Working or gaming can take a toll on your eyes. Here are a few helpful eye-care tips to keep you gaming and your eyes from straining.
- Eye Ergonomics: Set up your monitor so your eyes are level with the top of your monitor screen. That way, you are just looking down which doesn’t cause strain in your neck or shoulders. With an Evodesk monitor arm on your standing desk that’s an easy fix because you can just adjust the screen higher or lower until your eyes are at just the right height– whether you are sitting or standing. This makes it more comfortable for your neck and is the proper ergonomic posture for less strain and more comfort
- The Right Screen Distance: The Occupational Safety & Health Administration (OSHA) says that your eyes should be 20 to 40 inches away from your screen for maximum eye comfort. But if you don’t have measuring tape, stretch your arm out and so your fingertips are barely touching the screen. Also make sure the screen surface is directly in front of you on the standing desk to reduce any neck strain.
- Healthy Food for Your Eyes: The CDC advises that dark leafy green and fish are just what the optometrist ordered. Real Simple goes in depth: Omega-3 fatty acids are great for eye health and lutein and zeaxanthin are awesome because they, “may improve vision by reducing the stressful effects of glare and exposure to bright light” by absorbing some of the light. If you can balance a kale, spinach, and fish salad while you are raiding, more power to you.
- “I Think We Should Take a Break…”: No you aren’t breaking up with your game, and you don’t have to start seeing other people, just follow to 20/20/20 rule. After 20 minutes of gaming, look at something 20 feet away and look at it for 20 seconds. We get it, sometimes your feel like you don’t have 20 seconds every 20 minutes, but if you make time, it’s a small price to pay for your eyes. If you set and alarm, you can time it for those moments and even throw in a standing break on your power adjustable desk. So that’s two healthy bonuses for the price of… none since standing is free.
- Is it Okay to Play in the Dark?: Watching T.V. in the dark isn’t the best for your eyes because the brightness fluctuates so much and so often that it is making your eye work harder than usual. In order to keep your eyes from dilating and constricting play with the lights on and adjust the settings on your monitor for clearer game play. One trick is to head to one of the darker areas of your game and adjust the brightness settings while you are there. That means you’ll be able to pick everything out when you are in a cave or looting in a darker dungeon. Don’t miss out on hidden treasure and don’t mess with your pupils. It’s a win-win.
- How to Take Care of Your Contacts: I’m not going to lie, when I read these facts from Real Simple I was disturbed. Only 2% of people take proper care of their contacts. In a survey, the most common contact no-no was people using spit instead of contact solution to re-hydrate dry lenses. (Dry heaving.) Sorry about that. So in addition to using contact solution, wear glasses once a week to give your eyes a break, and please… just please don’t ever think it’s okay to put spit in your eye.
- Battle the Glare: There are a few ways to keep the glare off your screen and any gamer knows that glare can distract like a side quest that ends up having nothing to do with the story. “Sure lady, I’ll find your lost goat but if you don’t give me a lead on the main quest, I’m going to eat him.” When you are setting up your standing desk battle station, try to position it or the monitor arm to be perpendicular to any windows. If that’s not possible, you can try blackout curtains or an anti-glare screen.
And there you have it. There are a ton of other tips for gamer eye health, but this is a great list to give your eye an advantage. When you want to optimize your gaming experience and your eye health, follow these tips. Keep your eyes sharp and get on your feet with a standing desk at the right eye height. Build your gamer battle station here.
