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Your eyes and ears are delicate and are susceptible to damage if you don't take care of them. As two of your primary senses, ensuring you have good sight and sound as much as you can will help you to care for your health and your quality of life. Protecting your eyes and ears is something that you should do at work, especially in some jobs, as well as at home and in your personal life.
There are lots of things that can damage your hearing or sight, from staring at a screen too long to playing music too loud. Fortunately, you can also protect your eyes and ears in different ways too. Let's look at some of the things you can do to prevent damage to your hearing or sight.
Protect Your Eyes at Work
You don't have to be using power tools or working with chemicals to need to protect your eyes at work. There are lots of environments and tasks that might necessitate you wearing eye protection or taking other steps to protect your eyes. However, if you do work with any materials that could damage your eyes, it's important to wear the appropriate eye protection. Your employer might be obligated to provide this or reimburse you for eye protection that you buy for yourself. Proper eye protection might include goggles, which will prevent chemicals or foreign objects from hurting your eyes.
You should also protect your eyes if you're an office worker. Long hours looking at a screen can affect your eyesight. Not only can it affect your sight in the long-term, but it can give you eyestrain and make your eyes feel dry and tired. It's important to take regular breaks when you spend a lot of time in front of a computer.
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Wear Ear Protection at Work
Some jobs will make it necessary for you to protect your ears and hearing. You might be working with very loud tools or around loud machinery, for example. Again, your employer will probably be required to provide protection for you to help you look after your hearing. You might also want to provide your own ear protection, especially if you want to get custom earplugs or another custom solution for a good fit. You might also want to get extra protection beyond what your employer offers you. You may need to protect your ears at work if you're a construction worker, manufacturer, musician, or anyone else working around a lot of noise.
Think about your hearing health in other working environments too. Even working in an office or driving could pose a danger to your hearing if you play loud music. Pay attention to the noises around you at work.
When to Protect Your Eyes at Home and Beyond
It's also important to protect your eyes and sight when you're not at work. When you're using a computer or another screen, whether your phone or TV, you should be sure to avoid doing it for too long. Limiting your screen time and taking lots of breaks will help you to protect your vision and prevent eye strain. You should also make sure that you have enough lighting when you're doing various tasks, whether you're cooking or reading a book. If you're doing anything that could be dangerous for your eyes, such as DIY, wear eye protection to prevent anything from getting in your eyes. Remember to protect your eyes from the sun too.
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You should have an eye test every two years or more often if it's advised by your optometrist or ophthalmologist. Regular eye tests can pick up on loss of vision and eye health problems, but they can also detect other health issues.
Protect Your Hearing Outside of Work
You can protect your hearing when you're at home too, as well as when you're out and about. One of the most important things you can do is turn the volume down when you're listening to music or watching TV. It's especially important when you're wearing headphones or earphones, and the sound is being played directly into your ears. If you enjoy live music, whether listening to it or playing it, it's also important to protect your ears.
Be sure to wear ear protection when using tools at home too. If you use loud tools or machines for extended periods or on a frequent basis, it's a good idea to protect your ears to avoid hearing loss.
Look after your eyes and ears to protect two of your most important senses. If you think you're having a problem with your eyes or ears, get a vision or hearing test.
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