One of the most taken for granted part of the body is actually the eye. Nowadays, people are more concerned about losing weight, etc. rather than thinking of ways to care for their precious eyes

With so many of us spending lots of time in front of the computer every day it comes to no surprise that research is showing a rise in visual problems. What can one do? here are some tips that can be followed in our daily life without any special instruments or cost...

Positioning is everything

Correct positioning of our computer, keyboard and typing copy is essential. Screen should be positioned about an arm’s length from our eyes and 20 degrees below eye level. Consider foot and wrist rests for added comfort.

While computer use won’t harm your eyes in the long term, experts say, working at a computer can cause eye fatigue and symptoms such as tired, dry, itchy or burning eyes. The screen shouldn’t be inches away (too close) or so far that you cannot see the print, easily.


Lighting can make all the difference

Room lighting should be diffuse, not direct, to reduce glare and reflections from computer screen. Look into an internal or external glare screen and be sure to set your colour, contrast and brightness levels to suit us.

Glare can create eye strain. People can combat glare at work with antireflective coatings on their computer screens as well as antireflective coatings on their glasses.

To help with the strain that artificial lighting can cause on the eyes, its recommended to convert to incandescent light from a regular soft white lightbulb or have lamps on our desks with incandescent light that illuminates the work area evenly.

A little extra help from our glasses

Anti-reflective coatings on the lenses of our glasses can be applied by optometrist to reduce discomfort and to ease reduced vision from bright and/or flickering light sources such as VDTs and fluorescent lights. And don’t forget, doctor of optometry can talk to you about eyeglasses designed specifically for people who use computers a lot.

It is a known fact that looking directly at the sun, lasers or any strong source of light for an extended period of time can make us go blind. However, not many are aware that mere but frequent exposure to sunlight, especially during midday, can cause real damage to the eyes in the long run. That is why, whenever we are driving or walking under the sun, we should always wear sunglasses with good UVA And UVB protection.

We really do not have to buy ultra-expensive sunglasses. Cheap ones that are available in warehouse store counters are already sufficient. But before we buy cheap sunglasses, we have to ensure that it truly protects your eyes from the harmful rays of the sun or other strong light sources.


Palming

Sit straight at workstation and rub our palms against each other till we feel them warm. The warmth of our palms helps soothe and relax tired eyes. Then, lightly cup our eyes with our palms and relax for 60 seconds. Count the seconds in mind. Repeat this exercise two to three times whenever our eyes feel tired, or as often as we want. While palming, we can either rest our elbows on our desk or keep away from the desk and cup our eyes. Both ways are fine.

Eat foods that are rich in vitamins A, C and E

Incorporate Vitamins A, C, and E on a daily basis; eat citrus fruits, green leafy veggies, tomatoes, spinach, poultry and dairy products. Pack a box of chopped carrots, cucumber and fresh fruits and munch in-between meals at the office.

Foods that are rich in Vitamin A, which is a source of eye-building nutrient beta-carotene, include carrots, squash, apricot, deep orange produce, cod liver oil, and green leafy vegetables such as spinach.

Vitamin C-rich foods include citrus fruits, mango, broccoli, strawberries and cauliflower.

Meanwhile, good sources of Vitamin E are eggs, peanuts, almonds, and sunflower seeds.


Splash water on your face

During breaks, splash water on our face while closing your eyes. This has an overall relaxing effect and helps us feel refreshed.


Drink Plenty of Water

Waste products and toxins that are not properly eliminated actually affect our eyes indirectly. If we love our eyes, we ought to make sure that our body is able to effectively get rid of the toxins and waste products we get from the things that we eat and other environmental factors. Drink at least eight to twelve glasses of water everyday for successful waste elimination.

Of course, don’t smoke!

Smoking increases the risk for eye diseases and vision problems, according to research. Smoking damages blood vessels, causing them to constrict and form atherosclerotic plaques — which can deprive the eye tissue of oxygen.

Take time out, 20-20-20 rule

Step I :-
After every 20 minutes of looking into the computer screen, turn our head and try to look at any object placed at least 20 feet away. This changes the focal length of our eyes, a must-do for the tired eyes.

Step II :-
Try and blink our eyes for 20 times in succession, to moisten them.

Step III :-
Time permitting of course, one should walk 20 paces after every 20 minutes of sitting in one particular posture. Helps blood circulation for entire body..It’s all in the blinking

Did you know that on average we blink 12 times per minute? But wait, did you know that when we’re on the computer we only blink 5 times per minute? That can add up to dry eyes. Relieve the discomfort by using artificial tear drops or gels and remember to blink!


