The New Year is here, and by now you will have either already returned to work or you will be preparing to head back into the office soon.
As we have become more aware about the potentially damaging effects of the blue light that is emitted from many of the electronic devices we spend our day looking at, it is a good idea to take some precautionary measures to protect your eyes during the work day and at home.
Many workplaces already have health and safety measures in place to help protect your body, but the strain on your eyes is just as important.
Blue light is a particularly intense light wave released naturally by the sun but unnaturally by electrical devices such as smartphones, tablets and computers. The side effects of too much blue light are irritated, dry eyes, headaches, blurred vision, neck and back pain. Some of these may be familiar to you.
It used to be that when you turned the computer off after a day’s work, tidied your desk and left for the day, your eyes would get a reasonable break from blue light. Nowadays, we switch between computers, tablets and phones all day long, and then at home it goes on, as many of us continue to browse our phones and reply to emails into the night.
For adults, limiting screen time as much as we might like to isn’t always possible, so have a read of some of our tips to protect your eyes from Blue Light strain.
Some health and safety tips as you head back to work in 2017:
- Keep the distance between you and the device to at least 40-60cm. Increase the font size on your phone or tablet if you find that you need to hold it closer to your eyes to be able to read the text.
- Adjust the brightness of your screen to a comfortable level – the darker it is, the dimmer you want your screen. Most phones have an auto brightness function that is helpful, and computer screens can be manually adjusted.
- Wear blue light filter glasses at your desk. If you spend a lot of time working on computers, the Shadez Blue Light Filter Glasses are an excellent way to limit blue light. Keep a pair at your desk for use while on your computer, eliminating blue light from a large portion of your daily device usage.
- Try to not use your devices the two hours before bedtime. If you need to, wear protective blue light filter glasses, or adjust your screen brightness to the lowest possible setting. Some phones also have a warmth setting which allows you to make the screen more orange toned instead of blue.
