Friday, December 12, 2008

Protect your assets! Freelance writers need to go with the 20-20-20 rule

Working late into the night? So late you could use toothpicks to hold your eyelids open?

That's not the only hazard to your eyes that comes from being a freelance writer.

My husband laughs about how I used to brag about having 20/10 vision (years ago!)... until I came home with glasses.

It was a funny coincidence - my vision went down the tubes right about the same time I started working on a computer. Hmmmm....

A friend of mine reminded me of this exercise to keep your eyes working and focusing properly:

Every 20 minutes
Stare at something 20 feet away
For 20 seconds

Might have to set a time for that one. But it might be worth it just to keep those peepers in good shape.

1 comment:

Jessica S. said...

Great article! I commend you for taking the time to put this up. When we are younger, our conjuctiva (spelled probably totally wrong) is able to stretch and contract, allowing us a greater ability to focus and adjust on what we look at. However, as we get older, just like every other muscle, unless we keep it exercised, it becomes less flexible. While it is still debated how well exercising our eyes (such as your 20-20-20 method) truly works, I've always figured I'd rather exercise my eyes and find out it did nothing, than not exercise my eyes and find out I could have prevented some macular degeneration of sorts.

Anyway, all I meant to say was that I liked the post. :-)

By the way, just a disclaimer, I know just enough about the eyes to be dangerous. Hehe. So, take what I say for what it is worth, and then wash it down with a tall glass of water and a lot of research. ;)