Use tea bags

Keep two used tea bags in the refrigerator before we leave for work. Once we are home, place the tea bags on our eyes for a few minutes as we relax. This not only soothes tired eyes, but also reduces puffiness.


perfumes

If our eyes are sensitive, flagrance can make them red,. To diminish this effect without giving up scent, avoid classic spots-like behind your ears--that are too close to our eyes.


medical prescriptions

High blood pressure medicines and antihistamines for allergies can dry our eyes. Rehydrate with drops sans preservatives (they can be irritating) and, if we wear contacts, a moisturizing cleaning solution.


while exercising

When sweat drips into our eyes, so do dirt and oils-and rubbing our eyes with our fingers can start an infection. Instead, dab sweat with a towel and try to wear a sweatband.

Its like the two big armies, one from heaven and the other from hell, each having googolplex soldiers on both the sides, colliding in a huge battle... The thunders, being the trumpets, signals and shows the fierceness of the soldiers from Heaven. Even though the primary weapon for the soldiers from Heaven is speed and force, they have a special weapon called 'Lightning' - THE most dangerous weapon... But the soldiers from Hell were not in a aggressive mood. They are in defensive stand. And i think, this is the ONLY battle where the target to reach is Hell. Only few soldiers manage to attain their Goal. But here too, TEAM WORK is the most important tactic to be followed, for success. :) But the beneficiary in this battle is Humans. Until this battle doesn't go beyond the tolerable level, its fine. Otherwise, it'll be the humans who'll be suffering.

ok.. lets come to reality now. since its raining heavily, i thought that the roads will be deserted. just now went out to see the situation out. To my surprise, its total Traffic jam. On looking outside, it appears as if all vehicles are parked in the road, with its engine off. And most of the vehicles were two wheelers...What a city!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

March 5, Bangalore : Today is Mr. Pradeep Surianarayanan's 26th birthday. He's one of our DBA Team Member, to say it simple, he's my team-mate. He's from Madurai, but had his Schoolings at Coimbatore and did his Enginerring at BITS, Pilani. He was working in TCS for about an year and is with Oracle for more than 3 years. Thats a little background info about him. Lets come to our topic now. The complete day was filled with lots of fun in celebrating his B'Day. We actually thought of going to his house @ 12am and give him a surprise. But to our unluck, he already had plans to go to his Sister's house. But i think he enjoyed a lot in his sister's house, where he cut a white-forest cake and was gifted with a red-devil ManU jersey, which he always wanted to have, by his sister's family and his cousin Anand. And he proudly wore that for office.

But here in office, even though we remembered his B' Day and wished him @ 12am, we totally forgot to decorate his cubicle. And Thiagarajan finally reminded that @ 1am, from his house. To add to our unluck, all the decoration items were locked in Thiagarajan's cupboard. Among all these series of unluck, the only luck we got was, few of us were here at office, when we remembered to decorate. "Luck/UnLuck can never stand before human's creativity" - hence managed to do some decoration at his place, so that we can give some surprise, atleast when he comes to office.

I think he got wishes from almost all our colleagues, caz he sits right near the entrance, b4 11:30pm (as i usually come to office at that time). After some time, we got some contribution from Tech Team in decorating his place. We had lunch at our Cafeteria (as usual...) at around 1pm. Thiagarajan, Prabhu, Sivaraj and Me already planned to get fast-track coolers for him. So we (Pradeep, Thiagarajan, Prabhu, Anand, Madhu and Me) went to Titan showroom at Forum Mall. Its was great fun in choosing the right one which suits him. We almost asked the helper at the store to take out every specs that has been displayed. At last, ended up to choose one from two selected glasses. It took almost 10mins to decide. After getting that, we returned to our regular work, quick daily T-Meeting, weekly DBA Team meeting, some more work.

Then comes the celebration time. Prabhu and me got a cherry-butterscotch cake from Sweet Chariot cake shop. The colour of the cake matches with the t-shirt which Pradeep was wearing. to be honest, we got that cake with a doubt, whether the cake will be tasty. But as soon as the cake was cut by the B'Day boy, and had one piece, the whole cake got over in few minutes. The cake was simply delicious. This time i got only one piece (and the last half piece) [ :( ] , as i was little busy in capturing the moments thru my new mobile [ :) ]. when cake-cutting got over, it was our usual snacks time @ cafeteria. Had few vada, bajji, samosa, Tea, etc.... After that little snacks, we played Carom for some time. Surprisingly, Prabhu also joined us in the Carom and single-handedly [ :) ] won the first game.

After that, the same usual thing, work, work, work... then dinner, then work, work, work and now i'm ready to go home.. Tatta...

you can visit here for more pics regarding Pradeep's B'Day Celebration...