Team-BHP > Shifting gears


Reply
  Search this Thread
19,455 views
Old 31st October 2013, 16:56   #16
BHPian
 
bikefreak's Avatar
 
Join Date: Feb 2005
Location: Mumbai
Posts: 276
Thanked: 67 Times
Re: The 20:20:20 Rule - Practice it and preserve your Eyesight

Yes GTO this is a very valuable advice for those working for long periods on their monitors.
I'm constantly reminding my patients about this (I'm attached to 7 IT companies as a medical advisor )

In addition one should also consider

Wrist, forearm & finger exercises - to prevent carpal tunnel syndrome.
Keep one of those yellow smiley sponge balls on your desk and squeeze it when ever you are not using the mouse.
Otherwise by default your hand remains on the mouse even if you are reading one long mail.

Neck exercises - to prevent cervical spondylitis
Simple movements like chin to shoulder, ear to shoulder, looking up and shoulder shrugs
This can be easily done when you are thinking about something and do not need to stare at the screen.

Lower back exercises - to decrease the incidence of back pains.
Get up from your chair at least once every hour and take a short walk . . . even if it is just around your desk.
Prevents spasms and keeps the blood flowing which in turn also decreases the chances of DVT (blood clotting in the veins)

Go to google images and type 'desk exercises'
bikefreak is offline  
Old 31st October 2013, 19:48   #17
Team-BHP Support
 
Rehaan's Avatar
 
Join Date: Feb 2004
Location: Bombay
Posts: 24,019
Thanked: 33,985 Times
Re: The 20:20:20 Rule - Practice it and preserve your Eyesight

Quote:
Originally Posted by vikram_d View Post
Along with Eyes relax, I also use another software called f.lux. What this software basically does is that it turns the monitor's colours to a warmer temperature setting as the sun begins to set. Helps a lot when you are using the computer in the evening/night.
The latest update also includes the ability to dim your monitor (manually - using ALT + PgUp/PgDn). This is super useful when working on a desktop computer at night.

cya
R
Rehaan is offline  
Old 1st November 2013, 11:26   #18
BHPian
 
Join Date: Jan 2005
Location: Kanjirapally/CA
Posts: 39
Thanked: 22 Times
Re: The 20:20:20 Rule - Practice it and preserve your Eyesight

As a part of a software project I worked for a leading Oil & gas Company in USA. They are very strict on safety and work related injuries. We had compulsory work pace break and if you don’t have 100% compliance it will be escalated to your manager. They are using wellnomicssoftware for accomplishing this. They strongly recommend us to stand and work for 20% of the total working hours and employees are religiously following it (Yes, the desk is height adjustable and remote operated)
cijo is offline  
Old 2nd November 2013, 17:03   #19
Senior - BHPian
 
arjithin's Avatar
 
Join Date: Aug 2011
Location: MEL/Chalakudy
Posts: 1,127
Thanked: 2,111 Times
Re: The 20:20:20 Rule - Practice it and preserve your Eyesight

Quote:
Originally Posted by cijo View Post
As a part of a software project I worked for a leading Oil & gas Company in USA. They are very strict on safety and work related injuries. We had compulsory work pace break and if you don’t have 100% compliance it will be escalated to your manager. They are using wellnomicssoftware for accomplishing this. They strongly recommend us to stand and work for 20% of the total working hours and employees are religiously following it (Yes, the desk is height adjustable and remote operated)
lucky you.

For all of you who don't have the privilege of downloading softwares in your work computer, you can do the same by writing a small vb-script and scheduling it using windows scheduler.
arjithin is offline  
Old 3rd November 2013, 00:13   #20
BHPian
 
Join Date: Aug 2013
Location: Santa Clara, CA
Posts: 204
Thanked: 184 Times
Re: The 20:20:20 Rule - Practice it and preserve your Eyesight

Quote:
Originally Posted by bikefreak View Post
In addition one should also consider

Wrist, forearm & finger exercises - to prevent carpal tunnel syndrome.
Keep one of those yellow smiley sponge balls on your desk and squeeze it when ever you are not using the mouse.
Otherwise by default your hand remains on the mouse even if you are reading one long mail.

Neck exercises - to prevent cervical spondylitis
Simple movements like chin to shoulder, ear to shoulder, looking up and shoulder shrugs
This can be easily done when you are thinking about something and do not need to stare at the screen.
Slightly but important:
I got Carpal Tunnel Syndrome, because of using my laptop for long hours at a stretch. Could not give my semester exams and needed a writer.

This video helped me a lot, along with medication and I am much better now. The video is for CTS, neck and shoulder problems due to excessive computer use:

amolbh is offline  
Old 3rd November 2013, 00:18   #21
Senior - BHPian
 
vivekiny2k's Avatar
 
Join Date: Feb 2005
Location: cincinnati, jabalpur,chennai
Posts: 1,264
Thanked: 209 Times
Re: The 20:20:20 Rule - Practice it and preserve your Eyesight

I had CTS about 8 years back. Went away after I stopped using mouse altogether and used only touch pad on laptop. Also I use right hand to navigate the mouse and left hand to click thus sharing the load.
vivekiny2k is offline  
Old 4th November 2013, 16:31   #22
BHPian
 
shinuak's Avatar
 
Join Date: May 2013
Location: Bangalore / Tvm
Posts: 194
Thanked: 150 Times
Re: The 20:20:20 Rule - Practice it and preserve your Eyesight

