Almost every person is staring at computer screens, cell phone screens or numerous other types of digital screens frequently and on a daily basis. You may be so caught up in your work that you might not realize that your eye health may be compromised because of this extreme amount of screen time.
There are a number of ways that you can help prevent eye strain, fatigue and potentially harmful eye problems. At Medical Arts Eye Clinic & Optical, we want you to be able to complete your every-day tasks using screens. But most importantly, we want you to do it in a healthy way. Here are our tips on protecting your eyes while on your digital screens.
Get a routine comprehensive eye exam
While scheduling routine eye exams is something every person should do, it is especially important for people who are working in front of digital screens every day.
This will be the most important step you can take to protect your eyes from computer strain. Your doctor will be able to provide you with ways to prevent or treat eye strain.
Most patient forms that you will fill out before each appointment will have a question section asking how often you use computers or screens. However, be sure to inform your doctor about how often you use a computer or digital screen. You should include times both while at work and at home.
To maximize the best help you will receive, come prepared for your eye exam with knowledge about your computer habits. Be sure to measure how far your eyes are from your computer screen so that your doctor will be able to test your eyes at that specific distance.
Adjust your computer display settings
This is something you might not think about when connecting eye health to screens. From the size of your computer display to the resolution, it can make a huge impact on eye health. You will want a sizeable computer display and a higher resolution to help with eye strain.
To help reduce eye strain and fatigue, controlling the brightness of the display to fit the brightness of your workspace around you will be beneficial. As a tip, look at a plain white background of your computer screen. If the screen is emanating a light source, it is most likely too bright, if it seems too dull and dark, the brightness may need to be increased.
The size of your text and contrast of your text can also impact your eye strain. You may need to adjust your text size to be larger and easier to read.
According to Wired, “When it comes to color combinations, your eyes prefer black text on a white or slightly yellow background.”
Glare
If you frequently work on a computer or other digital screens, you might want to invest in customized computer eyeglasses.
Computer eyeglasses look just like a normal pair of glasses. The only (important) difference is that they protect from computer eye strain, fatigue and other problems associated with a long-term computer or digital screen use. They work by blocking harmful blue light emitted from digital screens. Computer lenses are made to filter as much as 50% of this harmful blue light.
Take frequent breaks
You should always take frequent breaks from sitting down at your computer screen. This aids in back, neck and shoulder problem prevention. It also majorly aids in preventing the risk of developing dry eyes, eye strain and eye fatigue.
There are several different recommendations of how often you should take a break from your screen, but it is recommended that you at least take a 15-minute break every hour. While you are taking these breaks, move around, walk around and stretch your back, shoulders, neck, arms and legs to reduce tension and promote overall bodily health.
As you can see, there are numerous ways to keep your eyes healthy while still working regularly on screens. We, at Medical Arts Eye Clinic & Optical, hope you can incorporate some or all of these tips into your lives. If you would like to schedule an eye exam or learn more about how to protect your eye health from screens, contact us today at (334) 821-3838.