Eye Care Tips for Busy Finance Officers

Eye Care Tips for Busy Finance Officers

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More and more industries are riding the wave of digital transformation, and finance is no exception. A previous post about the 21st-century finance department explains that beyond evolving from traditional functions like recording and financial planning, finance professionals have tapped the power of technology and innovation to automate basic manual tasks. Aside from easier data sharing, leveraging automation through digital tools has enabled finance departments to save time, money, and other logistical resources.

Although the digitisation of financial processes has led to greater productivity and efficiency, it has also raised a significant health concern among the industry’s workforce. As finance officers increasingly spend their shifts in front of digital devices like computers, it raises the risk of developing vision problems, such as digital eye strain, or worsening preexisting eye conditions. This trend entails a closer look at how prolonged screen time can affect finance officers’ eye health, alongside which eye care tips they can integrate into their daily routines to minimise these risks

How screen time can affect eye health

Finance departments are an essential part of UK offices that have adapted to digitised ways of working, but a poll reveals that this shift has been at the expense of employee health and well-being. Specifically, the organisation Fight for Sight found that 42% of working adults in the UK believe that increased screen time has negatively affected their vision and overall eye health. For instance, over a third (39%) of the respondents have difficulty reading due to poor or blurred vision, while nearly a quarter (23%) report cases of headaches and migraines.

While the report notes that blurred vision can be corrected by glasses or contact lenses, prior eye conditions like myopia or near-sightedness can worsen and even lead to sight loss. This is primarily due to the blue light emitted by digital screens, which can damage the retina through prolonged exposure. Considering finance officers accomplish tasks like recording financial activity, updating spreadsheets, and communicating with other departments mainly via computers, the risks associated with increased screen time highlight the need to practice the tips in the following section

How finance officers can prioritise eye care

Schedule a routine eye exam

Routine exams with a qualified optometrist are crucial for monitoring your eye health and determining what type of corrective eyewear or treatment you need to improve your eyesight. These tests can also serve as an early detection tool to prevent or manage progressive eye conditions like cataracts. However, survey data reveals that one in three Brits (38%) has missed out on essential eye tests in at least two years. While it can be easy to neglect this procedure due to busy schedules associated with working in finance, professionals like you can utilise self-scheduling tools and even online visual acuity tests to guarantee your availability for routine eye tests.

Use proper eyewear

If the eye test reveals that you have refractive errors like myopia or astigmatism, using the proper corrective eyewear is essential to maintaining your productivity and performance at work. While prescription glasses and contact lenses are both accessible and affordable, the latter may quickly dry your eyes as you spend prolonged periods in front of the computer checking and organising financial records. Meanwhile, you can easily find a comfortable pair of glasses from the top eyewear brand Oakley. Not only are frame styles like Holbrook appropriate for the office and made with lightweight material for optimal comfort, but they can also be fitted to your prescription and customised for blue light protection.

Invest in ergonomic work setups

Completing expense reports and validating financial data can easily get tedious. So, invest in a comfortable desk or chair in the office or at home to avoid straining your eyes or worsening computer vision syndrome symptoms like headaches, dizziness, and back pain due to bad posture. Besides maintaining a proper distance from the screen to keep it within your natural field of view, you may also consider a high-resolution monitor specifically designed to provide a comfortable viewing experience. Case in point, the Dell UltraSharp displays come with an Eye Comfort certification to minimise eye strain, while also delivering a high refresh rate to ensure you don’t make any errors during data entry.

Pay attention to lighting

While finance roles offer high pay, they are also typically associated with long work hours. Aside from disrupting your work-life balance, long shifts can also worsen your vision if you don’t adjust the lighting in your workspace throughout the day. For instance, working in a low-lit environment with bright light emanating from your computer screen increases contrast, ultimately contributing to eye strain and fatigue. You can improve lighting by taking advantage of natural light at your workstation, using an adjustable desk lamp, and tinkering with your display settings for optimal brightness and colour temperature.

Take regular breaks

Despite long shifts being the norm in finance departments, this doesn’t mean you should overlook regular breaks during work days. As an article in The Guardian explains, prolonged screen time not only strains the eyes but also alters the shape of the eyeball, thus contributing to or worsening myopia, which is characterised by an elongated eyeball that makes objects from afar look blurry. You can manage this risk by following the 20-20-20 rule, which entails taking a short 20-second break every 20 minutes to focus your eyes on an object about 20 feet away. Meanwhile, longer breaks can be spent on stepping away from the screen and getting up from your desk to stretch or go outside.

Stay hydrated

Once you’ve made it a habit to incorporate screen breaks into your daily schedule, you can also use this as an opportunity to hydrate. Staying hydrated helps retain moisture in the eyes and prevents dry eye symptoms. Considering finance employees can also be vulnerable to other health issues like chronic stress and depleted energy levels, drinking enough water can also be soothing and beneficial to the entire body, not just the eyes.

Overall, healthy eyesight is crucial not only to absorbing information and minimising errors in finance-related tasks but also to maintaining your personal health and wellness. As you follow the tips mentioned above, make sure also to adopt other healthy habits for diet and exercise for holistic employee well-being.