Hei guys,
I trust we are all good? So for a while now I have been talking about the upcoming international ocular health celebration known as the World Sight Day which comes about on the second Thursday of every October and this year happens to be on the 12th of October.
The theme as led by the International Agency for the Prevention of Blindness and World Health Organization for this year is "Love Your Eyes at Work" and I have decided to talk about this theme and our eyes from now till our celebration is done, well even when it is done I think those who follow my writeups are already aware I am a health advocate and is more focused on the eye.
Caring for the Eye in the Office
So I have decided to talk about various professions and how we could protect our eyes at work just as our theme suggests and for today I will be talking about white-collar jobs that demand that we stay in the office to work, with more emphasis on individuals that may have to use a PC or a laptop or something of that sort.
The first thing I am going to talk about is the lighting system in our offices. The eye works with light rays, without it we cannot see much however light rays also carry energy and in some cases could end up damaging our eyes or sight through the destruction of our rods and cones which are responsible for something we call phototransduction (the conversion of light to electricity for the brain to process).
What this means is that our offices should have just the right illumination. it should be too dim as it would affect our vision and our efficiency at work whereas too bright could also pose a long-term damaging effect on our eyes. There are various literature and theories about the right luminance for the office with some suggesting an ambiance of between 800 and 1000.
That is quite good however you should make sure that your lighting system is bright enough that you do not need extra light to see or read clearly, you should be able to find whatever you may be looking for in your office and again, it shouldn't be too bright that entering the office hurts your eyes before you adjust to it, you shouldn't have to squint in your own office.
The next thing is to check the placement of your work machine, While most monitors or screens have anti-reflective coating now, it is still important to ensure that your windows may not have direct light falling on your screen as it may affect its contrast and make work uneasy. You should have blinds available for situations that may require you to limit the amount of light coming from outside if you are in an office that has such exposure.
Finally, if your work demands that you spend hours or perhaps the entire day behind your laptop or computer, then please learn to make use of the night light feature if you do not need perfect color saturation for your work, if you work with images and this may affect your work, I would recommend blueblock lenses from your Optometrist this would do you a lot of good and could prevent computer vision in the future.
Conclusion
Our work and our schedules should not be an impediment to us taking good care of our health and our sight generally. We should always do our best and put our health first because in your absence your void would be filled at the workplace. And so I do hope that by sharing this someone learned a thing or two and has become more conscious of our eye's health at work.
It is always a pleasure serving. I am a licensed Optometrist in Ghana with the Allied Health Professions Council and I seek to share my knowledge on ocular health for the benefit of my dear readers. And so I do hope that you continue to stay with me as we learn together. Remember to avoid over-the-counter medications without proper care, stay safe, and cheers!