Health at work.Tips for teleworking without damaging or tired his eyes

The conditions of teleworking means that we mechanically spend more time on screen.Which is not without consequences on our visual health.We interviewed two specialists in the right techniques to limit this negative impact.Professor Claude Speeg is the head of the Ophthalmology Service of Strasbourg CHRU.Raphaël Amar is orthoptist and director of the visual health center of the Zeiss glasses manufacturer.

Are there visual diseases related to telework?

Claude Speeg: telework does not trigger a disease but can reveal latent imbalances.Ocular drought, oculomotor disorders (the eyes do not converge).And the smaller the screen, the more visual fatigue there is.

Raphaël Amar: Visual fatigue manifests itself by eye pain, headache, cervical pain, a cleared vision, ocular drought.

Is the eye on eye inevitable when you work on screen?

Claude Speeg: the more we are on screen, the less we blink with eyes.A little physiological serum, every two hours, allows you to overcome it.You can also apply on the eyelids a compress of hot water with a clean toilet glove, in order to release the right fats that will help preserve the hydration of the cornea.

When should you take breaks?

Claude Speeg: I have no specific time, but stop for five minutes from time to time is necessary.

Raphaël Amar: a screen break from 5 to 10 minutes every hour, or 15 minutes every two hours seems good to me.By forcing himself to look in the distance to relieve accommodation.

What do you think of massage or "yoga" of the eyes?

Claude Speeg: For eye dryness why not, but if it is a question of correcting accommodation problems, it is better to do it with an orthoptist than alone.

Do you need specific glasses for work in front of screen?

Raphaël Amar: you must already wear your glasses and have glasses suitable for your vision.With the combined use of smartphone and computer, there are many more solicitations of convergence and accommodation.New generations of progressive lenses take into account these factors.

Claude Speeg: Even today, I received a patient who could no longer support her classic progressive glasses.Yes, I think it is good to wear glasses adapted to intermediate vision and near vision (if you are presbyopic).

Are blue light filters really useful?

Claude Speeg: The blue light of TVs, computers, tablets very much disrupts the cycle of melatonin and therefore the sleep cycle.Filters are a good thing, especially since they may protect long-term effects from a degeneration of the macula.

Raphaël Amar: all screens emit blue light, but the sun remains the main transmitter.Current filters stop the harmful fraction of blue light and let the necessary fraction pass to biological rhythms.Visually, there is no color alteration effect.

How should you position yourself in the room?

Claude Speeg: not back to a window.Rather perpendicular to it.

Raphaël Amar: It is advisable to adapt the light, with not too aggressive lighting, but about as bright as the screen.

For visual health, what is the right position in front of the screen?

Raphaël Amar: The right head with the top of the screen up to the eyes.Poor head posture can generate cervical pain.The rule is to position itself at a distance of 1.5 times the diagonal of the screen.

What if we have to work on a laptop?

Raphaël Amar: It is not ideal.You should be able to raise the computer to have the screen in front of your eyes, with a remote keyboard.