Long hours cooped up behind a desk can feel the worst. Sometimes your neck and shoulders ache, your head throbs, and your vision becomes hazy.
Struggling to focus on your screen even with glasses on? Here’s a tip most people over 40 fail to realise: The right pair of glasses won’t let your eyes work overtime.
If your days are often spent in front of screens and monitors, your glasses are no longer just for seeing clearly. They also become a part of your workstation ergonomics. Just as you want to be productive with a comfortable chair and desk, the correct pair of glasses goes a long way in keeping your neck loose, reducing eye strain, and making sure your focus lasts.
Want to feel your best after a long day? Maybe it’s time to consider if your glasses really work for you. Let’s take a look at three common eyewear options – reading glasses, everyday progressives, and office progressives to determine which pair should earn the highest spot on your list.
How your eyes move at work
In a typical workday, your eyes are constantly going back and forth between:
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Your paperwork and phone, about 40 cm or closer (near vision)
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The screen, about an arm’s length away (intermediate vision)
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The room, at the occasional colleague or whiteboard (intermediate to small distance)
Most traditional glasses try to cover every distance at once, from the open road to the fine print on a page. They certainly aren’t built with the typical deskbound worker in mind. If you’re logging 8 to 10 hours of screen time a day, your eyes need a pair of glasses that can zero in on the distances you use at work.
This is exactly the kind of gap that office progressives were designed to close.
Reading glasses: Only better up-close
Reading glasses are perfect for doing exactly what they were called for. Reading text in a book or on your phone poses little problem at all.
However, the cracks may start to show at work.
Blurry screens: Reading lenses are typically calibrated for 35 to 40cm. Your monitor sits at roughly 50 to 70cm away. This could result in neck straining or having to shift your monitor closer to get a clearer view of your screen.
Constant rewearing: Office activities like going into meeting rooms, printing documents and returning to your spreadsheets might result in a tiring cycle of removing and rewearing your glasses, which could feel disruptive to your workflow.
A silent posture killer: An unconscious habit of leaning in towards your screens with reading glasses to get a better look could give rise to stiff necks and shoulders, as well as back pain over time. Be careful not to develop an office worker’s hunch.
If you’re only glancing at emails on your laptop or tablet every now and then, reading glasses will do fine. However, if your day consists of long hours studying screens, you might want to consider if the heavy duty is worth it.
Everyday progressives: Jack of all trades, master of none
If progressive lenses (PALs) were a type of knife, they would come closest to being a Swiss Army. One pair of everyday progressives can cover distance, intermediate and near vision. Designed for daily use, you can pop them on for a day out at the mall or a drive.
However, the flexibility comes at a cost.
Limited focal point for screens: The “computer zone” in everyday progressives is a narrow corridor. To see clearly, you end up pointing your nose at the exact spot on the screen you want your eyes to focus on. This could feel like constantly threading a needle.
A chin-up habit: The near vision zone on everyday progressives sits at the bottom of the lens. Many wearers end up lifting their chins to view their monitors through this zone. Over time, this fast tracks neck and shoulder tension.
Mediocre office performance: Everyday progressives shine best as a primary pair for social days. However, once your job is spent largely behind a desk, they offer limited comfort for the task.
‘One size fits all’ isn’t the solution when it comes to eyewear. That’s why deskbound workers are now adding a dedicated office pair into their rotation.
Office progressives: Engineered for desk work
Office progressives (also called computer or occupational progressives) are the real game-changers at work.
Instead of trying to accommodate distance vision, they enlarge and sharpen your immediate and near zones; exactly the regions your eyes rely on for a typical day behind the desk.
Optimal screen clarity: Office progressives provide a larger intermediate area (for the distance at which your screens sit) than an everyday progressive, allowing you to focus on your monitors with ease.
Smoother flow of vision: Glancing back and forth between screens and documents requires little effort refocusing, which means less accumulation of visual fatigue over time.
Posture perfect: The optics are tailored such that your gaze is cast down gently to rest upon your screen, and your head remains in a neutral position. Now that your vision is doing its job, your body no longer needs to do the heavy lifting.
From analysts to designers, anyone who’s ever had to sit behind a computer desk can relate to visual fatigue. That’s what makes office progressives the perfect ergonomic companion at work.
Visual ergonomics: The sweet spot between function and form
Visual ergonomics means attaining optimal balance between your eyes, lenses and surrounding environment such that everything falls comfortably into place.
Screen distance: Your screen should ideally sit at an arm’s length away, close enough that you can still read text clearly without leaning in.
Sitting height: Your head should reach the top of the screen at or slightly below eye level, so your gaze falls naturally downward.
Posture: Your head and neck should rest in a natural position; not tilted up or hunched forward stiffly.
Lighting: The surrounding room should be fitted with balanced lighting and your screens should be adjusted to an appropriate brightness; nothing too stark or glaring to take the strain off your eyes.
When your workspace and eyewear complement each other, it can take a lot of weight off your shoulders… literally.
So, which pair of lenses truly works for you?
If you currently wear reading glasses, you may start to notice these tell-tale signs.
Reading and texting is fine, but don’t be surprised if you catch yourself craning your neck towards blurry monitors, lifting documents up to your face or rewearing your glasses throughout the day.
Instead of getting alternative prescriptions, why not consider an efficient upgrade?
Office progressives cover more ground by allowing your vision to transition smoothly between your screen and tabletop materials, promote a healthier, more natural posture, and remove the need for multiple reading glasses with different prescriptions.
That doesn’t mean you have to retire your reading glasses entirely. Reading glasses work best when you’re getting your fill of bedtime reading. Just let office progressives take over as your primary work partner.
If you already wear everyday progressives, they make excellent social companions up until…
Everyday progressives suit daily activities such as driving, running errands and hanging outdoors.
However, if you notice yourself lifting your chin often to view your monitor, experiencing dry eyes, or feeling tightness in your neck and shoulders after long screen days, it might be worth introducing a dedicated pair of eyewear for weekdays in the office.
Your eyes, being your visual aids, are crucial to everyday life. Just as you wear different clothes in different seasons, dress your eyes appropriately for the right occasion.
How to make the most out of office progressives
Investing in a new, dedicated pair of office progressives is just the beginning. Getting a proper fitting and ergonomic assessment is how you make it all count.
Workstation setup: Pupillary distance, fitting height, and how far away your screens are placed should all be carefully calibrated. Ensure your monitor and chair height, including keyboard placement are aligned as well.
Double down on protection: Anti-reflection coatings can help dim the glares while blue-light filters are great at reducing further strain on your eyes under typical office lighting.
Let us do the work for you at Eye Theory. As eye specialists, we help our wearers customise the most fitting pair of lenses, not only by prescription, but also through careful consideration of your lifestyle and habits.
What’s the verdict?
Office workers might find that the best visual setup is having two pairs of eyewear that go hand-in-hand: one for general use, and another for work.
An everyday progressive is the perfect, all-rounded companion for far to near seeing vision; great to throw on for a weekend drive to the mall.
Meanwhile, office progressives keep your eyes sharp, and your body relaxed and focused for maximum efficiency and heavy screen time.
Don’t overwork your reading glasses, and don’t tax a single pair of daily progressives for everything. When you finally let office progressives do the talking, you won’t want to look back.
Come visit us at Eye Theory, where our optometrists will patiently assess your vision, understand your working environment, and recommend the most ideal lens solution that’s designed not only to achieve visual clarity, but also to carry you comfortably through long hours at the office.
