World Sight Day

Your alarm goes off, it’s another Thursday morning. Gulp! Down goes your boiling-hot coffee whilst simultaneously trying to put on your socks, a glance down at your watch and it’s time to leave. You rush out the front door ready for another Thursday, same as the one before.

Only today isn’t any other Thursday. Today lands the second Thursday of October which makes it none other than World Sight Day! A perfect day to take a step back from our busy lives and reflect on what you are doing to keep our eyes healthy.

World Sight Day is a global event which highlights the importance of Vision and Eye Health as well as drawing attention to blindness and vision impairment. This year’s theme is ‘Love your eyes at work’ and the event is especially focused on prioritising eye care in the workplace. In the technologically advanced times we live in, it would be safe to say that most jobs include looking at a form of screen for at least some part of the working day. Whilst the creations of the modern-day PC, laptop or tablet has certainly made our lives easier, with everything so quickly accessible at the click of a button or scroll of a mouse, screens can often cause eye strain or at least some level of visual discomfort. There is in fact a medical term for this, it is ‘asthenopia’, or in this day and age ‘Computer Vision Syndrome’ and some of its symptoms include; tired eyes, blurred vision, and headaches. However, do not fear, before you throw your PC screens out the window in a panic or begin consulting back to those dusty old paper files, have a read of these few tips and soon Computer Vision Syndrome can too be a thing of the past.

1. “The 20-20-20 Rule”
To combat eye strain when looking at screens, eye specialists have recommended the 20-20-20 rule which suggests that for every 20 minutes looking at a screen, you should take a 20 second break and look at something around 20 feet away. Simple but extremely effective in preventing feelings of tiredness and strain in your eyes.

2. Moving your monitor
Make sure that you are not sitting too close to your monitor, studies suggest that your computer screen should be a good 50-70 cm away from you. It is also best that your monitor is positioned away from any incoming sunlight, for example light streaming from a window, as any outside glare can add further strain to our eyes.

3. Device Settings
There are many ways you can adjust the settings of your screen to keep eye strain at a minimum. Lowering the brightness of your display so it is similar to that of your surroundings can minimise eye fatigue. Furthermore, adjusting the size of text when reading or writing long documents for comfort can prevent unnecessary straining of the eyes.

4. Getting regular eye tests
Regular eye tests are extremely important when it comes to taking care of your eyes as well as preserving good vision. Using your old pair of glasses with an outdated prescription can cause difficulties in reading which would consequently strain your eyes. As well as ensuring you have an up-to-date prescription, eye examinations also allow the optometrist to identify signs of eye or other health conditions which could be occurring without symptoms. Here at Valli Opticians our tailored eye tests will meet your individual needs and as well as checking your vision, so if you haven’t had your eyes tested in a while, get yourself at any one of our practices.

And so you have it, with these few simple tips and tricks you prevent eye strain from ever being a pain at work again.

However here at Valli Opticians we go that one step further. Any employers who wish to play a direct role in looking after the eye health of their employees should definitely be interested our Valli Co-Optic scheme. Looking after the health of your employees’ eyes is important, it is not only a legal requirement but shows your team that you care about them. Our Valli Co-Optic scheme makes that simple and ensures a top-quality service, whilst reducing all that extra admin and paperwork. By creating a Co-Optic user account and purchasing eyecare vouchers, your employees will be able to book into any of our Valli Branches, exchange their vouchers for eyecare services and get unbelievable discounts for themselves and their family. It’s almost too good to be true.

So today take some time to think about the importance of your eye health and how you can make it a priority in your busy working lives and most importantly have a very happy World Sight Day!

By Hinaa Munshi
Optometry student at the University of Huddersfield