Brief Answer:
Eyestrain

Detailed Answer:
Hi, What you seem to be suffering from is eye strain. Though it could be that you need glasses. Or you need you glasses readjusted as the case may be.

But very commonly in office environments like yours, eye strain is the main culprit.

Eyestrain means different things to different people. It can be experienced as burning, tightness, sharp pains, dull pains, watering, blurring, double vision, headaches, and other sensations, depending on the person. If you have any eye discomfort caused by viewing something, you can call it eyestrain.

2. when using your laptop, the principal factors affecting the ability to see well are:

- glare
-the contrast difference between what is being looked at and its immediate - environment, the amount of light
- the distance between the eye and the screen and document
- the readability of the screen and document
- your vision and corrective lenses

3. Watch out for direct glare. Direct glare involves a light source shining directly into the eyes — ceiling lights, task lights, or bright windows. To determine the degree of direct glare, you can temporarily shield your eyes with a hand and notice whether you feel immediate relief.

4. Reflected glare, such as on computer screens, sometimes causes eyestrain. But its worst effect may be causing you to change your posture to an uncomfortable one, in order to see well. See if you can adjust the light source by turning off unnecessary lights or by closing the window blinds. A visor or hood on the monitor may shield the screen from the light source, or perhaps you can reposition the monitor, keyboard, and yourself to a more favorable angle so the glare is reflected differently.

5. The most overlooked cause of eyestrain in offices is contrast — usually, a dark screen surrounded by a bright background such as a window or a lit wall. The best solution is to find a way to darken the area around the screen. This problem occurs mainly on screens with light letters on a black background. If you can’t darken the area around and behind the screen change the screen colors so the background color is lighter than the text colors. Also try adjusting the monitor brightness and contrast controls.

6. How much light is right? It depends on your age, the quality of the print you’re reading, and other factors. There should be plenty of light for easy reading, but too much can, depending on the person, cause eyestrain.

7. Eyes are strained more by close viewing than by distant viewing. The “right” distance for computer monitors and documents depends entirely on how clearly they can be read at a given distance. The general rule is to keep viewed material as far away as possible, provided it can be read easily!!!

8. If you gaze at something too long, your eyes can tire. Eyes need to focus at different distances from time to time. It’s a good idea to follow the “20/20 rule” — every twenty minutes, look twenty feet away for twenty seconds.

9. If two objects are only a couple of inches different in their distance from the eyes, the eyes actually do NOT have to refocus to look from one to another.
Greater distance differences, however, can overwork the eyes if you have to look from one object to another frequently – — as when typing from printed copy and looking at the screen. In general, keep viewed objects at about the same distance if you have to look back and forth a lot.

10. Can computer work cause nearsightedness? Rarely, according to optometrists. It’s more likely that computer work makes you realize that you need glasses.

11. Sometimes eyestrain is just a case of dry eyes. Lowering the monitor can help. Looking downward means more of the eye surface is covered by the eyelid, and two other things happen: the eyes unconsciously blink more, and they produce more lubrication.

These are some of the tips i can give you. I hope these help.

Vinay

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