7 Good Office Habits

  1.  Read and Write while sitting in a comfortable chair with a straight back and neck and a lumbar support if required.  Your hip and knee joints should bend at 90 degrees.
  2. There should be adequate direct light falling onto your books and papers coming from the front or right to left (when writing/reading in scripts that move left to right).  This prevents shadows falling on the text to be read or written.
  3. No light should be coming towards the eyes directly as it causes glare and makes it difficult to read and write.  The room should have diffuse background light and focused light at the work table.
  4. Working distance should be generally kept between 30 and 50 centimetres
  5. Top end of the computer or laptop screen should be in the line of your eyes while you are sitting erect in your seat.  you should not be looking up or down.  The ergonomic arrangement is important.
  6. There should not be any reflections on the computer or laptop screen.  No windows or light bulbs in the background, please.  Wall with matt finish paint in the background is most appropriate. 
  7. Take regular breaks from near work.  Reach into an open space with fresh air; walk 20 paces, take 20 large breaths, blink completely 20 times and look beyond 20 feet.  Thus refresh yourself and get back to work. Lubricant eye drops may be used, preferably preservative free.      

7 Good General Habits

  1. Regular daily routine with adequate hours of sleep.  Sleep in a darkened room, light filtering through eyelids does not give  a restful sleep.
  2. Rinse your eyes in running water or filtered water before going off to sleep a dafter getting up in the morning.  Wash your hands thoroughly and use cup your hand to hold water and dip an eye into it and open lids.  Repeat a couple times with each eye for effective cleansing.
  3. Do not use "surma" or "kajal" on the inner side of the lid margin.  Never share kohl pencils or any makeup items that are used around eyes.
  4. Balanced diet that provides sufficient daily requirement of Vitamin A is important.  The daily requirement varies at different stages of life.  Supplementation may be required if dietary insufficiency is detected.  Food items rich in Vitamin A are - sweet potatoes, carrots, dark green leafy vegetables, tomatoes, dried apricots, tropical fruits (such as Mango), fish, liver meat etc.
  5. Avoid using eye drops from a bottle 15 days after opening and discard them when not required.  Do not try to store them in the refrigerator for future use.  Keep eye drops away from makeup area where talcum powder, perfumes etc are kept.  Keep the bottle cover on and do not touch the opening of the dropper.  Always discard first few drop of medicine when you start instilling eye drops from a bottle the next day.
  6. Remove your contact lenses immediately in case of redness, glare, frank discharge, excessive watering from the eyes, smarting or pain.  Do not ignore these signs
  7. In case a foreign body falls in an eye, do not rub the eye or try to remove with a piece of cloth, cover it with a clean cotton pad or a sterile eye pad and report to an eye surgeon.