Working in Front of The Computer Could Damage Eyesight
Working in front of the computer could damage eyesight
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A recent Japanese study found that people that stare at a computer screen all day long are more predisposed of making conjunctivitis and other inflammatory conditions, compared to people that are not exposed to screen radiations.
The study focused on revealing the degree of dryness in people’s eyes. According to the results, people who work in front of computers for more than 7 hours per day have a decrease in a mucus-like protein that is responsible of keeping the eye moist. As well as this, it appears that individuals that concentrate their view on computer screens all day long have the tendency to blink less or less frequently, compared to regular workers.
According to the Japanese study we’ve mentioned above, when reading a book, people blink more often than when they work with computers.
One of the study’s authors, Dr. Yuichi Uchino, claims that individuals have the tendency to open their eyes wider when looking at computers’ screens and, because of the concentration, their blinking becomes infrequent. In fact, when comparing results of the study with info about people who have been diagnosed with eye dryness disease, the doctor found that the protein we were talking about earlier on has similar values to people who work in front of a computer.
For instance, while people with definite dry eye disease have a concentration of 3.5 ng/mg in MUC5AC, individuals who spend more than 5 hours per day in front of the computers have a concentration of 5.9 ng/mg. Dry eye disease is quite frequent; it’s encountered in more than 5% of the Earth’s present population and its prevalence rises up to 6 to 8% in postmenopausal women and up to 34% in elderly individuals. The scientific name of the condition is keratoconjunctivitis sicca, which in Latin translates as a dry inflammation of the cornea and conjunctiva. It’s also been found to affect some animals, as well.
Some tips for keeping your eyesight in good condition can be found in a former article we’ve written this week.
So how do you keep yourself out of this condition’s reach? If you do work in front of a computer all day long (like so many other people do, nowadays), there may be methods of avoiding dry eye disease. You should change the position of the computer’s screen so the light does not face you directly. As well as this, it is highly recommended you don’t sit in the pathway of air conditioning devices. Not only will the wind dry your mucous membrane more than the usual but these systems sometimes can spread dust particles in the air of an office, which can, obviously, reach the surface of your eyes.