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Your health - headaches and eye strain
Computer and Health
What are headaches and eyestrain?
Headaches can be caused by many different factors and are one of the most common reasons people visit their GP. Most headaches are not serious and usually disappear on their own. They can be relieved by mild painkillers, or a positive change in lifestyle.
Eyestrain is also a common complaint among people doing 'close' work e.g. those who work using computer monitors. Eyestrain can be a trigger for headaches, but can usually be avoided by following simple guidelines.
What are the signs of headache or eyestrain?
A headache can range from a mild, throbbing feeling to a sharp, stabbing pain. Headaches can affect your whole head or just a part of it. The pain may move around, affect your vision or even cause nausea and vomiting. The two most common types of headache are tension headaches and migraine.
Tension headaches do not usually last for a long time. Common symptoms of a tension headache include
- a generalised pain, i.e. not restricted to any one part of the head
- a feeling of 'tightness' around the head or neck or across the eyes
Migraine, often a severe headache, can put you out of action for up to three days. This type of headache is usually restricted to one side of the head and accompanied by nausea and/or vomiting. Other symptoms can include
- blurred vision
- seeing flashing lights
- having blind spots
- impaired speech
- a tingling feeling in the face or arms
Eyestrain can be a cause of headaches at work. You may be suffering from eyestrain if
- you are aware of tightness, itching or irritation in or around your eyes
- you often screw up your eyes or have difficulty focusing on distant objects after focusing on near ones for any length of time, or vice versa
- you experience temporary blurring of vision
- you experience headaches, or dizziness
What can cause headaches or eyestrain?
There are various different types of headaches and many different triggers. Such triggers include
- stress
- bad posture
- stuffy work area
- eye strain
- alcohol misuse
The cause of migraine headaches is alteration to the size of blood vessels near the brain. Some known triggers include
- certain foods, such as chocolate or dairy products
- alcohol
- prolonged stress
- bright lights, loud noises or strong smells
- for women, use of the oral contraceptive pill
Computer users may suffer eyestrain if they spend long hours in front of a computer screen and
- have poor eyesight
- have poor contrast on monitors, or difficult to read screens
- have bad lighting
- have a poor viewing angle
- are working too close to a computer monitor and/or document
How can headaches or eyestrain be treated?
Most headaches will usually clear up by themselves, or with the help of mild painkillers such as paracetamol, aspirin or ibuprofen. Be careful not to over use any painkiller - always read the label, or get advice from your pharmacist.
If you are suffering with a headache, try to
- take a break and relax
- relieve tension by stretching or massaging the muscles of your face, neck or head
Visit your occupational health physician or your GP immediately if you are experiencing any of the following symptoms:
- your headache keeps getting worse and/or has not cleared up after five days and/or does not respond to mild painkillers
- you have severe pain and blurred vision in or around the eye area, with nausea or vomiting
- you suddenly get a heavy throbbing pain in either of your temples, with nausea or vomiting
- you have constant vision disturbance
- you are experiencing recurring headaches with memory problems, lack of concentration and tiredness
What can I do?
The following simple guidelines can help prevent headaches and eyestrain at work:
- Make sure that your chair, desk and monitor are in the most comfortable position for you. Always sit upright with your back supported and use a footrest if your feet do not touch the ground.
- Avoid strong contrast of light between the monitor and the physical background.
- Make sure your monitor is clean, and try using an anti-glare screen.
- Make sure you work in a well-ventilated room, or try and work near an open window.
- Take regular breaks and walk around occasionally. Set the contrast and brightness of your display to a comfortable level.
- If you are typing a document onto a computer, make sure that both the document and the computer screen are at the same distance from your eyes; try using a document holder.
- During breaks, focus on something further away to rest your eye muscles.
- Make sure you have regular eye tests as advised by your optician.
- Try and avoid stress at work.
- Get a good night's sleep.
- Avoid misusing alcohol.
- If you smoke, try and stop, and cut down your intake of caffeine during the week.
Help relieve headaches with this simple exercise.
More information
Health and safety (Display screen equipment) Regulations 1992
Migraine Action Association
The Migraine Action Association is a registered charity, which aims to bridge the gap between the migraine sufferer and the medical world by providing information on all aspects of the condition and its management.
