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Are you suffering from headaches, blurry vision, neck pain, or dry and irritated eyes? Do you have to close your eyes and rest them for a few minutes when you get home from the office?

The millennial office worker faces a new challenge-most of us spend our days chained to a desk doing a variety of tasks on our office PC. Office workers don't face a hardship on their bodies from lifting, standing, or operating machinery, however they face another challenge: staring at a monitor eight hours a day-five days a week. This can cause a condition called CVS computer vision syndrome which is caused by focusing the eyes on a computer monitor for uninterrupted periods of time.

The symptoms listed above are aggravated because of a decrease in the blinking reflex: the normal blink rate is 16-20 time s minute (higher for females) but individuals using a computer for 3 hours or more will subconsciously blink only 6-8 time a minute. This means less lubrication for the eye-which leads to dry, red, and irritated eyes. I had just turned thirty-three when I noticed I after six hours of being on the computer I would get a migraine. It happens every day, two hours after lunch, like clockwork.

I went the doctor and he diagnosed me with severe CVS. I was panicked-wondering what the diagnosis meant. Dr. Bornholdt told me "CVS has never been proved to cause any permanent damage to the eye. But you need to rest your eyes and your eye muscles regularly while you are at work. Look out the window-or across the room at a distance object-do it every twenty minutes. When you focus on a distant object for twenty seconds you allow your eyes a break from the computer." He also wrote me a prescription for medicated artificial tears. After using the drops for a few days I noticed the redness and irritation had disappeared.

According to Dr. Larry K Wan more than 143 million Americans use the computer each day and over 80% of them suffer from computer eye strain. It is the number one major office related health complaint. He warns that prolonged exposure can decrease productivity and increases the number of work errors.

The American Optometric Association recommends the following to reduce eye strain.

1. Get a computer eye exam annually.
2. Use proper lighting.
3. Minimize glare by installing an anti-glare screen
4. Upgrade your monitor with a flat-panel liquid crystal display
5. Adjust the brightness and contrast of your computer screen.
6. Blink more often. Every 20 minutes, blink slowly 10 times.
7. Exercise your eyes.
8. Take frequent breaks
9. Modify your workstation by placing written pages on a copy stand adjacent to the monitor.
10. Consider computer eye wear. You may benefit a customized eyeglasses prescription for your computer work especially if you wear contact lenses with can become dry and uncomfortable from extended computer work.

Learn more about this author, R. Warner.
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