Vision and Computer Ergonomics
Working in front of a computer for hours is tiring. At the end of the day, we may feel our eyes straining, our necks and backs hurting, and overall wiped out. It seems that every year we work more and more in front of a computer station (especially in 2020). Even though we focus much more on ergonomics and have different creative ideas to improve function, like standing desks, or bike pedals under desk, many still find ourselves having issues. From my point of view, many of these problems are visually related, something most people wouldn’t connect. Here are a couple of common cases I see that are easily addressed.
Case 1: No glasses, but headaches and fatigue at the end of the day
Kyle is a project manager that has worked in an office for years, but with changes from the pandemic, has been shifted to a work from home setting. He currently has about 8 hours in front of his laptop. He has never worn glasses or contacts and has always had 20/20 vision. He notices now that he works from home, he tends to have fewer breaks, longer hours, and more headaches, usually in the front of his head, that start with eyestrain. Not only that, but it seems to be getting worse each week! Once he gets off the computer, he watches TV for about 20 minutes, and wants to simply go to bed. Before he would come home from work, cook, and play with the kids, but now he just feels so tired and strained. The only time he feels functional is when he wakes up on Sunday morning.
This case may seem extreme, but is very common for people in their late 30’s working in front of a computer all day. We used to say that visual hygiene was important, taking breaks every 20 minutes for 20 seconds looking 20 feet away. In reality, most people find this impossible to do, especially if they get sucked into their work at home without any distractions. The problem with Kyle is that since he has 20/20 vision, he sees perfectly at 20 feet (hence 20/20). Now, our computers are usually positioned about 18 inches from our eyes to about an arms length away. We have to pull the focus from 20 feet or further, all the way up to 18 inches. This is not usually very difficult to do, especially for thirty-something year-olds. Compare it to lifting up an arm and keeping it in front of you. But, just like lifting an arm, focusing at near can become tiring. Maybe not as quickly as arm fatigue, visual fatigue can set in. After several hours, vision starts to blur at near, sometimes doubling. Focus seems to come and go, and the brain and body feel fatigued. At the end of the day, the eyes actually feel the physical strain, and when it’s time to close the laptop, we find Kyle with a headache and fatigue. After holding his arms up for a whole day, they would probably fall off. His eyes probably won’t fall out of his head, but they sure feel terrible.
A simple solution that we work with is to make a custom tailored pair of anti-fatigue computer lenses. These are made to bring that strain down so the focal point of the eyes is much closer to the computer, rather than at 20 feet away. The strain relief is immense, and when used in conjunction with a blue light filter anti-reflective coating, patients are very satisfied and usually let me know that they have a new favorite pair of glasses. Now Kyle can play with his kids, cook, and enjoy his evenings. Way to go, Kyle!
Case 2: Maybe the glasses aren’t designed for this computer task.
Virginia has been wearing progressive (blended bifocal) lenses for the past 15 years and has been on the computer most of the day for her accounting job. She still goes into the office every day, but has been noticing more tension headaches at the end of the day. Nothing has really changed, but she wonders what’s going on and sees Dr. Mark for an eye exam. There was one key question that made everything make sense: “Do you find yourself tilting up your head to see the computer screen?” “YES!” Virginia has been straining her neck because her progressives see clearly at the computer, but only at the bottom of the lens. This neck pain can cause tension headaches, which in some cases, may be debilitating.
This is another common case that I see, as many people wear progressives for an “all around” lens. This term makes sense for doing a little of everything, from driving, to reading labels at the grocery store, to cooking and cleaning, but, in reality, they are not so great for sustained tasks. Again, this is where the computer anti-fatigue lens triumphs. We measured the working distance for Virginia’s two screens, and found the best prescription to relax her vision and give her the full field of clarity, so she doesn’t have to move her head or neck to make things readable. Despite being an extra pair of glasses on top of the one pair that is supposed to help her do everything, she is so much happier with these specialized glasses, and at the end of day, feels so much better.
There are so many more stories like these, and if you find yourself having issues with the computer at work, or having headaches or eyestrain, schedule an eye exam with Dr. Mark, and let’s get you in proper lenses for the tasks at hand. Ask him about more of these stories too!