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Lighting

Light that bounces (reflects) off different objects stimulates the nerves in your eyes that produce the images you see. When there is good lighting, you see clearly with little or no effort. When the lighting is poor or uneven, you have to squint and force your eyes to adjust in order to see clearly. Because your body uses many eye muscles to see, and lighting affects how hard these muscles work, lighting has a great impact on proper office ergonomics.

If you repeatedly change the focus of your eyes, your eye muscles must continually work to readjust, which strains the muscles in the eye. When you look at an object that is close and then quickly look at something far away, it takes a second or two for your eyes to refocus.  Even if the second object is only a few feet away, your eye muscles have to make minor adjustments to focus on the new object. The processes of focusing and refocusing your eyes happen all day long, and after a while, your eye muscles get tired from this workout.

Lighting also has a great affect on how clearly you see. Your eyes naturally focus on well-lit or bright objects. For example, if your computer screen has a white reflection from an overhead light, your eyes will naturally focus on the reflection and not on your work. To keep your focus on your work, you will have to consciously keep your eyes from focusing on the bright reflection. This “forced” focusing puts great strain on eye muscles, which is why many people who work on computers for long periods frequently have eyestrain.

To prevent eyestrain, it is important that your work area have proper lighting that includes:

  • Lighting that is consistent across your entire work area. For example, if you are copying a document, the document should be as bright as your computer monitor.
  • Lighting that does not reflect off your computer monitor. Tilt your computer monitor slightly to remove any glare, but be careful not to tilt it so much that you have to strain your neck to see it.

To prevent eyestrain, it is also important to:

  • Give your eyes a break during the day. Close them for a few moments or cup your hands over your eyes to give your eye muscles a chance to focus on nothing and relax.
  • If you are looking at things close by, such as your monitor or a report, change your focus to a distant object, about 25 feet away or more, for 5-10 seconds every hour.

See the Eye Relaxer section for additional information.