Chapter 3

Computer Use and Relieving Built-Up Fatigue

When working at a computer terminal, it’s critical to be aware of your position, the lighting, and your overall surroundings. First of all, you should sit at a distance from which you can comfortably read the screen. There should be adequate lighting (natural light is best), but it should not be shining directly into your eyes; nor should it be reflecting off the screen, creating glare. Finally, the computer itself should be positioned where you can easily gaze into the distance: next to a window or a long hallway are good locations.

You can use the features of a computer to your benefit by following data as it appears on the screen or by visually keeping track of the movement of your fingers across the keyboard. Look at the actual shapes of the letters you are typing and be aware of the spaces between them.

Often, however, when we work at computers, we create an “invisible strain” that we don’t really feel. This is the worst kind because if you don’t recognize the strain, you will do nothing about it. And if you are actually straining, then by the end of a day of computer use, your eyes may be red and you will be unnecessarily fatigued.

So, what is it that actually makes you strain as you look at a computer screen? First is the weariness of looking from so close. If you look into the distance three times a day for eight minutes, it can help to alleviate this. Not everyone, however, has that amount of time, so even twice a day would suffice. This can occur before you start to work, during the time you’re working, or at the end of the work day, if your eyes are not too tired. Our suggestion is that you divide it into four: ten minutes before you start to work, six minutes after one hour of working, four minutes after two and a half hours, and six minutes after five hours of working. Twenty to twenty-five minutes of distance viewing during six hours or more in from of a computer is mandatory to keep your eyes healthy and stress-free, providing you also do the other exercises. The main thing is not to strain: do not try to see the distance; instead, scan the distance. From time to time, use the obstructive lenses described in step 8 in chapter 2 to obstruct the eye that sees better from far away, even if the other eye sees better from near. Then take the glasses off and keep looking into the distance.

Every half hour that you use a computer, you should do something different and pay attention to your eyes, even if it’s for a very short moment. If you focus on the rush of information coming from your monitor for very long, it’s easy to disregard your peripheral vision. When this happens, your central vision becomes overtaxed, a situation that may contribute to glaucoma or lead to loss of clear vision. It’s imperative to provide your central cells with some rest by stimulating your peripheral cells. You can accomplish this by doing the peripheral vision exercises, which will enable you to notice the periphery more: you acknowledge the floor, the wall, the ceiling, and your general work environment. When the periphery is being used, you won’t tense your eyes as much.

We suggest taping a small piece of paper between your eyes, waving your hands to the side, and rocking forward and backward for a short moment. If you don’t have a small piece of paper, close your right eye and wave your hands quickly in opposite directions: one is up and one down, one is at right and one at left, while you are looking forward. Then close the left eye and do the same. This practice doesn’t have to last for more than a minute, so it won’t interfere with your work, but it will stop your stress in front of a computer.

Figure 3.1. It is imperative to provide your central cells with some rest by stimulating your peripheral cells.

The long swing can also work wonders because it gets you away from your computer terminal and forces you to do something physical with your entire body along with your eyes. Even if you have only a few minutes to do this, there will be a noticeable improvement in your vision when you return to your computer. The long swing is when you stand looking at your finger and move your body from side to side, thinking everything is moving in the opposite direction of your finger. Blink softly. You don’t need to do it for more than a minute to relax your eyes and keep working. Read more about the long swing in step 1 in chapter 2.

It is also helpful to do the Melissa Exercise every day for five minutes. Place it anywhere in your day when your eyes are not so tired that they won’t respond to an exercise. In this way, fatigue does not accumulate. You can do it during your workday or outside your workday, but do it every day. The Melissa Exercise is when you put a long strip of paper from your forehead to your chin over your nose and take a ball and throw it from hand to hand, as described in more detail in the section on cross-sightedness in chapter 5. It causes independence of the eyes and takes away strain.

