In this post, I’ve discussed some tips and tools to reduce computer eye strain which could help you work more efficiently with your PC.
Do your eyes feel tired, burning or itchy after seeing your computer? Or do you have watery/dry eyes while looking at the digital screen? Are you experiencing blurred/double vision, focusing difficulty or increased sensitivity to light when you work with PC? These are the symptoms of dry eyes and you’re most at risk for computer eye strain which can hurt your productivity. This computer eye fatigue can be medically termed asComputer Vision Syndrome.
Now a days, the use of computer,tablets and smartphones is very common at office, schools and home. So, whether you’re an internet marketer, student or a person who spend hours a day in front of computer screen, I’d suggest you to read this post till end to prevent digital eye strain. Let me start on what causes eye strain when using a computer!
What Causes Computer Eye Strain?
Digital devices have small prints and pixel images which may need more focus to read and thus cause strain to eyes.
Poor lighting, having improper work station and getting exposed to extreme brightness or glare would cause computer eye strain.
Moreover, if you have uncorrected vision problems, headaches or blurring of vision, you’re more vulnerable to get eye discomfort.
Reduced blinking, bad posture and extended reading are also the significant reasons for computer eye strain.
How To Relieve Computer Eye Fatigue?
Below are the simple tips to avoid computer eye strain and lessen the symptoms of CVS.
1. Undergo routine eye exam
Have regular eye-check up and consult with the doctor how often you use computer both at office and home. Don’t forget to specify the distance between your eyes and computer screen. This measurement would help the doctor to test your eyes at that particular distance.
2. Check light settings
If you have extreme bright light while working with your PC, it would cause computer eye strain. So,
1. If there is excess sunlight in your working room, use drapes.
2. Use light bulbs at the side of your computer screen, instead of fixing it in front/behind the monitor.
3. Find full-spectrum fluorescent lights with reduced brightness.
3. Fine tune and Advance PC display
If you’ve improper computer monitor settings, you’ll get digital eye fatigue. Yes, your PC screen should have moderate brightness & contrast, readable text size (use”ctrl +” when needed) and less color temperature to prevent eye strain.
Also, if you use old monitors with CRT (Cathode Ray Tube) you’ll more likely to have eye discomfort as it causes images to flicker. So, try to advance your computer display with LED screen which do not have any major impact on your eyes.
4. Reduce Glare
If your computer screen get more reflections due to outside light, it will produce glare which would make your eyes to get strain. In that case, you may cover the widows/doors or change the paint of your light color wall with dark color. However, the best solution to minimize glare is that to install anti-glare filter on your computer monitor. If you wear spectacle, consider buying the lenses with anti-reflective coating as it would reduce the amount of light reflection.
5. Practice to blink often
Computer eye strain is mainly caused due to dryness and irritation. If you blink less frequently, coating of tears may get fade away and thus cause eye strain. People who work at computer rarely blink their eyes which would result in the loss of eye moisture. So, when you work with your PC, it is more important to blink regularly to keep your eyes well lubricated and nourished.
6. Get eyewear for computer
One of the best ways to avoid computer eye strain is to get computer reading glasses for your eyes. PC glasses are proved to be the greatest comfort provider at your computer than contact lenses (Contact lenses would get dry during continuous computer work)
7. Maintain good posture
Poor posture during computer work would contribute digital eye problems. Get a good computer chair that can be easily adjusted to a suitable height of your computer screen. Sitting about 24 inches away from the monitor would be good and the optimum position of the screen should be 15 to 50 degrees below eye level to avoid eye fatigue.
8. Other tips to prevent eye strain from computer use
Below are the useful tips to get rid of computer eye strain
• Take regular breaks and stretch your body parts.
• Follow 20-20 rule (After 20 minutes computer work, practice to look at the object at 20 feet away for 20 seconds)
• Stay hydrated and intake vitamin A, C and E rich foods for your overall eye health.
• Regularly clean your computer monitor to avoid reflections and glare.
• Close your eyes and get relax for some time.
10 Efficient Tools To Reduce Computer Eye Strain
Technology has been emerging a lot and thus some efficient tech toolsare available to prevent computer eye strain. Below are the apps which would help you to reduce the brightness of the screen, manage the monitor glare or remind you to give rest to your eyes.
1. ProtectYourVision
Protectyourvision is a free application which has been specially designed to protect your eyes from computer eye strain. It has three different modes with sound alarm and desktop notification. You can select the suitable mode and you avert your eyes from computer screen.
2. Fadetop
It’s a funny software which fades your desktop into bluish color. It has been created mainly to develop the habit of taking breaks to relax your eyes for every 15 minutes and to release tension around neck parts. This visual break reminder is for Windows and displays current time.
3. Timeout
If you sit in front of computer for endless hours, Timeout remind you to take break on regular basis. It has two kinds of breaks named “Normal” break and “Micro” break and thus you may enable your preferred pause, based on the amount of time you spend with computer. Having excellent customization features is a notable stuff of Timeout. This computer eye strain app is also available for Mac users.
4. F.lux
Do you work with computer at night? Then F.lux is one of the perfect solutions to reduce computer eye strain. Yes, it makes your PC warm at night and like sunlight during the day. It would also help you to sleep better. Windows, Mac, Linux and IOS users can download this computer eye strain software for free.
If you don’t wanna install F.lux or having preference for Chrome extensions, you may install Glux on your chrome browser.
5. PangoBright
This is also an ideal app for the late night computer workers who wish to control multiple monitors. It is simple to use which allows managing the brightness of several PC screens. This screen dimmer is free to use and works on Windows 7, XP and Vista.
6. EyeDefender
EyeDefender is a specially designed freeware to prevent Computer Vision Syndrome which lets you to schedule the break to be taken while working on computer for hours. It runs a default screen saver and visual training to calm down the eyes. Setting up the time to take rest, displaying the pop up timed reminder and some automatic features are the noteworthy features of Eyedefender.
7. Sunglasses
If you’re using your computer in the dark, this helpful chrome extension tints the websites with white backgrounds to prevent your eyes from hurting. You may set the brightness level of your monitor with this chrome add-on.
8. Twlight
Are you Android user who work with Smartphone or Tablet in the late evening? If so, download Twlight from Google Play Store to get pleasant experience for your eyes during night. It filters the flux of blue light emitted from the gadget screens and protect your eyes with a soft red filter. This dynamic eye strain app will also help to get rid of sleeping problems.
9. Workrave
Workrave is an efficient program which alerts you to take micro-pauses, breaks to take rest and restricts your computer usage limit. It helps you to recover and prevent the Repetitive Strain Injury (RSI) and it runs on Windows & GNU/Linux.
10. EyeLeo
EyeLeo is also a handy application to remind you to take short eye breaks. If you spend more time with your computer, you’ll get practiced to take care of your eyes with its features like screen blocking, strict mode, eye exercise and customizable parameters.
Conclusion:
Most of the people spend several hours daily in front of the computer screen as a part of their jobs and after reaching home, they continue to watch TV, play games on tablets and use smartphone to chat with friends. So they often feel tired in their eyes and get headache.
A recent study states that about 70% of the people from developed countries are getting affected by Computer Vision Syndrome (CVS) as they are viewing digital screen for more than 2 hours every day. So, it would be good to often blink your eyes and perform eye gymnastics. I would recommend you to follow the above discussed tips and use any of the tools to put off computer eye strain.
Do you spend many hours in front of digital screen? Are you following any innovative methods to reduce computer eye strain? Share your experiences with me
