A variety of means to ease computer eye strain

Thursday, September 10th, 2009 at 1:12 pm Post in All the other information of vision care

About 50% to 90% of computer workers are being affected by bothersome CVS symptoms such as eye strain. Researches have revealed that this discomfort can cause physical fatigue, decreased productivity and increased work mistakes. The following is a detailed introduction on how to address CVS.

The National Institute of Occupational Safety and Health (NIOSH) recommends people to take a computer eye exam before computer work, and tell the doctor your computer work frequency. Excessive light from either exterior sunshine or interior lighting brings eye strain at a higher possibility. The proper lighting should be about half of that in most offices, so that you should close drapes, shades or blinds to reduce outside light and use lower intensity bulbs and tubes.

Light glare and reflections from walls and the computer screen also contribute to eye strain. Many convenient ways are available to solve this problem, such as setting up an anti-glare screen on your monitor, painting bright walls into dark and applying anti-reflective coating to your lenses.

Liquid crystal display (LCD) is built with an anti-glare surface, which is beyond a cathode ray tube monitor (CRT). Even set to the highest possible refresh rate, CRT screens may cause image flicker and lead to eye strain. For LCD, a higher refresh rate and larger size are more helpful.

Most displays provide a series of settings for adjustments. The screen brightness should be the same as the ambient environment, and the contrast between the screen background and the on-screen words should be high. Text size and color can also be adjusted.

Most people blink less frequently during attentive computer work, which may lead to high rate of dry eye. Long period of non-blinking phase speeds the evaporation of tears so that your eyes can not get rewetted in time. Dry environments can also bring dry eye problems. You can ask your doctor for artificial tears to ease this problem. Lubricating drops are not capable of reducing dryness and irritation.

Two ways of exercising your eyes to reduce focusing fatigue are widely applied. One way is gazing at a distance object outside every 20 minutes, which relieves the eye’s focusing muscles. The other way is to alternately look at a distance object and a close thing. Frequent blinking is also needed during these exercises.

The NIOSH advocates that more frequent small breaks during the work day can sharply reduce eye strain and discomfort. It is also recommended to divide long breaks into several short breaks. During the break, you can stretch your arms, legs, back, neck, shoulders or do other quick sequence of exercises.

Many factors that involve your computer workstation may also affect your comfort. Your desk lamp should not shine into your eyes or onto the computer screen. You should properly place your chair at proper height to get a suitable posture. Ergonomic furniture can also provide useful help.

A variety of computer glasses including single vision type, bifocals and trifocals offer the greatest comfort for computer use.