![]() ![]() There's a rule floating around the web to look at something 20 feet away for 20 seconds every 20 minutes. ![]() Tip: Take regular breaks from looking at your screen to refresh your eyes. So even if you're just feeling a little strain or dryness in your eyes, it's worth adjusting your setup to avoid it getting any worse. Between 64% and 90% of computer users experience visual symptoms. It's clear, though, that eyestrain from looking at a screen too much is no joke. It generally comes from a mixture of bad computer-viewing habits and existing visual impairments, and the symptoms are usually temporary. CVS includes symptoms like eyestrain, dry eyes, and blurred vision, as well as headaches and neck and shoulder pain. Keep Those Peepers Healthyīesides the light coming from your computer, how does looking at a screen all day affect your eyes? It can actually have quite a nasty side effects for some people.īelieve it or not, there's a condition called computer vision syndrome. Just don't forget to disable it if you're doing design work, or you might start wondering why your colors are looking a bit odd. It's a free program that adds a warm glow to your screen after sundown, limiting the blue wave light hitting your eyes so the strain will be lessened if you're working into the night. Blue light is actually beneficial during the day, as it can boost attention and reaction times, but becomes detrimental after sunset when our bodies want to start winding down for sleep. Studies have shown that exposure to blue light can suppress melatonin for up to twice as long as exposure to green light. The more time you spend free of blue light before bed, the easier you should be able to fall asleep. Professor Rajatnam from Monash University's school of Psychology and Psychiatry recommends two hours before bed if you can manage it. Tip: Turn off all electronics at least one hour before bedtime. Melatonin helps our bodies know when it's time to fall asleep, but looking at screens producing blue light for hours at night can suppress our melatonin levels enough that it becomes difficult to fall asleep. Part of the problem with blue light is that it suppresses the production of melatonin, a hormone that helps us regulate our sleeping cycles. For most electronics, a lot of the light they send to your eyes is short wavelength blue light-reportedly the worst offender for offsetting our natural sleep/wake cycles. The part you can't control is the type of light that your screens emit. It's not just the brightness of your screen you should be worried about. You can also invert the colors on most mobile phones so your eyes aren't hit with a bright white screen late at night. At night you might find light-colored text on a dark background is a relief for your eyes. Tip: Many programs, including text editors, IDEs, and writing apps include a night mode that inverts the colors. They also suggest maintaining high contrast for reading on a screen-black text on white works best, but other dark colours on light backgrounds should also minimize eyestrain. Wan suggest keeping your screen brightness at a similar level to the brightness of your workspace. How Bright is Your Screen?Ī bright screen might make everything look sharper, but it's not good for your eyes. How do those backlights affect our eyes? What about eye strain from looking at a screen all day? ![]() The more digital our work becomes, the more screens we need to look at, more often.īut it would be remiss of us to adjust to this increasing amount of screen time without questioning how it affects us physically. If you're like me-and millions of others-you probably spend a lot of your time looking at a screen. ![]()
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