Eye strain can have highly detrimental consequences on a person's vision, resulting in headaches, blurred vision, itching or burning eyes, or an increased sensitivity to light. One of the best ways to avoid these increased levels of eye strain is to create an environment where the lighting accommodates the work.
In most home lighting situations, work such as reading and writing is completed in an office. Light fixtures can be positioned easily in the home office in order to tie the strain on eyes. This lighting needs to be properly placed, however. In lighting your office, make an effort to avoid ambient light that floods the workspace; this can be accomplished by avoiding overhead light fixtures such as fluorescent lights. A much more efficient and attractive fixture is the desk lamp, generally called task lighting. These lamps generate a focused light upon your work so that ambient light is reduced, therefore reducing glare on the workspace and strain on your eyes. Quality manufacturers such as Uttermost and Kichler Lighting produce task lamps that produce light that resembles sunlight; this light is better on the eyes and reduces fatigue in your vision.
Comfortable lighting in an office at your place of business is often a bit harder to achieve. When possible, task lighting should be used in place of overhead fluorescent lights, but oftentimes, overhead lights are already installed for price reasons. In those cases, there are still a few steps you can take to create a more preferred quality of office lighting.
First of all, reduce as much glare as possible. Anti-glare screens for your computer can be bought for a very low price, and in addition to adding a level of privacy, they lessen the glare from ambient light that leads to eye discomfort. Also, darker shades should be employed in rooms with computers; this advice applies both to offices and to the home. In home lighting, decorative shades can be used to reduce sunlight and therefore the homeowner can manage the light more efficiently with lamps; in the office, darker shades of wall paint will reduce glare that would arise from lighter colored walls.
In rooms where computers are going to be the center of the work, lighting should be greatly reduced. In both the home and in the office, sunlight should be eliminated as much as possible; this will decrease the glare on the computer screen and will allow the full resolution of the screen to be reached. Furthermore, desk lamps and overhead light fixtures should be kept to a minimum for much of the same reason as the sunlight; any kind of light showing off the computer screen greatly decrees the resolution of the image and text on the screen, that causing needless strain.
By implementing simple steps, eyestrain can be greatly reduced by customizing your home lighting or office lighting techniques. These small steps can make sure that your vision is protected for the future.
