PROTECT YOUR EYES

Here are a few rules designed to protect your eyesight.

1. Good light is a primary requisite. But, do you know that too strong a light is worse than too dim a light? Don't face the light: strong rays shine right through your eyelids and fatigue your eyes. Don't work in the sunlight. Be sure the light falls directly on your work, but avoid irritating reflections of light on white paper, or any gleaming ,object in your line of vision.

2. Direction of light is important. When you are working at a table or desk, illumination should come from your left (unless you are left-handed) to avoid the shadow that your hand ,throws as you write or do other work.

3. Rest your eyes at intervals. Much strain can be avoided by resting the eyes periodically. If you are reading, sewing, or writing, look up occasionally. Change the focus of your eyes by directing them at the most distant wall. Or get up and look out the window, if your gaze can travel farther that way; look at the distant visible point for a few minutes. Or sit still, close your eyes and relax. If picture shows strain your eyes, look away from the screen occasionally. If you have to sit close to the front in order to see, your eyes have to follow every movement on the screen and are subjected to a much brighter light, hence the strain is greater.

4. Uniform light helps. Don't force your eyes to readjust constantly from bright to dim lights, from brightness to shadow. Large lights throw few shadows, small lights create many sharp shadows. Don't do close work without artificial light until dusk and then switch suddenly to bright lights, continuing the same work. Allow a period of readjustment.

5. Small irritants add to eye abuse. Mascara hurts sensitive eyes. Powder particles enter a woman's eyes every time the face is made up; substances in some of them may irritate the eyes. Smoking burns them. The constant use of sun-glasses (which are all right occasionally to protect against sea-glare or dust and wind) makes the eyes too sensitive to ordinary light. Garish, high-gloss walls, or walls too brilliantly colored, should not confront the eyes day after day.