Is Staring at a Computer Monitor All Day Making You Feel Sick?
Using computers is a normal part of daily work life for many people, but that doesn't mean that it's necessarily the easiest or most comfortable thing. If you start your day out feeling fine but notice that you start to accumulate symptoms of feeling ill after a few hours of looking at a computer screen, you're not alone. Here's what you could face and what you can do to reduce your symptoms.
Eye Strain
One of the most common problems computer and electronics users go through is eye strain. This comes from staring at a screen that emits blue light. Blue light is just part of the natural light spectrum, but when it's coming from computers there are higher quantities of blue light than say, being outdoors. This can make your eyes feel tired, blurry, or even painful.
Dry Eyes
Another common problem is dry eye. This usually comes from the aforementioned problem of blue light. While using eye drops and taking frequent breaks can help with this, it's not tackling the actual cause of the issue, so it's only going to provide temporary relief.
Headaches
The last symptom that many people go through as a result of staring at blue light all day is severe headaches. These can start out small but can advance to the point of becoming migraines if no steps are taken to prevent it. While painkillers can help, like the other solutions mentioned here, it's only a temporary fix and doesn't address the core problem.
What to Do
Thankfully, just because the most common solutions for these problems doesn't address the issue doesn't mean that there's nothing you can do. Blue light can be filtered, dramatically reducing the amount of these symptoms that you experience. Blue light filters come in many different forms. One of the most common is a blue light filter that's built into your computer. However, these can cause problems for users as they diminish the amount of blue light projected, which dramatically alters the colors on the screen and can make it harder for some people to see what they're doing. In this instance, the best thing you can do to protect your eyes and reduce all of these symptoms is to get a pair of blue light filtering glasses. They're available whether or not you need a vision prescription, so you're bound to find something that works for you.
Similar to UV protection on glasses and sunglasses, blue light filter glasses don't alter the way that the world looks. It keeps excess blue light from passing through the lenses, reducing the amount of eye strain and headaches that you'll experience, while you'll still be able to view the world normally and see what you're doing on the computer screen clearly.