Eye care tips for office workers in winter

Reducing time spent sitting at the computer, adjusting sitting posture, arranging suitable lighting, massaging and cleaning eyes... are tips to limit refractive errors, accommodation fatigue and dry eyes for office workers.

80% is the rate of office workers participating in the online eye care consultation program organized by Vnexpress on November 10. According to Dr. Le Phuoc Quang Huy - Deputy Director of Hitec Eye Hospital, about 25% to 40% of office workers have refractive eye defects, mainly myopia. The rate of people with computer vision syndrome (CVS) with symptoms of accommodation fatigue and dry eyes is even double this number. If not properly cared for, the symptoms are often worse in the cold season.

Adjust sitting posture

According to Dr. Huy, one of the causes affecting the eyes of office workers is the sitting posture at work. The characteristic of incorrect posture is the manifestation of eye fatigue, dizziness and neck pain at the end of the day. In the long run, the eyes are at risk of nearsightedness or rapid increase in nearsightedness.

Incorrect sitting posture causes eyes to quickly become sore and tired.

Doctor Huy advises that the eyes should only look at the computer for a maximum of 8 hours a day. To avoid eye and cervical strain, the desk or computer screen should be tilted 15 - 20 degrees from the horizontal plane. The distance from the eyes to the screen should not be shorter than the length of an arm (from the elbow to the palm).

Appropriate lighting arrangement

Weak, too strong or yellow light all make the eyes have to adjust a lot. The effective choice is to combine natural and artificial light in the workplace to protect the eyes. Use low-wattage lamps with lampshades to limit glare from overhead lights. Do not sit facing the air conditioner to avoid dry eyes.

To reduce glare from your computer, upgrade your monitor or wear glasses with anti-reflective coating. Use large fonts when typing, and regularly wipe away dust from your screen to improve clarity.

Massage your eyes regularly

After about 40 - 45 minutes of work, you should close your eyes for 2 - 3 minutes and massage the area around your eyes for about 5 minutes to improve blood circulation. This helps your eyes recover faster and avoid fatigue.

The correct way to massage your eyes is to use your fingers to gently rotate your eyes; gently stroke the upper and lower eyelids; and use your hands to massage between your eyebrows. You should wash your hands before massaging to avoid causing eye infections.

In addition, you should drink plenty of water, about 2 liters and sleep at least 7 hours a day to keep your eyes healthy.

Eye hygiene and eye instruments

When going out, you should wear protective glasses to prevent wind and cold air from drying out your eyes. You can use artificial tears (eye drops) to clean dirt and increase eye regulation. If essential oils, eye wash, irritants... get into your eyes, rinse with clean water for about 10-15 minutes.

Wind and cold winter air can dry out your eyes, even your mascara.

Dr. Huy noted that wearing contact lenses has a higher aesthetic effect than regular glasses, but can easily cause eye infections, which can cause serious complications and permanently reduce vision. Therefore, you should strictly follow the lens cleaning steps recommended by the manufacturer. In addition, women also need to remove eye makeup and clean makeup tools such as mascara, eyeliner, eyeshadow brushes... before going to bed.

Nutritional supplements for the eyes

According to Pharmacist Nguyen Thu Huong, 75% of office workers suffer from dry eyes due to constant exposure to computers, which reduces the frequency of blinking, leading to dryness of the tear film in front of the cornea. In addition, blue light emitted from computers (blue light) with a wavelength of 400nm - 500nm also greatly affects retinal cells. According to research results of Gifu Pharmaceutical University (Japan) conducted on monkeys, blue light can destroy 80% of retinal cells.

Pharmacists advise that office workers should increase their intake of foods rich in nutrients for the eyes and have the ability to resist blue light rays, such as carrots, bell peppers, tomatoes, gac fruit, fish oil, egg yolks... In addition, they should have a reasonable relaxation regimen, increase outdoor activities, and limit alcoholic beverages.

Regular eye exams

When you see symptoms of refractive errors such as having to squint to see letters, seeing letters and objects blurred, dry and tired eyes, red and swollen eyes, blepharitis, etc., you should see an ophthalmologist and have a regular check-up every 6 months.

If you are diagnosed with refractive errors, you need to wear the correct glasses. Dr. Huy warns that not wearing the correct glasses can quickly increase nearsightedness and cause eye fatigue while working... For office workers over 40 years old, the eyes often show symptoms of decreased accommodation and fatigue more than young people. Therefore, this group of people should change their glasses after about 5 years.

According to VnExpress