Webmaster Health
Posted On: 2007-03-14
You know, if there is one thing we all take for granted it's our health and that one word - 'health' - can cover a huge range of things that you may not even think of. In the past I've spent a lot of time talking about Webmaster health. I've talked about the need to use good furniture, mouse pads with wrist supports and ergonomic keyboards just to name a few. But there are some other vital health issues for Webmasters that I've never even thought of until the last few weeks.
Steve has always worn spectacles. He has one good eye and one eye that has limited vision. It certainly wasn't bad enough to keep him out of the military forces but the vision from that eye is certainly not good.
Late last year our work picked up to the point where Steve was spending 13 to 15 hours a day in front of his computer monitors and by November he was complaining that, after about eight hours, his vision was beginning to become blurry and his eyes hurt. So just before Christmas he went to the optometrist expecting to be told that all he needed was a new pair of glasses.
Well that wasn't quite what he was told. Instead he was told that he was very close to damaging his eyesight to the point where he would perhaps be considered to be legally blind. The cause of the problem was all those hours he spent in front of his computer monitors.
You see the human eye is designed to look into the distance. It's not designed to spend long hours looking at small things on a computer monitor. The optometrist recommended that he spend less time in front of the computer and more time looking into the distance.
Now I know that might sound silly but we've now heard an ophthalmic surgeon deliver exactly the same advice. When Steve tried to tell the optometrist that spending less time in front of the computer really wasn't an option the optometrist made it quite plain. Steve spends less time in front of the computer ... or he goes blind; the choice was his.
So, as you can guess, Steve has cut down the amount of time he spends in front of the computer. He's got it down to about 10 hours now and some days manages to get it right down to eight. He has also re-arranged his office so he can look over his monitors and out a window and when he's thinking you will now see him gazing out the window to give his eyes a rest.
He's also increased the font size on his browsers and writes everything in a bigger font size before reducing it when the work is completed.
So if you're spending more than eight hours in front of your computer then it's time to re-arrange your work load and your office so that you can give your eyes a break. You need to save your sight and you need to start saving it right now. Steve's eyes are already damaged so don't let yourself get to that point because there is no going back once you're there.
Deep Vein Thrombosis
Now there's a nice little mouthful for you. If you haven't heard about it before it's when blood clots - big long blood clots - form in the veins in your legs. Parts of the clots can break off and if they reach your heart, lungs or brain the chances are you will die.
Up until now it was thought that most people who suffered from DVT were those who spent time on long distance flights from one country to another. It seemed to be especially prevalent in economy class passengers but it wasn't just limited to older people or those who weren't fit. A number of top-class sportsmen have suffered from DVT too.
But now a recent study in New Zealand has found that DVT is not just limited to airline passengers. The study actually found that airline passengers were certainly not as likely to contract DVT as another group of people around the world. That group consists of people who work in the IT industry and people like us who stay glued to our chairs for hours and hours at a time.
Even taking short breaks every hour or so may not be enough to protect us from DVT. Instead you need to exercise, you need to get your legs moving and keep them moving for longer periods of time than it takes to walk to the cupboard to dig out the next packet of junk food. You need to walk or ride and you need to do it every day.
I could waffle on about how important our health is to us but you already know that. Replacing your eyes is rarely an option; few recover from the damage to your vital organs that DVT can cause.
So if you spend long hours in front of your computer face the facts - you're at risk of damaging your eyes and developing DVT. If you want to live with that risk and ignore the consequences then that's up to you.
Just remember that you're a long time dead and even if you're still alive what interest will you have if you can't see anything?