＜prologue＞
I started a blog called “The Baby Boomer Generation’s Miscellaneous Blog”（Dankai-sedai no garakutatyou:団塊世代の我楽多（がらくた）帳） in July 2018, about a year before I fully retired. More than six years have passed since then, and the number of articles has increased considerably.
So, in order to make them accessible to people who don’t understand Japanese, I decided to translate my past articles into English and publish them.
It may sound a bit exaggerated, but I would like to make this my life’s work.
It should be noted that haiku and waka （Japanese short fixed form poems） are quite difficult to translate into English, so some parts are written in Japanese.
If you are interested in haiku or waka and would like to know more, please read introductory or specialized books on haiku or waka written in English.
I also write many articles about the Japanese language. I would be happy if these inspire more people to want to learn Japanese.
my blog’s URL:団塊世代の我楽多（がらくた）帳 | 団塊世代が雑学や面白い話を発信しています
my X’s URL:団塊世代の我楽多帳（@historia49）さん / X
Have you noticed that your eyes get tired more easily recently? Using a computer for work has become commonplace these days, and as I’ve gotten older I’ve developed farsightedness in addition to my nearsightedness, which may be a factor in my eyesight’s declining function.
＜最近目が疲れやすくなったと感じませんか？最近は仕事でパソコンを使う＞
Even among people of the baby boomer generation like me, there are many who say, “I look at my computer during work and stare at my smartphone during my lunch break.” In any case, modern people are “overusing their eyes.”
If eye fatigue is left untreated, the symptoms will progress and cause “eye strain.”
So this time, I would like to think about “ways to relieve eye fatigue” or “ways to prevent eye fatigue.”
１．Hazuki Loupe
＜ハズキルーペ＞
There was a scene like this in a TV commercial for Hazuki Loupe. Kotaro Koizumi , who plays a regular customer at a high-end club, holds his brow as soon as he sits down. When Emi Takei , who plays the club hostess, asks him, “Are your eyes tired?” he answers, “It’s from the computer.”
Takei then asks Koizumi to try on the Hazuki Loupe, and when Koizumi looks at the computer, he exclaims, “Wow, it looks bigger.It’s cutting out the blue light.”
It is unclear how you can tell that blue light is being filtered out, but it is true that when you wear these, the text on the entire computer screen is enlarged, making your eyes less tired.
Previously, when I wanted to see difficult-to-read characters (difficult kanji characters) or confusing numbers (such as “5” and “6”, “7” and “9”), I would hold up a magnifying glass to the screen. At one point, I tried setting the text size to “maximum” on my computer’s “Display – Text Size Settings”, but this resulted in a decrease in resolution and the text not fitting on one screen, but now I can see it easily with the Hazuki Loupe.
２．Take a 10-minute break every hour when working on a computer
During your break, it’s good to “meditate” with your eyes closed, but it’s also effective to look at the “distant scenery” from a window in a building.
Rakugo performer Katsura Shijaku said that “relaxing tension” is “the key to laughter.” Taking a break from work is “relaxing after concentrating,” and I think it is very effective and important not only for relieving eye fatigue, but also for improving the efficiency of work or study after the break.
３．Take “supplements” such as “blueberries” and “lutein”
Blueberries, with their blue-purple skin and sweet-and-sour flavor, are used in cakes and jams. Blueberries contain a lot of anthocyanin, a deep blue pigment that supports visual function.
“Lutein” is said to be a “natural sunglasses ingredient.” Lutein is a type of pigment called carotenoid, and is found in green and yellow vegetables, fruits, seaweed, etc. It has antioxidant properties and absorbs blue light, so it is attracting attention as a nutritional ingredient in functional foods and supplements for the eyes.
Currently, there are many supplements on the market that contain the ingredients “blueberries” and “lutein.”
４．Applying eye drops
The efficacy of eye drops is to relieve symptoms such as “eye fatigue, blurred vision, itchiness, and redness.” Eye drops contain nutritional ingredients such as “vitamins A, B6, and E” and “amino acids,” as well as “reduction ingredients,” “ingredients that improve the eye’s accommodative function,” “antihistamine ingredients,” “antibacterial ingredients,” and “anti-allergic ingredients.”
It is important to be careful when choosing eye drops that suit your symptoms.
５．Cover your eyes with a “warm towel”
If your eyes get watery after watching a computer or TV for a long time, it is a sign of poor circulation in the blood vessels of your eyes. If you cover your eyes with a towel wrung out from hot water, the blood vessels around your eyes will expand and blood circulation will improve.
６．Do “eye exercises”
When you work for a long time, staring at one point and focusing on a nearby object can tire the ciliary body (the part that adjusts the focus). So, it helps to take a short break and do exercises such as “closing your eyes tightly and then opening them wide” and “moving your eyeballs up and down and left and right to relieve stiffness.”
７．”Air Mask” – a home appliance that provides eye care
When we hear the term “air mask,” the first thing that comes to mind is a “hay fever prevention product” with the catchphrase “a spray-type product that protects you from pollen with just one spritz from your mouth to your nose,” sold under the alias “invisible mask.”
However, what we’d like to introduce here is an “air mask,” a home appliance for caring for the eye area. This is a home appliance that massages the eye area, and is said to be effective against eyes that are tired from using smartphones.
８．Summary and “VDT Work Syndrome”
When I was in high school, I suffered from “juvenile recurrent vitreous retinal hemorrhage” (fundus hemorrhage), so if I don’t rest my eyes for about 10 minutes every hour, my eyes hurt. In addition, aging has also contributed to this, and I have noticed that my eyes have become more easily tired recently.
Why not take a look at the various methods listed above, try out the ones that seem best to you, and then stick with the one that you feel has the most effect?
As an aside, I am currently working as a “dispatched employee,” and the “Fixed-term Dispatched Employment Contract and Working Conditions Statement” concluded between the dispatch company and me clearly states in the “Safety and Health” section that “Continuous operation of office equipment, etc. (VDT work) will be limited to one hour, and if this is exceeded, consideration will be given to providing a 10-minute break.”
“VDT work” refers to work that uses screen display devices, or VDTs (Visual Display Terminals).
＜厚生労働省の「ＶＤＴ作業における労働衛生管理のためのガイドライン」について＞
Because VDT work can lead to mental and physical strain, such as “VDT Work Syndrome (Technostress Ophthalmopathy),” the Ministry of Health, Labor and Welfare established the “Guidelines for Occupational Health and Environmental Management in VDT Work” in 2002.
Specifically, the guidelines call for proper maintenance of the physical environment, such as displays, input devices, chairs, and desks, as well as “ensuring that continuous work time does not exceed one hour, that a 10- to 15-minute break is provided between successive tasks, and that short breaks are provided one or two times during each continuous work session.”