One of the biggest complaints I have had in the last two years has been discomfort and eye strain on the computer. It seems like such a simple thing to need to read something and just do it. However, looking up close on a computer is a lot of work for your eyes.
The average worker spends 7 hours/day on the computer. I’m sure your HR department has recommended that you take frequent breaks: the 20/20/20 rule is usually what is recommended. This involves taking a 20 second break to view something 20 feet away every 20 minutes. If you’ve successfully been able to accomplish this regimen I would love to meet you because you sound like a very disciplined person!
Your eyes have to do a few things when viewing something up close (and I mean arm’s length and closer when I say that). First, they need to converge together – both eyes must move inward. The closer the object viewed, the more they need to converge. Second, your eyes need to increase their focus. The closer the object, the more power required to focus. The third is that the pupils get smaller, but that isn’t as relevant for this talk today.
The convergence and focusing that our eyes are capable of is not always enough. If your eyes tend to sit outward or your focusing has gotten worse, this can cause your eyes and surrounding muscles to strain. My patients often complain of even neck pain or dry eye sensations.
Common symptoms include:
- Eyestrain
- Headaches
- Blurred vision
- Dry eyes
- Neck and shoulder pain
There are a few other causes for computer-related eye strain:
- Poor lighting
- Glare on a digital screen
- Improper viewing distances
- Poor seating posture
- Uncorrected vision problems
- A combination of the above
Treatments are many, and may take some experimentation on your part to figure out exactly what works for you:
- Adjust your workspace
- Adjust your lighting. In the room as well as the brightness on your screen. Sometimes blue light coatings on your glasses can really make a difference.
- Anti-glare screen
- Rest breaks (remember that 20/20/20 rule? It can really work!)
- Blinking. I might write an entire blog post on blinking because we don’t do it anymore and it is a HUGE problem. If you aren’t blinking, you aren’t spreading the tears over the surface of the eye enough to keep it wet.
What can your eye doctor do?
- Correct any astigmatism, far-sightedness (hyperopia) or near-sightedness (myopia), or loss of focusing (loss of accommodation/presbyopia) you may have.
- Anti-fatigue glasses can do the focusing for you
- Blue light filters and anti-glare coatings can be a huge help
- Neurolens does the converging for you, and has been life-changing for a lot of patients. This is probably one of the more exciting improvements in technology we have had in a while. You can be screened using a device to determine if this would be a good option for you while at my office.
Vision therapy. Vision therapy is the most versatile way to get your eyes back to their normal function again and help them be able to compensate for the amount of near work being done.