Are you among those who spend hours a day in front of a computer monitor? Then you must probably have experienced something along the lines of eyes burning, neck aching, vision blurring or head throbbing – it is then you might have a common hitch known as eyestrain. Or better put Digital eye strain.
In medical terms, it’s referred to as Computer Vision Syndrome. It happens due to the combination of your monitor’s intense backlight, glare and staring at a screen for prolonged periods.
Quick fixes like ibuprofen and eye exercises will, as a rule, relieve eyestrain. But if you are on a quest to resolve this issue once and for all, it’d be better to go for a preventative approach. Here are the following tips to help ease off your digital eye strain:
1. Change your monitor’s position
A simple tweak to your monitor setup can go a long way in resolving your eyestrain. For your utmost comfort, the monitor should be min. 20-30 inches away from your eyes. Furthermore, the monitor top should be at eye level, as you should be looking down at your work, not up. If need be raise your monitor using risers or even a stack of old hardcover books works.
2. Tweak the lighting
An office setting with excessive artificial or natural light creates monitor glare that makes your eyes tire easy. So, it is better to let go of any harsh glowing lights and position your computer so that any natural light is coming in on either side of your monitor. The light should never flash behind or in upfront at your screen.
Instead, employ any floor/desk lamps and position them on either side of your monitor so that they offer indirect lighting.
3. Use the 20-20-20 rule
Every 20 minutes, look at an object that is nearly 20 feet away. Look at it intently for 20 seconds. This trick can exercise your eyes and give them a break from your monitor’s bright backlight. You may also make use of alarms as a reminder in every 20 minutes.
4. Reduce Digital Eye strain by using Gunnars glasses
Artificial light combined with natural light and your monitor’s backlight puts inevitable stress on your eyes. One solution to consider is wearing Gunnar glasses; they are specialised glasses, mostly aimed at gamers and are tinted yellow to equalise the cool blue light your monitor produces. They also offer minor magnification, making it easier to interpret text (this also includes those who don’t generally wear reading glasses.)
These Gunnar glasses that make a huge difference come in various styles and custom remedy models.
5. Make your work setting pleasant
When your work materials and tools are spread out in different areas at your desk, you force your eyes to readjust for their varying distances regularly. Fix this by placing your keyboard right in front of your monitor and your reading materials nearby to it using a copyholder.
Just try a combination of the above tips, and you will soon see a marked difference in the way your digital eye strain offsets.