{"id":84538,"date":"2014-11-17T11:30:31","date_gmt":"2014-11-17T17:30:31","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/inalj.com\/?p=84538"},"modified":"2014-11-17T15:19:14","modified_gmt":"2014-11-17T21:19:14","slug":"reducing-eye-strain","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/inalj.com\/?p=84538","title":{"rendered":"Reducing Eye Strain"},"content":{"rendered":"

by Clare Sobotka, Head Editor,\u00a0INALJ Idaho<\/a><\/em><\/p>\n

Reducing Eye Strain<\/span><\/h3>\n

\"Clare<\/a>Being a librarian comes with certain occupational hazards that can make work and everyday life more\u00a0unpleasant. Most of those hazards involve computer use. Currently at work I spend most of my time at\u00a0a reference desk, and while I do use a computer there, the breaks are frequent enough that I haven\u2019t\u00a0noticed any strain on my wrists or eyes. At home though, it\u2019s a different story. I spend a lot of time in\u00a0front of the computer sorting e-mails, applying for jobs, reading, writing, and dealing with business\u00a0matters. In addition, I like to spend some of my free time on the computer as well. Unfortunately this\u00a0involves a lot of time staring at a screen and after a while I can feel my eyes hurting. Since I\u2019m currently\u00a0trying to reduce my own eye strain, I thought I would share a few tips:<\/p>\n

1. Getting sleep and taking breaks:<\/strong>
\nI\u2019ve noticed that when I don\u2019t get enough sleep, my eyes strain more when focusing on the\u00a0screen and I get a headache. For most adults, at least five hours of sleep a night is needed to let\u00a0your eyes rest and replenish to avoid popped blood vessels in the eye and dry eyes, although\u00a0you may need more. In addition, taking breaks from the computer or looking away from the\u00a0screen for 20 seconds can reduce eye strain by allowing your eyes to focus on something else.\u00a0If you chronically forget to look away from your screen or take breaks, there are freeware\u00a0applications that will prompt you to do so, such as Workrave<\/a>.<\/p>\n

2. Adjusting your workspace:<\/strong>
\nChanging the lighting in your work area and placing the monitor in the correct position can\u00a0reduce eye strain. Monitors should be about an arm\u2019s length away and directly in front of you,\u00a0while keeping the top of the monitor at or below eye level. Reduce sources of glare by keeping\u00a0your monitor perpendicular to windows and adjust overhead and task lighting. Adjust the\u00a0brightness and contrast of your screen so your eyes are more comfortable.<\/p>\n

3. Shortcuts:<\/strong>
\nSometimes your monitor may be fine and your room is set up well, but you still strain to read\u00a0the font on your computer. There is a computer shortcut for Windows users that enlarges\u00a0internet pages and some Microsoft Office products. I wish I had bothered to look them up\u00a0sooner. If you are using a mouse with a scroll component, holding the CTRL key and scrolling up\u00a0or down will change the page size, or you can use all key shortcuts. Holding CTRL and the plus\u00a0or minus signs will adjust the pages, while CTRL+0 will return the page to normal size. I haven\u2019t\u00a0played with system fonts or with Mac OS shortcuts, but for OS systems some good tips appear\u00a0here<\/a>.<\/p>\n

4. Update video cards, check cables, and check resolution<\/strong>
\nIf the above tactics don\u2019t work, and your computer monitor doesn\u2019t seem quite right, try\u00a0troubleshooting your LCD screen. Update your video cards, choose the correct resolution for\u00a0your computer, and try configuring your color settings. Also check the cable that connects the\u00a0monitor to the computer by unplugging it and plugging it back in again, making sure that the\u00a0post\u00a0connections are secure. To see if there is a problem with the monitor, try using a different cable\u00a0or connect your monitor to a different computer.<\/p>\n

I\u2019m also experimenting with f.lux<\/a> to see if I like it. f.lux changes the color of your computer display\u00a0to match the time of day; during the day it emits a cool blue light and once the sun sets, a warmer\u00a0reddish light. Some studies suggest that the intense blue light our devices emit strain our eyes and\u00a0inhibit melatonin production. Melatonin makes us sleepy, so disrupting its production can throw off\u00a0our circadian rhythms, and we get less sleep. Using a warmer light for the screen display is supposed\u00a0to reduce these problems. It is possible to use your computer settings to reduce the color temperature\u00a0of your computer display, but I like the blue light in the daytime, so I use f.lux. So far, I think that it has\u00a0reduced some of my eye strain late at night; I\u2019m not sure it\u2019s helped my sleep cycle. How-To Geek has a\u00a0good article<\/a> on f.lux.<\/p>\n

Have you experienced eye strain from the computer? What has helped or made it worse? Please share\u00a0with us!<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

by Clare Sobotka, Head Editor,\u00a0INALJ Idaho Reducing Eye Strain Being a librarian comes with certain occupational hazards that can make work and everyday life more\u00a0unpleasant. Most of those hazards involve computer use. Currently at work I spend most of my time at\u00a0a reference desk, and while I do use a computer there, the breaks are…<\/p>\n

Read more \u2192<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":9,"featured_media":57046,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[145],"tags":[69,3592,5878,6677,3653,5874,4389,6678],"class_list":["post-84538","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-articles","tag-article","tag-blog","tag-clare-sobotka","tag-eye-strain","tag-inalj-idaho","tag-rest","tag-self-care","tag-workrave"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/inalj.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/01\/Clare-Sobotka.jpg","jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p1WoMK-lZw","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/inalj.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/84538","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/inalj.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/inalj.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/inalj.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/9"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/inalj.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=84538"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/inalj.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/84538\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/inalj.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/57046"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/inalj.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=84538"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/inalj.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=84538"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/inalj.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=84538"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}