Lenses, eyestrain, etc.

[Steve Owens <uso01 -at- EAGLE -dot- UNIDATA -dot- COM>]

K. Steele says:
> My optometrist  tells me I could have avoided these specialized
> lenses for many years  had I worked with anything other than computer
> screens.  It's all part of the cost of being in this business.

Speaking of such issues... anybody have suggestions on reducing
eyestrain?

For the last year or so I've been sharply decreasing my leisure
reading and computing (I used to do network stuff for a couple hours
each evening) due to excess eye strain.

A couple of things I do:

1) I sit back in my chair, almost reclined, so my eyes are as far away
as is practical - about arms length, if I stretch out my right hand I
can just touch the screen with my fingertips.  This is a habit I
adopted a few years back after a discussion with my optometrist - the
human eye just isn't designed for looking at tiny things close up, so
the farther away, the better.  It's easier to focus, plus your eyes don't
have to physically "scan" as much.

Of course, as it gets farther away, you're better off with it being
larger, so you can still see it...

2) I wear UV-filtered glasses, and one pair of my glasses is photogrey
- I use them for driving.  I usually use a pair of clip-on sunglasses
for walking outside during lunch, etc.  This is a more serious concern
in Denver, I believe, due to higher altitude and a different lattitude
from where I grew up.

3) When I'm suffering really serious eyestrain, I place a hot, damp
washrag across my eyes to help them relax.

4) When it's severe, I find that the big problem is that the muscles
around my eyes twitch a lot, actually preventing any rest and
relaxation from occurring (I wake up feeling worse than I went to
sleep), so I put a cool-to-chilled damp washrag across my eyes.  I
don't know why, but it helps.  My current theory is that the chill
puts the muscles to sleep, so to speak, allowing them to actually
rest...

        Anybody else have any home remedies or precautions?
(Oh, yeah... for the keyboard stuff, I generally rest the keyboard
on my lap - your wrists aren't designed for your fingers to rest on
a surface sloping up and away from you...)

Steven J. Owens
uso01 -at- unidata -dot- com