Did you know – sight is the sense people fear losing the most, yet many of us don’t know how to look after our eyes?
To support our lovely Policyholders, People and Community, we have teamed up with our wonderful friends at Beacon Centre for the Blind, to share some top tips for how to look after your eyes…
- Take breaks from the screen 📺
It sounds pretty obvious right? We all know that putting that phone done and stopping yourself from mindless social media scrolling is harder than it sounds though. But it will make a difference so why not put the phone down for a couple of nights a week or switch the TV off that bit earlier. You could listen to a podcast, take a bath or even actually phone someone for a chat.
- 20-20-20 💻
The 20-20-20 rule is a really easy to remember to schedule in much-needed breaks for our eyes. It’s basically this, if you are using a computer for any length of time, every 20 minutes, look 20 feet away for 20 seconds. It will give your eye muscles a much-needed break, helping to reduce eye strain, tension and headaches.
- Check your lighting 💡
You might have set yourself up an amazing home working space or perhaps you have found yourself on a new desk back at work, but have you checked the lighting? Don’t sit in the dark but make sure you don’t have any lighting directly behind your screen either – as it will just make it harder to read.
- Positioning 🪑
With many of us working from home, we may be guilty of occasionally balancing our laptop on your knees, the end of the bed or even the kitchen top, but it’s important to ensure you have it in the right position. It should be 18-24 inches away from you and just below your eye level, so you aren’t looking up at your screen. It is recommended to sit comfortably at a desk with a chair that can support your posture and neck muscles.
- Text size ✅
It’s all about being big and bold when it comes to your text. If you are squinting to read it then just increase the size, it makes things that little bit easier. It’s not just text, you can have a play with the contrast on your computer to change the background and text colours to find the contrast that works best for you.
Give some of these tips a go and let us know how you get on, we’d love to hear your stories 🙌
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Beacon Centre is a well-established local charity which provides support and advice to visually impaired people living across the Black Country, Staffordshire and parts of Shropshire.
The Beacon Centre provides a range of services including activity programmes, life skills, digital and IT training, health and wellbeing, low vision advice, residential services, and domiciliary care in the community services. You can learn more about the charity, the services they provide and how you can support them by heading to their website: www.beaconvision.org 🧡