Common eye problems > Computer and eye strain

If your work includes sitting behind the computer for a long time, straining your eyes, you surely have experienced that after a certain time the pain in the eyes, head, neck and back begin. You are getting very tired and wish to be home as soon as possible. These eye strain symptoms are felt by many people who work long hours with the computer and strain their eyes.

The question is, whether the computer really harms our eyes or if these problems can be foregone.

The answer is somewhere in the middle. For now, it is not 100% proven that straining your eyes using computer has an influence on worsening of your sight. It is also true that the above mentioned eye strain symptoms relate to most people who work with the computer. These problems are not permanent. If you rest for a few days and leave the computer turned off it is more than probable that you will fell well again. The pain in the eyes, head, neck and back usually draw back and the fatigue also goes away.

What then causes the eye strain, pain and burning in the eyes, headache, neck and back pain?

When you work on the computer, it is a unilateral activity without any changes in the body position, and the demands on sight are very high. The working distance is usually very short – from 30 to 80 cm, sight shifting between the screen, keyboard and the proposition is very frequent – this uses extreme effort from the intraocular muscles, which are non-stop working. Very unpleasant are also the reflections from the screen, turned on air conditioning, unsuitable lighting, and wrong sitting position.

When all these factors are combined, we get very fast beyond the border of our possibilities and any additional work is a struggle.

How to work correctly on the computer?

Lighting

The surrounding of the working area should be lighted enough. It is not very ideal to use fluorescent lamps, because of the oscillation. We should rather use daylight or classical light bulbs.

Screen

Here we should stick with the rule – the better the quality, the better for your eyes. The screen should be large enough, so that you don't have to focus on small letters. LCD screens are better than the classic CRT screens because it works on the principles of oscillation (which means that it flashes) – if you have a CRT screen, it would be better to set it on the highest frequency. Also if the brightness of the screen is set on too high, it can make your eyes tired. It is good to set the brightness according to the conditions you are working at (artificial lighting, daylight, etc.)

Distance from the screen and the keyboard

The ideal distance should be about 60 cm from the screen and 40 cm from the keyboard.

Correct body position

Very useful is to have a positioning chair so we can set it to different positions – from the point of height, as well as the position of the backrest. We should sit straight, not slouching. Everything we need for our work should be close by so we don't do any complicated movements.

Winking

When working on the computer, we wink 15 times less then with other activities. This causes excessive drying-out of the cornea, which leads to the feeling of scratching and cutting in the eye (especially with wearers of the contact lenses). So we should not only try to wink a lot more, but also use the lubricating drops (artificial tears), which can maintain the humidity even if you wink less.

Elimination of reflections

Working in an environment, where everything is shiny is very disturbing. That's why it is good to avoid very glossy working area; the objects near you shouldn't also be very shiny. We should rather choose darker and mat furniture. The reflections also refer to your eyeglasses, if you wear any, because the screen is reflected in the lenses, which decreases the sharpness of sight. So it is better to have high quality eyeglasses with anti-reflex layer on the lenses.

Accurate correction of your visual defection – it is strongly recommended to visit your optician at least once a year to measure the sight.