Setting Yourself Up for Great Eye Health when Working from Home
Since the emergence of the COVID 19 pandemic, working from home has become the new normal all over the world. This shift in normal routine and operations has led to serious problems, inclusive of eye problems. Many people are looking forward to finding solutions to these problems. This article focuses more on some solutions that can help you get comfortable in your normal routine and ensure that you are set to enjoy a great eye health.
Define your Space
Probably, you have a small office space at home. If you do not have a working space and you work from anywhere in the house, setting up an office space is integral in ensuring that your eye are safe. This is the same as working in the office. Just like a normal office has good lighting and an open and comfortable working space, a home office should also feel the same. You might be using your laptop most of the time. Ensure that you set up the monitor at an appropriate distance from your eyes. Staying too close or too far to the monitor can result to straining of the eye, which in the long term causes serious eye problems. You might also suffer from eye irritation and muscular issues when you stay too close or too far from the monitor.
Setting up the monitor at about 40 to 70cm from your eyes not only ensures that your eyes are safe, but also allow your body to maintain an upright posture, enabling your body o naturally relax. This results to minimal or no muscle strain. Similarly, ensure that your working chair is also placed at an appropriate level. When seated, your feet should rest on the ground without bending your knee. This is of huge benefits to both your back and your legs as you are able to continue working without any difficulties.
Sitting upright also helps your body in that you can easily get up and stretch when you are tired. Stretching the body is important because staying in the same position for long affects posture and can lower the flow of blood to the muscles. In addition to that, you should also be mindful of the lighting in your workspace. Working in an improperly lit area can also cause eye strain. This will be worse if you are using a brightly lit computer and constantly have to shift from using the computer to paperwork. Working in a properly lit area has several benefits to the eyes. Some of the tips that you can look up to when setting yourself up include the following;
- The 20/20/20 Rule
Working from home requires you to take breaks from the screen. This gives your eyes time to rest. The 20/20/20 rule implies that for every 20 minutes, take 20 seconds to look at an object that is at least 20 feet away. This helps you break up your workday in a way that benefits your eyes. This also eases up your eyes on continual focusing while working.
- Hydrate
Hydration is very important for the body. Taking water keeps the body active and refreshed for longer hours, enabling you to push further. It is recommended that you take scheduled water breaks that correspond with the 20/20/20 rule. When you are on break, you should also sip your water slowly as you relax and protect your eyes. Dehydration has negative impacts on your body in that it can negatively affect your eyesight and cause headaches and dry eyes. The good thing is that working from home gives you access to a water source, where you can wash your eyes when you feel they are dry. You also have regular water intakes when at home, and your body will be grateful for this.
- A change in Perspective
Everyone suffering from eye problems wants to make their lives much easier. Vision correction eye procedures can help solve eye problems by removing the hassle of wearing glasses or contact lenses every day. This does not mean that eye glasses and contact lenses are bad. They help in correcting vision for a certain period. However, wearing them daily may cause several discomforts some of which include the following.
Cons of every day eye wear.
- Wearing contact lenses on a daily basis can cause dryness of the eye. This can make you scratch your eye from the outer side, which can in turn cause infection.
- Eye glasses may also be unacceptable in some types of work such as firefighting or even some active sports. This is because these kind of work require frequent movement and your glasses may fall off, or may break when you are wearing them. This endangers your life.
- Some contact lenses may also slip from the center of the eye easily, and this can be very dangerous if your entirely rely on the glasses for a good vision.
- With contact lenses and eye glasses, you require constant visits to the doctor for checkup.
- When using contact lenses, you are required to change them frequently to prevent eye irritation. You also need to keep them inside a cleaning solution, which if you do not have, then contact lenses are of no good use.
- If you lose your eyeglasses, chances are that you will not go about your daily activities with ease like you should.
Most people need a life-changing and permanent solution to their eye problems. Although all these eyewear helps to temporarily correct eye vision and to help you get through the day with ease, they can make your eye dry out which will in turn cause eye irritation. This can get worse, especially if you are sending the whole day looking at a computer. You have to take care of your eyes and find the best and long-term solution to increase your productivity during the quarantine period. This is so because we are spending most at home, and we are prone to eye discomforts and injuries.
