable lighting, you may need to draw the drapes, wear a visor or adjust the intensity of ceiling and other auxiliary lighting sources.
- Avoid looking at a computer screen at an angle for extended periods. Position yourself a comfortable distance from the screen, and look down at an angle of about 20-30 degrees.
- When working at your computer, relax your eyes every few minutes by closing them or looking away from your screen for 15-20 seconds. Every 15-20 minutes, close your eyes or look off at a distance for a minute or two.
- Use a monitor that has a high refresh rate (60Hz should be minimum). This decreases the “flicker” of a screen and helps reduce eyestrain. LCD screens do not flicker and may help prevent eye fatigue.
- When your eyes feel dry or irritated, try over-the-counter eye lubrications. If symptoms persist, consult a doctor.
- When browsing the Internet, avoid looking for extended periods at sites that are designed with tiny, dim text. If you need to read the information, copy and paste the text into one of your own software programs so you can adjust the size and contrast. Or program your browser to adjust the background of websites to a lighter color.
- Your doctor may be able to prescribe special glasses for you to wear while at your computer. These can reduce strain appreciably.