Organisation for the Understanding of Cluster Headaches
The Organisation for the Understanding of Cluster Headaches (OUCH) aims to increase awareness of cluster headaches and provide for sufferers and their families.
Sussex University Assistive Technology Centre tips on avoiding eyestrain
This is part of the website of the Assistive Technology Centre at Sussex University and gives good advice on avoiding eyestrain.
London Hazards Centre
The London Hazards Centre is a resource centre for Londoners fighting health and safety hazards in their workplace and community. This article focuses on eyes and vision within the workplace.
- contact lens irritation
- eye strain
- blurred vision
- computer vision syndrome
- irritation & burning
- night vision syndrome
- cataract
- dry eye syndrome
- lactic acid build-up
- retinal disease
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Health & safety
Because there are so many children of varying ages and sizes in a before
and after school care program, it is essential to pay attention to health
and safety issues. Children need to be taught simple safety principles from
the time they begin using computers. Don't overlook the obvious when children
use computers. For children as well as adults, bad posture can cause sore wrists, eye fatigue, headaches, neck strain and even back pain. Since kids may be using computers both at home and at school, there is the potential for problems to develop over time.
To prevent eye problems, avoid flickering lights or glare on the screen, and look away from the monitor frequently. (This is true for video games also.) Get up and walk around (moving around rests both the eyes and the body), focus on a distant object, remember not to stare at the screen, and blink often.
Furniture that is used should be safe and adjustable so it fits each child. If you can't find sturdy, adjustable furniture, have some available that fits the different sizes of the children using it. Because many sizes and shapes of children will probably be using a computer area that has been set up for one "size" of students, careful monitoring of the physical set up should occur when each new student sits down. Make the appropriate adjustments for each child according to the guidelines listed below.
FAQs on myopia
Q. What is myopia?
A. Myopia is commonly known as "short-sightedness". A person with myopia is able to see close objects clearly but objects that are further away will appear blurred.
When the normal eye looks at an object, light rays from the object enter our eye. These light rays are bent at the cornea and the eye lens before forming an image on the inner layer of the eye called the retina. This image is then transmitted by nerve signals to the brain. The brain interprets these signals so that we see the object.
If the light rays are focused directly on the retina, we see a sharp image. Myopia occurs when the light rays from distant objects are focused in front of the retina instead of on it, resulting in blurred images on the retina. This is usually because the eyeball is too long or sometimes the cornea and lens do not bend the light rays properly.
Q. What are the complications of myopia?
A. Undetected myopia before the age of 6 years old can lead to amblyopia (lazy eye) and eventually blindness in the affected eye.
Severe myopia can lead to potentially blinding conditions such as _ retinal detachment (a condition when the retina separates from the eyeball)
Eye discomfort in the office
What is the significance of "good" lighting? Office work is visually demanding and has always required good lighting for maximum comfort and productivity. "Good" lighting means providing enough illumination so that people can see printed, handwritten or displayed documents clearly but are not blinded by excessively high light levels (a cause of glare). The introduction of computers in the 1970's increased the visual demands of office work and made lighting design even more challenging. While typewriters were being exchanged for computers, the need for redesigning or rearranging office lighting was commonly overlooked.
What are signs of poor lighting? The most common complaints resulting from poor lighting are: eyestrain, eye irritation, blurred vision, dry burning eyes, and headaches. Poor lighting affects not only the ocular system but can also contribute to stiff necks and aches in shoulder area. These problems can occur when people adopt poor or awkward postures when trying to read something under poor lighting conditions.
Vision / eye strain
Visual problems, such as eyestrain and irritation, are among
the most frequently reported complaints by computer operators. These
visual symptoms can result from improper lighting, glare from the
screen, poor positioning of the screen itself, or copy material that is
difficult to read. These problems usually can be corrected by adjusting
the physical and environmental setting where the computer users work.
For example, work stations and lighting can and should be arranged to
avoid direct and reflected glare anywhere in the field of sight, from
the display screen, or surrounding surfaces.
You also can reduce eyestrain by taking vision breaks, which
may include exercises to relax eye muscles after each hour or so of
operating a computer. Changing focus is another way to give eye muscles
a chance to relax. You only need to glance across the room, or out the
window, from time to time and look at an object at least 20 feet away.
Other eye exercises may include rolling or blinking the eyes, or
closing them tightly for a few seconds.
