How To Reduce Computer Eye Strain And Improve Your Vision

The first sign Peter Parker had become Spiderman was improved
vision After being bitten by a radioactive spider, Peter
reached for his glasses and slid them on his nose Everything
appeared blurred His prescription was useless with his now
perfect vision He also had some other interesting lifestyle
changes, such as climbing walls and shooting webs Yet whenever
he becomes stressed these powers diminish and he invariably
reaches for his spectacles

Don’t we all go through these types of visual fluctuations?
When work requires reading, writing or design, eyestrain is a
hindrance both to speed and efficiency And that translates into
poorer results and less pay A 1999 Occupational Safety and
Health Administration study showed 90% of those who use
computers for more than three hours a day suffer from vision
problems And as we get older and continue to strain our eyes,
the result of the eyestrain becomes impossible to ignore

Yet you can avoid and even reverse these problems Mortals can
share Spiderman’s power over his vision Look at the work of Dr
William Bates, a New York ophthalmologist from the late
nineteenth century He observed the visual behaviour of
countless eyes, both human and animal He discovered that people
with poor sight daily achieve 20/20 vision for brief periods
without noticing it Eagles and cats have specific ways of
seeing He developed these findings into the Bates Method, which
teaches how to mimic optimal visual behaviour

Though Dr Bates views were shunned in his time, they have
become popular in our holistic century Combined with modern
ergonomics (the science of ones work environment) there exist
powerful steps you can take to remove eyestrain and improve
vision It doesn’t cost anything and takes almost no time In
fact you will save time because you’ll work faster and
better

Your eyes are among your most important tools Studies have
shown eyestrain directly affects productivity, with fatigued
vision causing misread research and proofreading mistakes Your
mind responds with grogginess and your body with weariness

Experiment with the following tips and after a single day
you’ll notice a reduction in eyestrain By the end of the week
most people noticed their workdays ran smoother After a month
you’ll probably find your vision is sharper

Maximize Your Work Space for Greater Efficiency and
Productivity

· Clean Your Screen – Monitors need more than weekly
cleaning, as their static nature attracts dust to their
surfaces

· Arms Length Viewing – Sit straight in front of your
computer and stretch your arms out in front of you Your screen
should just touch the tip of your middle finger Sitting closer
or farther away will cause problems The screen is composed of
pixels; being too close makes it difficult to blur these points
into letters If you find you can’t see properly at arm’s length
increase the font size

· Eye Level – Leaning back at a slight angle, the top of
your monitor should be at eye level You may have to prop the
monitor on some old telephone books or purchase a monitor stand
(which can double as a shelf underneath)

· Glare – Make sure there is absolutely no glare in your
range of vision, either on your monitor or around it Position
your screen so it is free from reflections If necessary tape a
file folder to its side to use as a sunscreen Do not, however,
make the room dark because it is damaging to the eyes

· Empty Space – We are naturally far-sighted creatures
It is best not to place your monitor against a wall It can be
placed in front of a window only if the sun does not glare
through The best position is probably perpendicular to one of
the walls in the center of your workspace, leaving a few feet
behind your workstation This allows your eyes to frequently
relax in their natural distant seeing state

Transform the Way You Work and Create More Reliable
Vision

· Sit Straight and Breathe – Back and neck strain create
tension in the eyes and slouching prevents the lungs from
expanding properly as well Plenty of oxygen is crucial to the
eyes (and your brain!) Take deep breaths whenever you think of
it Keep a window open, when weather permits Have hanging green
plants over your workspace

· Ten-Ten-Ten – Every ten minutes, look ten feet away,
for ten seconds or otherwise you will create near-point stress
Our ancestors were gatherers and hunters–farsighted
occupations Our genes have not yet evolved for sustained
arms-length work A good freeware program that reminds you to
take these “micro-breaks” is Workrave

· Blink, Drink and Splash at the Sink – The flicker rate
of monitors causes our eyes to blink less and thus dry out
Writers, try getting into the habit of blinking every time you
read or type a period Designers, use the moving of an image as
your reminder Drink plenty of water and make a point of wetting
your eyes every time you use the restroom

· Don’t Use Your Eyes – Close your eyes whenever you
can If something is loading or you need time to think, close
your eyes While closed, keep the eyes turned upward to prevent
sleepiness If you’re typing a rough draft, try doing it blind
Experiment with your computer’s voice synthesizer for reading
long on-line documents or reviewing your own work

· Palming – Whenever you have a minute, cup your palms
over your eye sockets (without touching the eyes) This total
absence of light will give your eyes a true rest Rarely does
the average person experience total darkness Sleeping in the
pitch black is highly recommended for strengthening vision

A Super-Technique for Relearning How to See

Retype an excerpt from a piece of writing, such as an
inspirational quote, a grammar rule, or a spelling
definition

1 Print the excerpt out in small print As small as you can
read when held at arms length
2 Cut this out and tape it across the top of your monitor

3 Sitting back, take the first letter in the excerpt and
mentally trace an outline around it Include every nook of the
particular font

4 Now close your eyes and visualize the character as filling
your entire field of vision Imagine it is pitch black on a pure
white background See the edges of the character as being very
sharp

5 Open your eyes and trace the letter once more Then read the
entire line

6 Repeat this a few times throughout the day When you feel
your vision is sharper, print out another quote at a decreased
point size Reading small print is like lifting weights with
your eyeballs This technique has created microscopic vision in
its most serious practitioners Many legally blind people, after
intense practice with the Bates Method, now have driver’s
licenses

Unlike Spiderman, we need to work for our “spidey”-powers

Tags | bates, environment, ergonomics, eyestrain, health, important, lifestyle, occupational, perfect, problems, radioactive, result, safety, vision