5 Things You can Do To Relieve Digital Eye Strain

by
Steve MacDonald

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What do we call this GrokHEALTH? Why not.

Eye strain. Staring at computer screens can you make you smart, dumb, numb, or who knows what, but doing it for long periods of time can also mess up your vision. Someone named it digital eye strain, also known as computer vision syndrome. Symptoms include eyestrain, headaches, blurred vision, dry eyes, and neck and shoulder pain.

The Witch Doctors at Facility Executive.com  have published a list of 5 things they say you can do to alleviate these symptoms and we’ve copied and pasted it here (hey, with attribution) to improve your relationship with our first amendment medium of choice.

  1. Follow the 20-20-20 rule: Take a 20-second break, every 20 minutes and view something 20 feet away.
  2. Keep a distance: The AOA recommends sitting a comfortable distance from the computer monitor where you can easily read all text with your head and torso in an upright posture and your back supported by your chair. Generally, the preferred viewing distance is between 20 and 28 inches from the eye to the front surface of the screen.
  3. View from a different angle: Ideally, the computer screen should be 15 to 20 degrees, or about 4 to 5 inches, below eye level as measured from the center of the screen.
  4. Decrease glare: While there is no way to completely minimize glare from light sources, consider using a glare filter. These filters decrease the amount of light reflected from the screen.
  5. Blink often: Minimize your chances of developing dry eyes when using a computer by making an effort to blink frequently.

Those of you thinking the weeping angels are due here any minute will have a problem with number 5 but if you can withstand the opprobrium of being that much of a Dr. Who fan then suffering through digital eye strain will be easier than ruining half a season writing out Rory and Amy.

Author

  • Steve MacDonald

    Steve is a long-time New Hampshire resident, blogger, and a member of the Board of directors of The 603 Alliance. He is the owner of Grok Media LLC and the Managing Editor of GraniteGrok.com, a former board member of the Republican Liberty Caucus of New Hampshire, and a past contributor to the Franklin Center for Public Policy.

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