Computer eye strain

Details
Last Updated on Friday, 30 June 2017 09:26

Do you often get headaches coupled with tired, sore and irritated eyes? You could be suffering from eye strain, a condition that is the result of long and intense hours spent in front of the computer.


Very few office jobs today do not require long periods of time in front of a computer. The great irony of course is that the human body is not designed to accommodate all the hours spent in front of a computer, and so we often end up with backaches, headaches, sore eyes and wrists, and a few extra kilograms. It is therefore important to manage your health through workstation planning and good work habits.

Your eyes and the computer

Staring at a screen for long hours places immense stress on your eyes because they were not designed to work at such a close range for long periods of time. Furthermore, the constant shift in focus (between the screen, documents and the keyboard) only makes matters worse and eventually you end up with a condition called eye strain.

Eye strain is an umbrella term for a wide range of symptoms including:

  • Headaches

  • Tired, sore eyes

  • Eye irritation

  • Blurred vision

When these problems are computer related, the condition is called computer terminal eye strain. Other symptoms may also include:

  • Slow refocusing when looking from the screen to distant objects

  • An inability to keep your place when moving your eyes between the screen and a document

  • Having difficulty to focus on distant objects after using a computer for a long period of time

  • Changes in colour perception

  • An overall lowered visual efficiency, making more errors.

Manage your workstation

If it is impossible not to work on a computer, you have to manage your work environment to minimise stress on your eyes. The South African Optometric Association advises the following:

  • Place your computer where you can look well beyond the screen every few minutes (ie not in front of a wall)

  • Computer screens should be slightly below eye level (about 20 degrees). Documents being read should be at the same level as the screen

  • Your screen should not be closer than 500 mm from your eyes

  • Use indirect lightening at your workstation to minimise a glare from your screen. If it is possible, lighting should be beamed upwards to diffuse against the ceiling. If not, fit fluorescent ceiling lights with diffusers. Anti-glare screens are also available

  • Use shaded desk lamps if necessary, and move your lamp if it reflects on the screen

  • Don’t place your computer too close to a window to avoid glare. Match as closely as possible the brightness of your surroundings with that of the computer screen. However, the contrast between the characters on the screen and the screen background should be high

  • Adjust the computer screen’s contrast and brightness to achieve the most comfortable viewing level. These adjustments must be made at different times during the day if the work environment is influenced by altering levels of daylight

  • Maintain your computer to avoid a reduction in brightness, contrast, flickering and legibility

  • Clean the screen regularly as it attracts dust that reflects.

Good work habits are also important. Look up and away from your computer screen every few minutes and take frequent short breaks (every 10–15 minutes). Most importantly, have a comprehensive optometric examination annually and make sure that your optometrist knows about your current computer use.

Sources

Computer Eye Strain: 10 Steps For Relief. Retrieved from http://www.allaboutvision.com/cvs/irritated.htm.
Digital Fatigue: Eye Strain and Migraines. Retrieved from http://thinkaboutyoureyes.com/articles/eye-problems-diseases/digital-fatigue.

(Revised by M van Deventer)