Do you suffer form tired and dry eyes because of your computer? Do you experience that awful headache, that strained feeling, or the pulling behind your eyes.
I did so I decided to look into what, if anything, could be done to improve matters.
To get immediate relief I bought these eye drops. They had great reviews so I gave them a try. I used these lubricant eye drops for about 3 months and I can report that it has really made a big difference and the feeling of dryness has vanished completely.
They are great for people who suffer from dry eyes and irritation because of contact lenses. So I have recommended them here.
However, I still all the symptoms when I didn’t use the drops, and they didn’t help with my headaches.
But I have found other practical things that worked just as quickly and have kept on working.
Recess
Help with Taking Regular Breaks
Regular breaks, are essential, but you can easily to forget to take a break when, like me, you have a lot of work to get through each day.
It can feel that taking breaks is a waste of valuable time, an intrusion or they just get in the way of your flow.
Recess for Macs:
I searched for an app for my iMac. I wanted a free one so I looked in the App Store and found one called ‘Recess’. It was very easy to install and I have been using ever since.
This is how ‘Recess’ works:
A little icon appears at the top right hand side of your screen. If you click on it you can easily change the setting or pause it completely. You click off it and it goes into the background so you can forget all about it. I have set mine to run for 45 minutes and then stop for a 5 minute break.
What happens is this:
I get on with my work until a little tune plays and my computer screen goes dark. A small popup appears that says: “It’s time to relax – back to work in 5 minutes.” That ticks away and 5 minutes later a bell rings to tell me that it’s time to get back to work. Then I can click the ‘Done’ button and continue. I like all that.
I also like that:
- it doesn’t disable anything.
- if you don’t want to wait for 5 minutes you can click the ‘Done’ button at any time.
- you can pause it at any time so it won’t disturb you at all.
Five minutes is a long time when you work at home! Here are the things I’ve did during the breaks the first day I set it:
- The first time it stopped I did some palming exercises – these are very easy to do and are important. I just sat at my desk, closed my eyes, put the palm of my hands comfortably over both eyes, opened my eyes and relaxed while looking into the darkness. This is very good for resting eye-strain. (It usually doesn’t enter my head to do this even though I know it’s good for me!)
- For the second rest I got up and made a proper cup of tea. It needs about 3 minutes to brew! Delicious and refreshing!
- The third time I tackled the dust in my living room and watered my parched pot plant.(poor old thing!)
- During the next break I got Henry out and vacuumed the living room carpet. 5 minutes is plenty of time for that!
- In the last break I spent the time getting my son’s bag ready, gathering all the books and things he needs for his guitar lesson.
So, after the first day’s use, I happily found myself in a freshly hovered room with everything ready for when my son arrives home from school, (usually that would have been a big mad rush! ) and my work hadn’t suffered at all!
My eyes were still tired but I suppose they would be worse without the rests.
Verdict: I like this app very much because it’s easy to control. I give it 10 out of 10!!
An Update:
I’ve been using Recess on my Mac for about 4 months now and I can say that it works very well for me. I don’t always stop working when it tells me to because I’m often in the middle of something. But it’s very easy to turn it off – so I love it. The only thing I have found a bit annoying is I forget to turn it off when I’m watching TV programmes on my computer and it interrupts things! But that’s my fault -it’s actually very easy to turn it off -but you do need to remember to do it!!
Screen Brightness : F.lux
I have left the best till last!
Changing the brightness of your screen really works – I have found a brilliant app for Macs that does this automatically – the details are below. F.LUX: For Macs or PC works even better than Recess for me. It’s easy to install and it’s free.
One of the reasons that computers are so hard to use in the evenings is because the screens are set for sunny days, and do not take into account that our eyes need a rest from this brightness as the day turns into night. F.lux does!
As the evening sets in your screen will gradually become a softer shade turning from a bright glare to a tungsten light, which matches the light in your room.
Feedback:
This amazing free app has transformed my life! – I am not exaggerating. I don’t even have to use the drops anymore! My eyes no longer feel strained or tired because I am not staring into bright sunlight on my mac all night! It’s brilliant.
When the light starts to fade I can feel a real sense of relief in my eyes. It’s very, very good. My headaches have practically vanished too and falling asleep is easier!
Try it because it works. It’s free but I would pay a premium for this.
Yippppeeee!
Here’s an article about natural lip balm – dry and chapped lips are also a problem in both summer and winter weather.
Please let me know what you think of the app I have recommended? Do you suffer from tired and dry eyes? Please leave a comment. Thanks very much indeed for you visit.
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