Palming for a minimum of six minutes could also be beneficial at some point in your workday, preferably after not more than an hour of sitting at your computer. Palming, described in detail in step 6 in chapter 2, is when you rub your hands, put them over the eyes orbits very gently, with your elbows on the computer desk, preferably with a pillow, and focus on your breathing while relaxing your eyes. If you make palming an intrinsic part of your daily routine, it will help your eyes to recover from any strain they are undergoing. As your day progresses, you should alternate among all of these exercises in order to obtain the most beneficial results.

Throughout your entire workday, be sure to pay attention to the periphery as well as the fact that your two eyes are looking. From time to time, as you are reading the computer screen, put a small piece of paper in front of your nose, covering the strong eye. Then wave your hand to the side of the strong eye and read with your weaker eye. Close your eyes and try to remember the last line you read, and say it to yourself twice. This helps because sometimes the brain will remember only what you read with the stronger eye, and this will force you to read with both eyes.

While working, it’s a good practice to look away from the computer for fifteen seconds every half hour and to work on your peripheral vision for one minute. Put a program on your computer to remind you every half an hour to work on your eyes. When your day is entirely over, it’s good to finish up with a ritual of three minutes of peripheral vision exercises and one minute of doing the long swing. By doing this, the drawbacks of computer work will not affect you as much; in fact, you may even be encouraged to exercise your eyes more.

There are basically two problems that result from using a computer. One is that we are just not meant to stare at a computer for eight hours a day. Our ancestors did not do it, and through them we have developed the kind of eyes that we currently possess. Nowadays, however, nearsightedness is increasing at an astounding rate. What worried William Bates about schoolchildren in New York in the 1920s was that 6 percent of them were nearsighted. Today, 48 percent of kids who attend school in the United States are nearsighted. Sadly, the numbers are even higher in other places: in Hong Kong, it is 62 percent; in Taiwan, 84 percent. The entire world needs to understand the implications. While computers alone may not account for these results, looking from near for long stretches of time is partially responsible. This mode of working tempts us not to use our periphery, which triggers nearsightedness in the first place.

The other difficulty is that pixels have unique properties, and it’s harder for the eye to see them, even though we don’t sense it at the time. The cumulative effect over a period of hours of computer use is substantial. Hence it is important to take our eyes away from the screen periodically and do these exercises. It is also essential to blink frequently yet gently as we are working. Not only will this break the fixation of staring at your computer screen, which contributes to eyestrain, it also serves to moisten the eyes and to reduce tension in the muscles around them. Burning, inflamed, or itchy eyes will eventually be alleviated by blinking.

From time to time, especially when you feel you are not responding to any of the exercises, massage around the eye orbits from the bridge of the nose to the temples and from the nose to the ears. Relax yourself, even if it means only ten strokes (about twenty seconds) of this, which can really remove the accumulated fatigue. If you’re working on a hot day, you can get invisible inflammation in your eyes. Lie down once a day with a cold, damp towel around your eyes.

You need to have zero tolerance for building up unnoticed fatigue. First, you need to be aware of its existence; then you need to remove the fatigue as you progress through your day. The detrimental thing about reading from a computer screen is that we have incorrectly learned to read only the document in front of us, and not to pay attention to our eyes. If we have bloodshot eyes, we go to an ophthalmologist and get eye drops, thinking that fatigue does not adversely affect the eyes. But once it begins to accumulate, nothing will go right with your vision. It can be prevented by managing the fatigue.

It’s important to take a day off sometimes. On that day, don’t use a computer; instead, do some eye exercises. It’s also beneficial to take time off during each day not to look at a computer screen; designate times for using your computer and times when you won’t be using it. Naturally, this will vary with the individual, and whereas some people prefer to enjoy their day, using their computers only at night, others will prefer just the opposite. Once you have decided on the hours you will not be working, you can revive yourself from computer use by doing other things and by paying more attention to everything it kept you from using, like your peripheral vision and your weaker eye. Otherwise, by looking from near, you can strain one eye; looking from far, you can strain the other.

Value your eyes as much as you value the material with which you are working. Similarly, value your breath just as much as you value your project. The moment you make these decisions, the computer will never harm your eyes. If your decision is to ignore them, however, the computer can seriously harm your eyes. Don’t believe people who tell you that a computer can’t damage your eyes—that advice alone is damaging.