Thoughtful tip worth sharing, GTO , and good software especially for forum members who spend hours in front of their monitors. Will download and install it today itself on both my machines.
By the way, I do practise a small and near zero effort eye relaxing exercise and thought of sharing it here if can be of help to others. This can be done any time of the day. Cover both your eyes by cupping the palm of your hands, don't touch your eye with your hand, but make sure it is pitch dark and no light seeps in. Keep it that way continuously for 5-10 minutes, the more the better. Do it everyday and your eyes will be relaxed. This is one of the many exercises advocated by Aurobindo ashram eye care center , Pondicherry.
shinuak is offline  
Old 7th November 2013, 00:32   #23
BHPian
 
Heavy Horse's Avatar
 
Join Date: Nov 2012
Location: Mumbai
Posts: 281
Thanked: 302 Times
Re: The 20:20:20 Rule - Practice it and preserve your Eyesight

Quote:
Originally Posted by GTO View Post

I use a nifty freeware called Eyes Relax that pops up a reminder to rest my eyes. Made the break interval & duration longer (30 second break every 25 minutes). I highly recommend a download of this light, bug-free software.
Quote:
Originally Posted by jalsa777 View Post
Here's another freeware that I have been using and fulfils the same purpose: http://monkeymatt.com/bigstretch/
Quote:
Originally Posted by phamilyman View Post
The other old enough alternative is http://www.workrave.org/download/
GTO terrific input. Thanks.
All of the above are Windows based. I'm looking to download on a Mac. Any ideas?
Heavy Horse is offline  
Old 7th November 2013, 09:28   #24
Senior - BHPian
 
vrprabhu's Avatar
 
Join Date: Oct 2008
Location: ??
Posts: 1,272
Thanked: 1,091 Times
Re: The 20:20:20 Rule - Practice it and preserve your Eyesight

Quote:
Originally Posted by GTO View Post
Nothing more important than your eyes, I guess.
Absolutely. The eye-opener (!) to me was when a fully blind person was taken on rolls and placed in our office. (Uses specialised software to work - wonderful to see how they use to work on PC - but simple things we take for granted are purely related to our sight...)



Quote:
Originally Posted by jalsa777 View Post
Not only should you look away for a while, but I recommend getting up, walking about and stretching a bit too.
+1. Especially in totally air conditioned offices, the humidity levels can cause dryness of the eyes, and tending to keep one comfortably lazy! Besides, the above technique of walking about helps me (as the boss) to keep every one alert..

Anybody has any idea about a similar utility for android phones / tabs? I am doubtful whether gifting a tab to my teenager was the right thing to do - it seems to have become a permanent fixture, an extension of the body itself

Last edited by vrprabhu : 7th November 2013 at 09:34. Reason: Just added an emphasis & a wish
vrprabhu is offline  
Old 8th November 2013, 03:19   #25
BHPian
 
prithviq8's Avatar
 
Join Date: Jul 2013
Location: ?
Posts: 58
Thanked: 53 Times
Re: The 20:20:20 Rule - Practice it and preserve your Eyesight

Quote:
Originally Posted by GTO View Post
If you're a forum user, odds are that you spend several hours a day staring at the computer screen.....
Thank you very much GTO, it's a must app for frequent Tbhp users. Initially found it annoying but getting used to it. Attaching a picture which shows the exercises to be done for every hour spent in front of a computer. Will be difficult in the beginning but it'll pay off in the long run!
Attached Thumbnails
The 20:20:20 Rule - Practice it and preserve your Eyesight-img_9869.jpg  

prithviq8 is offline  
Old 8th November 2013, 15:21   #26
Senior - BHPian
 
9thsphinx's Avatar
 
Join Date: Oct 2008
Location: Ahmedabad
Posts: 1,118
Thanked: 542 Times
Re: The 20:20:20 Rule - Practice it and preserve your Eyesight

For Mac users, here's an alternative (Freeware):

Time out

http://www.dejal.com/timeout/

(works on OSX 10.7 and later)

Last edited by 9thsphinx : 8th November 2013 at 15:23.
9thsphinx is offline  
Old 8th November 2013, 18:02   #27
Senior - BHPian
 
vivekiny2k's Avatar
 
Join Date: Feb 2005
Location: cincinnati, jabalpur,chennai
Posts: 1,264
Thanked: 209 Times
Re: The 20:20:20 Rule - Practice it and preserve your Eyesight

Quote:
Originally Posted by vrprabhu View Post

Anybody has any idea about a similar utility for android phones / tabs? I am doubtful whether gifting a tab to my teenager was the right thing to do - it seems to have become a permanent fixture, an extension of the body itself
Off topic. Install my app "vtimer". It locks the tablet after an hour (configurable)every day. There is a small change I need to upload though. Currently it's not set to autostart on reboot. Will change it over the weekend.
vivekiny2k is offline  
Old 9th November 2013, 16:14   #28
BHPian
 
Heavy Horse's Avatar
 
Join Date: Nov 2012
Location: Mumbai
Posts: 281
Thanked: 302 Times
Re: The 20:20:20 Rule - Practice it and preserve your Eyesight

Quote:
Originally Posted by 9thsphinx View Post
For Mac users, here's an alternative (Freeware):

Time out

http://www.dejal.com/timeout/

(works on OSX 10.7 and later)
Hi Sphinx thanks much. Downloaded, seems to be working fine on the Mac.
Heavy Horse is offline  
Reply

Most Viewed
Thread Tools Search this Thread
Search this Thread:

Advanced Search

Copyright ©2000 - 2024, Team-BHP.com
Proudly powered by E2E Networks