I am certain that many of you spend hours working on  your desktops, laptops, mobile phones, then there is  Twitter, Facebook, Email,  Excel, Word, APPS, etc. etc.  Have you considered that all of this constant viewing of computer screens during the many hours of a given day  is having an impact on the ability for us to focus with our eyes?  I know I have not been thinking about the strain, although I have suffered from headaches. I have also had blurred vision during the course of the day, along with  neck and back pain.  That’s why I was interested to learn about a New York Times article by Mickey Meece, which offers solutions for eyestrain caused by computers. via Easing Eye Strain With the Right Lenses – NYTimes.com.  After reading the article, I thought it would be helpful for you to know what else I found out, so here is my synopsis.  As always you can click on the links provided for more details.

Computer vision syndrome (CVS) is a temporary condition resulting from focusing the eyes on a computer display for protracted, uninterrupted periods of time. Some symptoms of CVS include headaches, blurred vision, neck pain, redness in the eyes, fatigue, eye strain, dry, irritated eyes, double vision, polyopia, and difficulty refocusing the eyes. These symptoms can be further aggravated by improper lighting conditions (i.e. glare or bright overhead lighting) or air moving past the eyes (e.g. overhead vents, direct air from a fan).via Computer vision syndrome – Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia. Presbyopia is a condition where the eye exhibits a progressively diminished ability to focus on near objects with age…The first signs of presbyopia – eyestrain, difficulty seeing in dim light, problems focusing on small objects and/or fine print – are usually first noticed between the ages of 40 and 50 . . .via Presbyopia – Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia.

What can you do about eye strain?

♦ In the article by Mickey Meece he discusses special purposes glasses which enhance your ability to see the computer with a sharper focus.

♦ Here’s a list of suggestions I found at the Ergonomics website:
How To Prevent or Treat Eye Strains?

• Take breaks by getting away from the computer desk for a few minutes
• Eyes need to focus at different distances from time to time. It’s a good idea to follow the “20/20 rule” — every twenty minutes, look twenty feet away for twenty seconds
• Every 20 minutes, blink 10 times by closing your eyes as if falling asleep (very slowly). This will help rewet your eyes.
• Blinking is very important when working at a computer; it rewets your eyes to avoid dryness and irritation
• Massaging the temples with your eyes closed for a minute may alleviate the symptoms
• It is recommended that the viewing distance be around 45 inches away at horizontal eye level or 35 inches away with a 30-degree downward gaze angle
• The general rule is to keep viewed material as far away as possible, provided it can be read easily. There is no such thing as sitting too far away from the screen as long as you can comfortably read what is on the screen! And don’t forget that you can increase the font on the screen by zooming into the webpage, document or changing the resolution on the screen.
• keep viewed objects at about the same distance if you have to look back and forth a lot eg. Reading paper documents and looking at the screen to perform a task
• Looking downward means more of the eye surface is covered by the eyelid, and two other things happen: the eyes unconsciously blink more, and they produce more lubrication

Computer glasses put the optimum lens power for viewing your computer screen right where you need it for a clear, wide field of view without the need for excessive focusing effort or unhealthful postures. The simplest computer glasses have single vision lenses.

a. This lens power relaxes the amount of accommodation required to keep objects in focus at the distance of the computer screen and provides the largest field of view

b. The lenses can be tinted to remove reflections of light from the front and back surfaces of your lenses that can cause eye strain. They also reduce glare caused by harsh overhead lighting found in many office environments. Read more about these unique computer glasses via Computer Eye Strain – Eyestrain.

I hope this is helpful! 🙂