5 Ergonomic Office Lighting Tips To Reduce Strain

Working for 8 hours at the office is a stressful job. Your body gets tired after sitting on the chair continuously for long hours.

It also leads to physical strain, back pain, neck ache and other problems. Many small offices choose ergonomic chairs for their staff after looking at their health benefits. 

Office lights are important office accessories. They improve or reduce the productivity of the employees. Poor lighting might also cause damage to the eyesight.

It is very important to have proper lights while working on the desks. This blog will tell about the various tips of office lighting that reduce strain on the body.

The Meaning of Lightening Ergonomics

Lighting ergonomics is the arrangement of light where the employees sit to work. Many offices do not follow the right lighting ergonomics.

This will lead to low productivity in the employees. Apart from that, one may also lose mental focus due to lack of proper lighting in the office.

Employees may also feel strain in the eyes by working in a space with inadequate lighting. 

It is important to provide sufficient lighting source in the office for smooth of work. Proper lighting motivates employees to work effectively. 

Problems Faced by Employees Due to Poor Lighting Ergonomics

Poor lighting can cause a lot of physical problems such as:

• Strain to the eyes 
• Decreasing productivity
• Demotivation in the employees to work
• Body pain 
• Lack of mental focus 
• Lack of concentration 
• Sickness 
• Increase in the errors while working 

Effective Lighting Tips to Reduce Strain During Work

These tips will reduce strain and improve quality of work. Let us have a look at the different lighting tips for office space.

1. Correct Positioning of Computer

As you have to work from morning till evening, it is important to keep computers in the right position. Computer must not be placed too close to the windows.

The direct light will affect the computer screen. You will not be able to view all the details on the computer screen clear because of glare. 

Sitting with windows in the front causes strain in the eyes. It becomes very tough to work on computers because of the bright light of UV rays. 

The perfect position is to keep computers away from the windows. This position will boost your productivity.

You can also work with better mental focus due to dim light. Your eyes will not feel strain or pain by sitting parallel to the windows.  

During the evening, you can sit near the window or blinds. Avoid leaning forward or sitting with a hump pack during working hours. 

2. Proper Contrast of Background

Color contrast also plays an important role in reducing or increasing eye strain. If the background has poor color contrast, your eyes will get more strain while viewing the objects in the front.

Improving color contrast on the screen of computers is one of the best ways to improve light ergonomics. There must a proper balance of color contrast between background and foreground.

You can also adjust the position of the monitor screen to get the best results. Adjust the brightness of the background to view the objects in the foreground precisely. 

3. Short Breaks

Working for long hours increases body pain. Even your eyes get pain by working for many hours on PC.

So, it is necessary to take short breaks every few minutes to relax your eyes. You must keep your eyes fresh by taking short breaks.

Taking breaks will improve your mental focus. You will also feel fresh especially when you have to finish the tricky projects.

All you can do is take a short walk around the office area. You can also listen to your favorite music to feel fresh and rejuvenated. Moreover, you can enjoy some snacks and coffee or tea. 

4. Avoid Dark Rooms and Dark Spots

Working in dark room is as harmful as working on computers in front of direct sunlight. It causes headaches, eye pain and eye strain.

You must work in a place where there is a proper combination of direct and indirect lights. Right combination of lights will improve work productivity.

It will also reduce strain in your eyes and cure headaches. Use more direct light when you have to do tasks such as writing letters.

You must also use indirect lighting properly to remove dark spots. 

5. Adjust Light Temperatures

Some lights have high temperature while some have cool temperature. You should adjust the light temperature perfectly in the workspace to boost productivity.

Light temperature is measured in terms of Kelvin (K). While warmer lights cause tiredness and sleepiness, the cool lights increase productivity.

Cool lights also lift your mood and make you feel fresh. They improve mental focus while doing important projects and assignments.

So, it is important to use cool lights in the workspace. 

Additional Tips of Lighting to Reduce Strain at Work

We discussed the main tips to reduce strain at office. Few more tips will help to reduce strain while working at office such as:

• You should keep your chairs and desk at a considerable distance from large windows. This habit will decrease glare and you can work effectively on computers. 
• Do not keep your monitor below the bright overhead lights. Bright overhead lights will cause eye strain and decrease productivity. 
• You must add blinds to the windows. Blinds block sunrays to reach on your face or monitor screen. You can use vertical blinds for east or west side windows. On the other hand, you must use horizontal blinds for north or south side windows. 
• Reduce the number of florescent lights to give relaxation to the eyes. 
• You should adjust brightness of monitor in such a way that it suits brightness of the area. 
• You must use lower intensity lights and stop using single high-intensity light. 
• You must cover the bulbs with shade to give soft light and reduce eye strain during working hours. 
• You can adjust the settings of your monitor screen to remove glare and blue light.