Working at a computer for 8 hours per day can impact your vision!
More and more of us are choosing careers where we are subject to sitting at a desk in front of a computer for a majority of our workday, and we’re well aware of the dangers — increased risk for obesity, heart disease, and diabetes, in addition to sore muscles and achy joints — but did you know how computer work can affect our vision?
We can’t escape the rapidly evolving digital world, but we can create healthy habits to help protect our eyes. At Viteyes, we provide support for your vision with our leading eye supplements! Take a moment with us today to learn more about how you can maintain your eye health at work.
Protecting Your Vision At Work
If you are at jobs such as construction or factory work, you know you should be protecting your eyes from injury from particles and tools by wearing protective goggles. However, for those of us at computer jobs, you may not realize that you are eyes may need protection too. Starting at digitals screens all day can make you susceptible to harmful blue light and digital eye strain.
Digital Eye Strain
Digital eye strain is caused by too much time in front of screens — your eyes are simply overworked from staring focusing at a near object for so long. The muscle in the front of the eye constantly has to adjust focus and the eye muscles get tired.
Short-term Effects of Digital Eye Strain include:
- Dry eyes
- Eye strain
- Eye Fatigue
- Blurred vision
- Headaches
Blue Light Blues
We can’t talk about vision concerns in the office without covering the topic of blue light. Blue light is emitted from our digital devices, such as televisions, tablets, smartphones, computers and LED lighting. Though blue light has some benefits such as attention and mood, it also reaches deep into the eye and can harm the macula – the region of your eye responsible for your central vision. Long-term exposure to harmful blue light can lead to progressive loss of vision function.
With all of these vision concerns resulting from the amount of time you spend in front of your computer, is there anything you can do to better take care of your eye health now? Absolutely! Let’s dive into the tangible tips below!
5 Tips To Protect Your Eyes At Work
We’ll probably never escape our digital landscape and for those of us who work in front of a computer, but there is good news, you can make a few tweaks to better protect your eyes and support healthy vision.
To protect your eyes in the office, make a couple of small tweaks to set your eyes up for success.
Begin by making some adjustments to your monitor.
- Your monitor should be an arm’s length away and your eyeline should fall three inches below the top of your monitor. It’s also important to minimize any glare by tilting your monitor upwards. The more glare your computer screen has, the more strain it places on your eyes.
- Blink. It sounds arbitrary, but it’s important to keep your eyes well lubricated to ward off dry eyes, so take a moment and blink your eyes!
- Tackle the brightness of your screen. If it’s at 100%, dim it right now! The bright light and blue light cause eye fatigue.
- If you’re in a bright office lit with mainly artificial lights and not many windows, lower your brightness to about 75% or lower. Experiment with the brightness, and find one that you are able to tolerate.
How are computers impacting your vision?
Are your eyes tired causing you to lose focus at the end of the day?
We’re just scratching the surface with ways you can protect your eyes in the workplace — we know adjusting your computer’s monitor and brightness is one way but there are so many more, so stay tuned for part two!
