Eye discomfort in offices is common in today’s world because the nature of jobs and the office environment exposes the eyes to conditions that make them work harder than they should.
These conditions during an extended period of office work cause significant eye discomfort. Today, I am sharing the most common ones with you.
1- Inadequate eye breaks
An eye break is the time you look away from your screen and focus on something else, preferably far away.
Regular eye breaks are important for relaxing the eye muscles and avoiding strain as focusing on your screen keeps your eyes muscles contracted and prone to excessive strain.
Sadly, many do not take regular eye breaks at work. So their eyes get uncomfortable during extended periods of work.
To avoid this, become intentional about taking regular eye breaks at work.
- Blink consciously and frequently – Don’t wait for reflex blinks to occur.
- From time to time, look away from your screen and focus on something far away for a few seconds – The popular recommendation is that every 20 minutes, look at something 20ft (6m) away for 20 seconds
- Every hour, get up from your desk and walk around your office for about 5 minutes without looking at your phone
Do these things continuously while working with your computer until you close for the day.
2-Exposure to poor or harmful light
Although we need light to see, some lights are unsuitable for work. These include too dim or too bright room lighting, screen glare, high-energy blue light and light reflections on the screen
Prolonged exposure to these lights makes the eyes uncomfortable and can cause eye complications over time.
To avoid this minimize exposure to poor/harmful light
- Avoid light reflections on your screen – Turn your screen away from the room light. Let the light be at the back of your screen. Block light reflections from outside through the windows with blinds
- Adjust the light settings of your screen to minimize screen glare
- Use devices with screens or apps that provide eye protection
- For prolonged or night use, wear anti-glare blue UV protection glasses.
3-Bad posture
Posture here refers to the position of your body in front of your digital screens.
Maintaining a bad posture as you work can cause uncomfortable symptoms like blurry vision, headaches, neck pain, shoulder pain and back aches.
While there are some cases of habitual bad posture, most cases in the office are due to uncomfortable workspaces. A desk or chair that is too high or too low or a poorly arranged workstation can make an office worker adopt a bad posture in a bid to focus better on their screen. This happens because the eyes lead the body, meaning that, the body will always follow the direction of the eyes.
So, if you are not seeing what’s on your screen well and you need to look up, bend your neck, hunch over or move forward to see better, your body will adopt those postures, and people who frequently adopt awkward postures to focus better on their screens get uncomfortable after a while.
To avoid this set up your workstation for comfort.
- Use a table with a good height and surface large enough to accommodate your computer and work materials.
- Use a good chair, if possible, an ergonomic chair that can be adjusted for a comfortable working height and good back posture.
- Place your computer at an arm’s length away from you with the screen away from light reflection and slightly below your eye level,
What to do if you don’t get relief
- Consult your eye doctor and get your eyes checked for underlying eye conditions.
- Get treatment for any eye conditions diagnosed (if any)
- Get good quality anti-glare blue UV protection glasses with your prescription in them (if recommended)
- Get recommendations on habits and routines that will help you maintain eye comfort always.
We can help you at Kesona Eye Centre. Visit the clinic’s website for more information. To chat with customer care, click here.